From kitefoiling champ to sprint queen: What to look out for as Team Singapore begin Asian Games campaign
Will Shanti Pereira score Singapore's first gold in track and field at the Asian Games in nearly 50 years? Will the swim team miss Joseph Schooling's presence?
(Clockwise from top left) Shanti Pereira, Jonathan Tan, Amita Berthier and Maximilian Maeder will represent Singapore at the 19th Asian Games. (Photos: CNA/Jeremy Long, Singapore National Olympic Council, Formula Kite/Sailing Energy)
SINGAPORE: After a five-year wait, the Asian Games is finally back.
Delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 19th edition of the Games will be held in Hangzhou, China.
Team Singapore will send its largest contingent ever to the meet, with a total of 431 athletes across 32 sports representing the country.
At the last edition of the Games, Singapore clinched four gold, four silvers and 14 bronzes.
The Games will officially open on Saturday (Sep 23) and CNA will bring you the latest from the meet. Here are five things to look out for:
1. SHANTI PEREIRA'S "FINAL SPRINT" FOR 2023
2023 has been an absolutely brilliant year for Shanti Pereira.
Going into the Asian Games, the 27-year-old has clocked the quickest timings of any Asian woman in the 100m and 200m.
In May, she became the first Singaporean woman to win both the 100m and 200m events at the same edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and then followed that up with a sprint double at the Asian Athletics Championships in July.
Last month in Budapest, Hungary, Pereira became the first Singaporean to make a World Championships semi-finals after a stellar showing in the 200m. She also met the qualifying mark for the event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The Asian Games will be the “final sprint” for Pereira after a long year, and she is targeting a medal in both sprint events.
"The foundation has been laid; I've been competing, I've been doing well, all that is done," she told reporters earlier this month. "All I can do now is just tune up and give it my all."
The last Singaporean to win a track and field gold was Chee Swee Lee (women's 400m) in 1974. Will this be Pereira's time?
2. SINGAPORE’S NEWEST WORLD CHAMPION LOOKS TO MAKE WAVES
Despite being just 17, Maximilian Maeder has a vastly impressive resume.
The latest accolade the kitefoiler added to a growing list was gold in the men's kite event at the Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands last month.
His result means that Maeder also confirmed a spot for Singapore at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The youngster will make his debut in Hangzhou.
Maeder is currently ranked seventh in the world in the Formula Kite Men’s Rankings, the highest of any Asian kitefoiler, and in July won his third consecutive title at the Formula Kite Youth World Championships.
"I don't want to have a result-focused target whenever I go into a competition because that always brings about some problems sometimes, psychologically," he told CNA before the Games.
"I want to come back every day from the water and say: 'Yeah I'm satisfied with that'."
Could he add an Asian Games gold to his achievements?
3. HOW WILL SWIMMING DEAL WITH TRANSITION?
At the last Asian Games five years ago, the Singapore swim team’s haul of six medals was the most of any sport among the country's contingent.
However, much has changed since. Most notably, former Olympic champion Joseph Schooling, who clinched two golds (50m and 100m butterfly), will not feature in Hangzhou.
This is “an interesting phase” for Singapore swimming, national head coach Gary Tan told CNA previously.
“We definitely will miss his (Schooling’s) presence there. And he was a very integral player in the relays as well,” said Tan.
“We are kind of in the middle (of phases). And I think as coaches, we are quietly excited about that phase as well because it's really a rebuilding process,” he said.
Keep an eye out for Jonathan Tan in the men’s 50m freestyle and Mikkel Lee as well as Teong Tzen Wei in the 50m butterfly.
Making her Asian Games debut will be Letitia Sim, who has been in excellent form. The 20-year-old registered national records in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke this year.
4. CAN FENCERS BUILD ON STRONG SEA GAMES SHOWING?
One of the standout performers at the SEA Games in Cambodia earlier this year was Singapore's fencing team.
They clinched seven golds at the Games in May, surpassing the previous best tally of six golds recorded in Hanoi last year. The fencers wrapped up their campaign with a total of seven golds, three silvers and six bronzes.
At the last edition of the Asian Games, the fencers took a bronze in the women's team foil event courtesy of Amita Berthier, Maxine Wong, Tatiana Wong and Melanie Huang.
A fencer to keep an eye on is 22-year-old Berthier, who will also compete in the women's individual foil event. She took joint bronze in the event at the Asian Fencing Championships earlier this year, the best-ever individual result for Singapore at the meet.
The team will be eyeing two medals at the Games in Hangzhou.
5. WILL CONTRACT BRIDGE SURPRISE AGAIN?
At the last edition of the Games, Singapore’s contract bridge players announced themselves to the country when they took the gold in the men’s team event.
The 2018 Games was the first time contract bridge featured at the Asiad, and the six team members – Poon Hua, Loo Choon Chou, Zhang Yukun, Fong Kien Hoong, Desmond Oh and Kelvin Ong clinched a historic win as they beat Hong Kong in the final.
The team returns to the Games this year to defend their title.
What other surprises could be in store for Team Singapore in Hangzhou? We wait with bated breath.
