Clean sweep for S'pore paddlers at SEA Games
By Satish Cheney
Singapore’s paddlers have once again shown their dominance at the SEA Games, sweeping all five gold medals.
In the women’s singles final on Wednesday, Feng Tianwei had an easy outing against fellow Singaporean Isabelle Li, winning 4-0, at the GMSB Sports Complex in Jakarta.
“Isabelle has a lot of promise and I hope she can be my successor one day,” said world number 4 Feng,who added that the youngster needed to improve her attacking strategies.
As for the 16-year-old paddler, Li told Yahoo! Singapore she was loving every minute of her SEA Games debut.
“It was a process I really enjoyed. The finals really did not come easy, so I told myself I had to cherish every moment of it,” said the teen.
The men's singles final which was yet another all-Singapore affair saw Gao Ning comfortably defeating Yang Zi, 4-0.
Over in Palembang, the Singapore swim team garnered its 15th gold of the competition, surpassing their record 14 gold medal haul previously.
This means it is their best ever showing at a SEA Games competition.
Swimming sensation Tao Li was pumping her fist in the air after she won gold and broke her own SEA Games record in the 100m backstroke event, clocking 1minute and 02.11seconds.
Danny Yeo and his 4x200m freestyle team had the honour of clinching the swim team's 15th gold medal after winning the event.
Earlier in the evening Yeo had broken the national record in the 100m freestyle with his timing of 50.98seconds but it was not enough to beat his Vietnamese opponent and he settled for silver.
Mylene Ong and Amanda Lim won silver and bronze respectively in the women's 100m freestyle.
Meanwhile Singapore’s wakeboarding team got off to a winning start at the SEA Games in Palembang on Wednesday afternoon.
Sasha Christian, 18, won a gold medal in the wakeboarding competition with a score of 60.45 points.
Her teammate Kalya Kee came in second to take home the silver.
This is the first time the sport is being featured at the SEA Games.
"It's a good start indeed and with the gold medal, the pressure is slightly off but I'm still keeping focused on the other events," said Sasha.
Her coach and team manger Paul Fong said she clearly was the best among the competitors.
"Sasha gave a flawless performance and was miles ahead of everyone else in terms of ability," he added.
Sasha’s older brother Matthew Christian managed to grab a bronze in the men’s final.
Earlier in the day, sisters Daphne Tan and Cherie Tan won the silver medal in the women’s bowling doubles with a total score of 2456.
"I'm disappointed that we missed out on gold by a bit (7 pinfalls). We went through a tough pair and didn't have that extra bit of luck. Hopefully Thursday will not be like this," said Cherie.
In the men's snooker doubles finals, Singapore's Lim Chun Kiat and Ang Boon Chin won the silver medal after losing to Malaysia 0-3.
Singapore's Joanna Chan and Saiyidah Aisyah clinched a bronze in the Women's W2 rowing event.
Additional reporting by Jeanette Tan in Jakarta
