S'pore goes for gold rush at SEA Games with 8 gold medals on day 2
By Satish Cheney
You could say it's lucky number eight for Singapore as athletes began a promising start at the 26th SEA Games on day two with eight gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals.
The swim team led the gold bonanza with Tao Li clearly proving her prowess in the water at the Jakabaring Aquatics Complex in Palembang.
She bagged her first gold when she broke the SEA Games record for the 100m butterfly event, clocking 58.54 seconds.
Barely an hour later, the 21-year-old stepped up for the women's 4x100m medley relay, where she was instrumental in her team getting first place.
She is gunning for nine gold medals at the Games, and is also using the competition as preparation for the London Olympics next year.
Wonder boy Joseph Schooling was a class act as he fought hard to win gold in the 50m butterfly. The 16-year-old teen is making his debut at the Games and has been touted as an emerging champion for Singapore.
15-year-old Quah Zheng Wen won the 400 individual medley gold and also beat the national record by four seconds. He received his medal from Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also the president of the Singapore National Olympic Council.
Veteran discus thrower James Wong started the the gold rush when he delivered Singapore's first gold medal in the morning.
Wong's winning throw of 51.32m marks his 10th consecutive gold medal in his SEA Games career.
Speaking to Yahoo! Singapore, he said his chances were always 50-50 but that after his warm-up, he felt his confidence level go up.
"Most importantly, it's not about the gold medal. It's my 10th gold medal and my last ever SEA Games but I just want the momentum to keep going so that everyone can chip in and do their best for Singapore," said Wong.
Singapore's Gary Yeo,clocking 10.46 seconds, almost won gold at the 100m sprint event but had to settle for silver when he was overtaken at the last 30m by crowd favorite Franklin Burumi from Indonesia.
Clinching gold as well was canoeist Geraldine Lee, in the K1 500m event.
This is Singapore's first ever gold medal in canoeing at the SEA Games.
Saturday morning also saw the canoeists winning two silver medals, with the duo of Suzanne Seah and Stephanie Chen in the K2 500m event, and the women's K4 500m team consisting of Andrea Chen, Annabelle Ng, Wilona Lee and Geraldine Lee, both finishing second.
Singapore's women's water polo team won gold in their debut at the SEA Games, triumphing 11-9 against hosts Indonesia.
Meanwhile, shooter Zhang Jin was on target for gold when he claimed first place in the 10m Air Rifle event with a score of 685.9.
His teammate Ong Jun Hong finished in fourth position with a total score of 684.2, missing the bronze by less than 1 point.
Zhang's accomplishment fulfills half of the shooters' two-gold target, says team manager Jeanine Heng, who added that his gold medal was expected, being defending champion in the 10m air rifle event.
However, she told Yahoo! Singapore that the competition is getting tougher with others in the region improving since the last SEA Games in 2009.
Singapore's roller sports team also garnered two bronze medals in their debut at the games, with Carmen Goh and Daryl Chan coming in third in the 5000m track and 500m track events respectively.
Chan said the men’s relay team is now targeting the silver medal on Sunday.
“Our biggest rival is Indonesia who are tipped to win the gold medal, so I believe we’ll be fighting it out for silver with Thailand,” he told Yahoo! Singapore.
In taekwondo, Joyce Lim won silver and Samuel Lee, the bronze, in the Poomsae Singles event. The men’s team of Muhammad Norhalim, Samuel Lee and Jason Tan won had to settle for bronze in the Poomsae team event.
Lim said,“Competition was tough and I had to go against the Thai opponent who is a world championship bronze medallist. I am glad that I did.”
Team manager Wong Liang Ming added, " We're happy because we're doing way better than the last SEA Games where the team only managed two bronze medals."
They'll have three more chances to bag more medals in other events on Sunday and next Tuesday.
With additional reporting by Jeanette Tan in Jakarta
