Advertisement

WEEKLY ROUND-UP: Sports happenings in Singapore (25-31 Oct)

Singapore pool player Aloysius Yapp reaches world No.1. (PHOTO: Facebook/Absolute Pool)
Singapore pool player Aloysius Yapp reaches world No.1. (PHOTO: Facebook/Absolute Pool)

SINGAPORE — Here is a round-up of sports events and developments in Singapore in the past week (25-31 October):

Aloysius Yapp is 1st Singaporean to become world No.1 pool player

Singapore pool player Aloysius Yapp had a week of mixed fortunes - becoming the first Singaporean to reach world No.1 status in the World Pool-Billiard Association rankings on Monday (25 October), but then crashing out of the International 9-Ball Open competition in Virginia on Wednesday.

Yapp, 25, reached the top of the rankings following stellar recent form, finishing third at the World 10-ball Championship in Las Vegas, second at the US Open 9-ball Championship in Atlantic City, and finally winning the Michigan Open - all achieved in September.

The achievements allowed him to overtake American Shane Van Boening in the world rankings.

However, in his first competition as the world No.1, Yapp lost 10-4 to Austria's world No.3 Maximillian Lechner missing out on a place in the round of 32 of the International 9-Ball Open.

Michelle Sng rewrites national high jump record with 1.86m clearance

Singapore high jumper Michelle Sng rewrote her national women's record of 1.84m, after she cleared 1.86m at a Singapore Athletics Performance Trial meet at the Home of Athletics in Kallang on Saturday (30 October).

This is the fourth time Sng has rewritten the national record. In 2006, she broke Yu Long Nyu's 13-year-old mark of 1.74m with a 1.78m effort, then bettered it with a 1.80m jump two months later. She had to wait until 2015 for the next improvement when she cleared 1.84m in a Philippines meet.

Together with the national record, the 34-year-old met the qualification marks for all three major Games in 2022 - the SEA Games in May, the Commonwealth Games in July, and the Asian Games in September.

Loh Kean Yew, Yeo Jia Min defeat higher-ranked opponents at French Open

National shuttlers Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min enjoyed wins over higher-ranked opponents at the French Open singles events last week.

Loh, ranked world No. 41 in men's singles, scored a 24-22, 21-14 upset over Malaysia's All-England champion and world No. 8 Lee Zii Jia in the French Open round-of-32 on Wednesday (27 October). It was his first win in five career attempts over Lee.

However, Loh was unable to progress any further in the Open, as he was beaten by India's world No. 22 Lakshya Sen 17-21, 13-21 in the round of 16.

Yeo, the world No.31 women's singles player, made it to the French Open quarter-finals after defeating Belgium's world No.38 Lianne Tan 21-16, 21-9 in the round of 32, and then Indonesia's world No. 22 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-19, 21-8 in the round of 16.

However, she fell to the South Korean world No.8 An Se-young 11-21, 17-21 in the quarter-finals.

Yeo and Loh will next head to Germany for the Hylo Open in Saarbrucken from 2 to 7 November.

Singaporean table tennis player Izaac Quek Yong. (PHOTO: Singapore Table Tennis Association)
Singaporean table tennis player Izaac Quek. (FILE PHOTO: Singapore Table Tennis Association)

Izaac Quek, Ser Lin Qian win at WTT Youth Contender tournament in Italy

Singapore youth paddlers Izaac Quek and Ser Lin Qian won the Under-15 singles titles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender Lignano tournament in Italy on Tuesday (26 October).

Izaac, who reached the world No.1 spot in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) U-15 boys’ world rankings in April, beat Nigeria's O. Usman Ishola 3-1 in the final to clinch the U-15 boys' title. He also participated in the U-17 event, but lost to Germany's Matthias Danzer in the round-of-16.

Meanwhile, Lin Qian defeated Ireland' Sophie Earley 3-2 to clinch the U-15 girls' title on Saturday. Another Singaporean paddler, Zhou Jingyi, finished runner-up in the U-19 girls' event, losing 1-3 to Australia's Liu Yangzi.

Izaac and Lin Qian will be taking part in the ITTF World Youth Championships in Portugal from 2 to 8 December.

Singapore National Track and Field Championships postponed to January

The Singapore National Track and Field Championships, which was originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday (30 and 31 October), has been postponed to January next year, due to prevailing COVID-19 stabilisation phase safe management measures (SMMs).

Singapore Athletics said in a media statement on Tuesday that under current SMM rules, each heat would only be permitted two competitors, making the overall meet extend over several weekends and reducing the meet experience.

Depending on prevailing SMMs, track and field athletes should at least have one more competition opportunity by the end of the year, with the All-Comers Meet 5 still scheduled for 27 and 28 November.

Singapore Gymnastics releases Body Confidence Guidelines

Singapore Gymnastics (SG) has released its Body Confidence Guidelines, which have been developed to help gymnasts and their families, coaches and staff understand the issue of body image, and how it can affect the esteem and confidence of each individual.

The guidelines comprise four pillars: Everyone having a role; language and communication matters; supporting positive nutrition; and safety in tracking growth and development.

In conjunction with these guidelines, SG will be conducting body resilience workshops for coaches and athletes in the high-performance pathway. The first of these workshops kicked off on Saturday (30 October) with national athletes.

The development of the guidelines follows after the development of the National Training Centre nutrition programme. SG encourages all to consider ways to contribute towards environments where gymnasts are more likely to feel positive and good in their bodies as much as possible.

Have a sports event to tell our users? Email us at sgnews.tips@verizonmedia.com. In your email, do provide as many details as possible, including videos and photos.