Yong Yi Xiang wins first gold for Singapore at 2019 SEA Games

Singapore's wushu athlete Yong Yi Xiang in action in the men's changquan event, in which he won the gold medal. (PHOTO: SNOC/Kong Chong Yew)
Singapore's wushu athlete Yong Yi Xiang in action in the men's changquan event, in which he won the gold medal. (PHOTO: SNOC/Kong Chong Yew)

SINGAPORE — Singapore won its first gold at the 2019 SEA Games on Sunday (1 December), when wushu athlete Yong Yi Xiang clinched the top honour in the men’s changquan competition in Manila.

The 25-year-old’s routine earned him 9.70 points, allowing him to edge out Malaysia’s Wong Weng Son (9.68 points) for the gold. Vietnam's Tran Xuan Hiep came in third with 9.60 points.

This is Yong’s second gold at the Games, after winning in the same event in the 2015 Games held in Singapore. His compatriot Jowen Lim, who won the event in 2017, came in sixth.

Yong also won two bronzes – in the men’s cudgel in 2015 and in the men's bare hands duilian with teammate Lee Tze Yuan in 2013.

Fellow Singaporeans Vera Tan (9.43) and Ho Lin Ying (9.40) finished sixth and ninth respectively in the women's taijiquan final, while Samuel Tan came in sixth (9.44) in the men's taijiquan final.

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