Asian Games 2023: 5 takeaways from Team Singapore's showing in Hangzhou

SINGAPORE — After 15 days of competition, Team Singapore came away from the Hangzhou Asian Games with a medal tally of three golds, six silvers and seven bronzes.

While the medal tally is fewer than the city-state's haul at the previous Asiad in 2018 (four golds, four silvers and 14 bronzes), it is nonetheless similar to what Singapore had been winning in the past three Games editions.

Here are five takeaways from the Singaporean athletes' performances in Hangzhou:

Shanti Pereira's dominant year puts her on the pantheon of greats

It is the privilege of Singapore sports fans that, in a space of seven years, they were able to witness three monumental feats - achievements which had seemed impossible to attain for a small nation still searching for a strong sporting culture.

Joseph Schooling winning Olympic swimming gold in 2016; Loh Kean Yew becoming badminton world champion in 2021; and now, Shanti Pereira has put herself among the pantheon of the greatest Singapore athletes with her magnificent 200m gold and 100m silver in Hangzhou.

Not only did she end Singapore's 49-year wait for an Asiad track-and-field medal, but she also won the 200m in such convincing fashion, qualifying fastest for the final and then powering away so thrillingly from the forlorn chasing pack. Only 0.04 seconds separated her from gold in the 100m - and an even more majestic achievement.

That is why Pereira's dominant performances are as great as Schooling's Olympic gold and Loh's world title, even though her achievements were only on a regional level compared to the duo. Schooling's extraordinary triumph in Rio de Janeiro arguably came from the left field - he was not the hot favourite to win. Neither was Loh, who was an even more unlikely winner given his No.22 world ranking then.

But Pereira laid down a strong indication over the course of this year that she was the sprinter to beat in Asia - winning the 100m and 200m in both the SEA Games and the Asian Athletics Championships, breaking national records and setting season-best times.

And she did not crack, despite the weight of history and the pressure of being the favourite. That is her supreme accomplishment - showing Singapore that it is possible to produce sporting perfection when everyone is expecting her to do so.

Pereira's already planning for her next big sporting adventure - next year's Paris Olympics. It is a massive challenge, but she is nonetheless assured of her place among Singapore's sporting greats.

Maximilian Maeder is best hope for medal at Paris Olympics

As much as Singaporeans should celebrate Pereira's momentous year of Asian triumphs, they should also be realistic to understand that she has a long way to go to be in contention for Olympic medals, once the dominant US and Jamaican sprinters come into the picture.

But that does not mean there is no one in Team Singapore who could be in medal contention in Paris next year. In fact, kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder has a strong chance to fight for the gold medal in his sailing category.

The 17-year-old swept to an Asian Games gold in the Formula Kite competition, and it was not even close, as he won all his 16 races at the Ningbo Xiangshan Sailing Centre. That cemented the teenager's reputation was one of the world's brightest talents in this new sailing sport, which will make its debut at the Paris Olympics.

And judging from his Sailing World Championships title win in August, he is already in the mix of contenders for Olympic honours. Hopefully, he can continue to work towards hitting peak form next year, and who knows, a second Olympic gold for Singapore may not be a distant dream.

Swimmers feel pain of just missing out on medals

They are dominant in Southeast Asia, but Singapore swimmers had a sobering Asian Games outing, winning only one silver medal from Teong Tzen Wei - the first time they had failed to clinch at least a gold medal since the 2002 Busan Games.

Even more agonisingly, they came in fourth in a staggering 10 events, some of those just milliseconds away from the bronze. To cap it off in brutal fashion, the women's 4x100m medley team were shattered after coming in third, only to be disqualified due to a false start.

It is an understandable comedown after the giddy years of Schooling and Tao Li sweeping to golds from 2006 to 2018, but the Hangzhou outing showed how much work is still needed to transform regional champions into Asian Games medal winners.

But the talents were evident: Teong came close to gold as he returned to form following an elbow injury, Letitia Sim setting national records despite multiple heartaches of coming in fourth, and the likes of Jonathan Tan, Quah Jing Wen and Gan Ching Hwee proving repeatedly they were in the hunt for medals. Five national records and 10 personal-best times should be ample encouragement for these upstarts.

For a sport in transition as one of its greatest athletes is reaching the end of his career, Singapore swimming still has a bevy of potential that could eventually come good at the Asian Games. Hopefully, the agony at this Games can fuel some of them to greater heights in the future.

Stephenie Chen's grit, persistence should be a model to all

If the national swimmers want any more inspiration to keep trying for their Asian Games breakthrough, they need only to look to kayaker Stephenie Chen.

Here's an athlete who has been toiling under the radar for much of her long career. Since 2010, Chen has been trying to win an Asian Games medal, and after three futile editions - from Guangzhou to Incheon to Jakarta - she finally fulfilled her dream, using a fast start to eventually clinch a silver medal in the women's K1 500m.

From the 31-year-old's teary celebrations after her medal win, it was easy to see how much the 13-year medal chase meant to her. Years of tough training - such as doing pull-ups with a 35kg weight around her waist to build her pulling strength - as well as times of battling doubts on her abilities, made the silver medal all the sweeter.

And the veteran's success in Hangzhou should be a model for every young athlete starting their daunting chases for Asian Games glory: not only are patience and perseverance necessary traits in the medal hunt, but also the desire to go the extra mile over the other medal chasers.

Everyone is chasing the medal, and it is only those that persist who will eventually find joy.

Heavy losses should prompt tweaks to qualifying criteria

As with the highs of the Asian Games campaign for Singapore athletes, there will always be some lows in Hangzhou.

Some of the lows were understandable amid a transitional period for some sports, such as swimming and table tennis, both of which could not earn as many as medals as before with the absences and retirements of past stalwarts.

Some sports were just being given their first chances, and faced daunting opponents from the outset, such as the debuting women's football team, who faced eventual finalists North Korea in the opening group and were heavily beaten 0-7 and 0-10.

Some were outfought amid formidable fields. Singapore's badminton players had a mixed outing - there were glimpses of potential as they battled strong opposition, from the likes of young men's doubles duo Johann Prajogo and Nge Joo Jie. However, a listless Loh lost in his opening tie in the men's singles competition - surely a disappointment both for himself as well as the Singapore contingent.

And then there were some sports which lost heavily despite perennial participation. The sepak takraw teams were winless in the regu and quadrant events, losing even to teams from Japan and South Korea. The men's hockey team finished dead last out of 12 teams, and the women's rugby sevens team crashed to several lopsided losses (0-57 to Japan, 0-29 to Hong Kong and 0-50 to Kazakhstan).

Given that Team Singapore sent their largest Asiad contingent of 427 athletes to Hangzhou - compared to 264 athletes for the Jakarta Games in 2018 - questions should be asked of the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) whether the qualifying criteria should be tightened for the next edition in 2026.

After all, the SNOC has always insisted that these athletes were selected to contend for medals at major Games, not for mere exposure and experience. It may be time to fine-tune the selection process so that perennial heavy losses can be minimised in future Games.

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