OFF TO VIENTIANE

Text By Team Singapore Editorial

Picture By John Heng

While most of us were in deep sleep this morning (Dec 5), Team Singapore's SEA Games athletes for sports like karate, badminton and shooting departed from Changi Airport for Laos, all geared up for the competition ahead over the next two weeks.

Highest Level

They received support from the highest level and had, as Guest of Honour, Mr Teo Chee Hean (picture), Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Defence and President, Singapore National Olympic Council. Also present to send them off were officials, family members and friends.

Stiff Competition

For the athletes, the support from Singaporeans would only spur them on. Competition will be stiff in Laos. For example, the shuttlers will face world class players from top badminton nations like Indonesia and Malaysia. The Singapore squad is a mixture of familiar and new faces. Ronald Susilo, Li Li and Xing Aiying are seasoned members of the team while newer players include Jonathan Tang, Kelvin Ho and Yao Lei.

National Colours

The shooting team comprise members like Jonathan Koh, Ong Jun Hong, Jasmine Ser, Aqilah Sudhir and Kasmijan Kimin. As for karate, we will be represented by athletes such as Ng Pei Yi and Tay Qingyuan. Whatever the sport and whatever the level of experience, one thing is for sure: every Team Singapore athlete will want to perform as well as he or she can when donning national colours in Vientiane