 |
DREAM MEET
(Faces To Watch In Team Singapore)
By Cai Zongren & Sit Chang Yang, Pix by Aundry Gan
For some of our young athletes, Melbourne 2006 has been a good meet, to say the least. Though less established and well-known than names like shuttler Ronald Susilo and paddler Li Jiawei, they have certainly come into their own these few days. We highlight four of them - two from table tennis, one from shooting and one from swimming.
Zhang Jin (Shooting)
The Hwa Chong Institution student blazed away to a silver at the Melbourne International Shooting Club in the men's 10m air rifle individual event. In the process, he produced a personal best.
The 17-year-old shot 595 in the preliminary round to break his personal best of 593. In the eight-man final, he finished just behind India's Gagan Narang but ahead of another Indian, Abhinav Bindra.
Earlier in the competition, he combined well with Ong Jun Hong to win a bronze for Singapore in the men's pairs.
Xu Yan (Table Tennis)
She (pix) was part of the women's table tennis team that clinched gold at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Although she did not feature in the final, she played a key role in earlier in the tournament.
For example, in the tie against New Zealand, the young paddler helped Singapore to tounce our rivals 3-0. After Li Jiawei beat Annie Yang and Zhang Xueling overcame Karen Li, the newcomer wrapped up the tie, beating Sophie Shu 11-2, 12-10, 11-6.
Jason Ho (Table Tennis)
He and his team mates may have lost the men's team title to India but Melbourne 2006 must still be considered this Raffles JC student's breakthrough tournament.
The 17-year-old secured the winning point in our 3-0 semi-final win over Wales. Showing plenty of maturity and style, he beat Stephen Jenkins 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.
Tao Li (Swimming)
She didn't win a medal against world class opponents but she had a fabulous meet. She held her own against the likes of Australians Alice Mills, Jessicah Schipper and Danni Miatke at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
In the women's 50m fly, for example, she finished an impressive fifth in a time of 27.60 seconds. Though the time was outside her PB of 26.92 secs, it didn't matter. The Singapore Sports School student, who also entered the finals of the 100m fly and 200m fly, had made her mark.
|
|
|
|
