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BUSY DAYS AHEAD
(Shuttlers & Swimmers Have Tight Schedule Before Commonwealth Games)
By Lynn Koh & Jason Cai
The Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March is a big assignment for this year but our shuttlers and swimmers aren?t just preparing for it. Before they head Down Under, they ? like their counterparts in table tennis - will have their hands full with other competitions.
Off To India
The shuttlers, for example, head for Jaipur, India, this month (Feb) to take part in the Uber Cup and Thomas Cup preliminaries. In the former, Singapore is grouped with Thailand, Hong Kong, India and Pakistan. For the latter, we are in the same group as Hong Kong and India.
The Uber Cup will be of great interest as our women, who must finish in the top two to qualify for the Finals, are hungry for revenge. They lost to Thailand at last year's SEA Games final and were denied an Uber Cup Finals place by Hong Kong in 2000.
Apart from 2002 Commonwealth Games champion Li Li, others in our team are Xing Aiying, Liu Fan, Shinta Mulia Sari, Li Yujia and Jiang Yanmei.
For the Thomas Cup, our team comprises Kendrick Lee, Hendra Wijaya, Hendri Kurniawan Saputra, Khoo Kian Teck, Alvin Fu, Aaron Tan and Derek Wong. They must top their group to qualify for the Finals in Japan from April 28.
Top Asian Stars
For our swimmers (pix), March will be a very busy month. Just before the Commonwealth Games, they will be taking part in the Milo 7th Asia Swimming Championships at the Singapore Sports School from 5 to 10 March. Some top Asian swimmers, who are world class, are expected to compete.
Their presence will not only add glamour to the event but also provide our swimmers an opportunity to compete against those whose standards are much better. While we excelled at the SEA Games in the Philippines last year, the gap in standards between Southeast and Asia is still very great for swimming as countries like Japan and China have produced World and Olympic medallists.
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