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PASSING BATON
Signs Of Renewal In Swimming, Badminton, Track & Field
By Chua Chong Jin
From swimming to badminton to track field, newer faces have come to the fore to try and fill the gaps left by more established names. Indeed, the baton is passed as Singapore strives for top honours at this year's SEA Games in Thailand. Now, the question is: can the successors match their seniors' feats?
Asian Games Medals
In some cases, the answer is obvious. Like when one looks at Tao Li taking over from former swim queen Joscelin Yeo. With the latter's retirement, the onus is now on the former to bring in the gold medals. There is little doubt that the new kid will deliver. In fact, she has already done so, winning a gold and a bronze at the much more competitive Asian Games in Doha last year. In Thailand, Tao Li will aim for glory in events like the 100m fly and 200m IM. She should have no trouble living up to expectations.
Best Bet
In other cases, however, a lot depends on how things turn out during the actual competition. Shuttler Kendrick Lee (picture), for instance, is widely regarded as our best bet for honours at this SEA Games, given the fact that his more accomplished team mate Ronald Susilo has yet to get back to the kind of form he is capable of. It helps that Kendrick has had a good year. He stunned world No 3 Chen Jin of China in May's Aviva Singapore Open. He also ended his three-year title drought with victory at the Dutch Open where he defeated Polish top seed Przemyslaw Wacha and Malaysian second seed Lee Tsuen Seng. But he isn't getting the ideal draw at the SEA Games. He has been drawn to meet
the world's sixth-best player, Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro, in the frst round. Still, there is quiet confidence that this could well be Kendrick's year.
New Focus
In track and field, the focus has been on sprinters like U.K.Shyam and Poh Seng Song in the last few years. This year, however, it is newcomer Calvin Kang who is creating all the buzz. The youngster created a stir when he clocked 10.55 secs in the 100m sprint to clinch the gold medal at the Sri Lanka Open. His time was faster than the 2005 SEA Games bronze-medal mark of 10.57 secs recorded by Indonesia's Suryo Agung Wibowo. Also, with this fine run, Calvin is officially the fastest Singaporean this year. As the SEA Games competition goes into full swing in the next few days, it is well worth asking: can he - together with athletes like Tao Li and Kendrick - carry the baton that has been passed?
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