The Republic’s national synchronised swimming team created history today (June 3) when their technical and free routine won Singapore its first-ever SEA Games gold medal in the sport.
The Singapore team finished with a total of 150.8455 points — 76.5000 for the free routine and 74.3445 for the technical routine. The Malaysians, who won all the gold medals the previous two times the sport was included in the Games (2001 and 2011), finished second with 146.5204. Indonesia finished third with 138.1796. The gold medal is Singapore’s first after winning three silvers and one bronze during the sport’s 2001 and 2011 editions.
Captain Stephanie Chen was visibly elated after leading her team to victory, and expressed her appreciation for the fan support.
“I can’t say this (medal) was expected,” she said. “But we managed to hit our target and bring home some gold. I think Singaporeans can expect more gold from synchro because this sport is fairly new in Singapore and we were the few pioneer batches and we are already garnering the next generation for Singapore.”
On hand to congratulate the team’s achievement was Culture, Community and Youth Minister Lawrence Wong, who commended the girls and other Singaporean athletes for giving the host nation a strong start at the Games.
“We are proud of the girls. I would say that I am also proud of all the Team Singapore athletes so far who have had a strong start to the Games campaign, and the official opening hasn’t even started,” said Mr Wong.
“I would also say that I am very impressed with the turnout of the fans because at all the competition venues that I have been to (table tennis, football, netball), I see the fans cheering for Team Singapore athletes. That’s what the home ground advantage is all about and I hope that we see this continuing.”
National coach Maryna Tsimashenka felt the team had a good performance, though she has identified areas that need improvement.
“There was a mistake during the performance but the start was very, very good. Maybe the sync was not good. Tomorrow we will try again,” she said.
Two more finals for the synchronised swimming — one for the duet technical and free routine and another for the team free combination — will take place today.
Malaysia is currently in the lead with 75.3436 points with Singapore closely behind at 73.9705 for the duet technical and free routine category.
Source: www.todayonline.com
