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-- ST PHOTO: DOMINIC WONG
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SINGAPORE'S disabled athletes do the country proud at international events - but face an Achilles heel when it comes to their wheelchairs.
Bulky and heavy, and made for Western body builds, they can hamstring rather than help when it comes to fast sports like tennis, said Mr Frankie Thanapal Sinniah, a disability sports veteran.
He said: 'These commercial sports wheelchairs designed for Caucasians are bulky and heavy, and when it comes to adjusting the chairs to suit the individual, it is really difficult.'
Also, the imported wheelchairs, at between $3,000 and $7,900 each, are too expensive for many disabled athletes.
So engineering students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) rose to the challenge, and undertook the task of making a wheelchair built for Asian physiques.
Two groups of students started the initial work in 2005. Then, a third group of third-year students, led by undergraduate Eric Gair, 24, took the previous research forward to make a working model.
They call it the Vorque.
According to the students and their lecturer, Dr Dilip A. Shah, much of the challenge came from the parameters set for these chairs.
They had to be not only lightweight and manoeuvrable, but also capable of customisation so each athlete's needs are met.
Plus, they had to be affordable.
The students said they had to consult extensively with the users - the athletes themselves, who could best describe the modifications that needed to be made.
Mr Paul Cheong, national coach of the physically disabled tennis team, was one of their main sources of information, they said.
In response to suggestions and specific needs, the students spent hours in the workshop salvaging parts from normal wheelchairs and supplemented the frame with aluminium to keep the weight low.
The team fiddled with the design mechanics: By making it easier to change the angle of the back wheels or gambols, the chairs can go faster.
'Also, the seat and footrest can be adjusted to fit the individual user's specific needs,' said Dr Dilip.
The front wheels can be switched to a single wheel - and there are even anti-skid devices in the design.
After the detailed assembly, the chair costs about $1,000.
The team is patenting some parts of the chair, said Dr Dilip.
So far, the chairs have got the thumbs-up from the Singapore Disability Sports Council and, hopefully, will make their public debut at the disabled tennis tournament in Singapore at the end of the year.
juditht@sph.com.sg
The Vorque: facts and features MR GAIR tests out the prototype Vorque, a normal wheelchair converted to a sports one by changing the angle of the back wheels. After detailed design and assembly, the chair costs about $1,000, much less than an imported one with a price tag that can go up to $7,900.
Some features of the Vorque:
The seat and footrest can be adjusted to fit the individual user's specific needs;
The front wheels can be converted from two to one wheel; and
The chair has a built-in anti-skid feature.
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