SINGAPORE -History was made at the OCBC Aquatic Centre as swimmer Toh Wei Soong clinched Singapore's 17th gold medal of this Asean Para Games edition on Monday.

With his win in the men's 100m backstroke S8 final, the 17-year-old helped Team Singapore eclipse its previous-best gold-medal haul of 16 golds, achieved at the inaugural Games in 2001.

Wei Soong clocked 1min 21.02sec, beating Vietnam's Dang Van Cong(1:24.21) and Thailand's Paibun Wongnonthaphum (1:25.30). It is his second gold of the Games, having won the 100m freestyle S8 last Friday.

He said after the win: "It's definitely an honour to be the one to break the record, but the credit goes to the entire Singapore team - it's testament to how much effort we put in, and how hard we've worked.

"Hopefully it can be a stepping stone, see how far we can push ourselves in other Games to come."

Team Singapore's chef de mission Raja Singh, who had earlier encouraged the contingent to aim for 21 golds, said: "We are doing fine, the athletes are composed, and they're all focused on their events, so that's wonderful. Now it's just setting the benchmark for the future.

"We're also looking at bigger numbers in terms of participation, encouraging people of disabilities to come and play.

"To the athletes who still have events coming up, keep going."

Earlier, Theresa Goh had bagged Singapore's 16th gold in the women's 50m free S5 (S2-S5) event.

Less than an hour after Wei Soong's win, Benson Tay added an 18th gold for Singapore when he won the men's 100m backstroke S14 final. It is his third gold of the meet, adding to his victories in the 100m and 200m freestyle events.