SEA Games: Singapore's Catherine Chew loses showjumping gold to Malaysian by 1 sec

Less than one second. That was all that separated Singapore equestrian rider Catherine Chew from the gold medal in the individual showjumping competition on Wednesday morning.

She was pipped to the gold medal by Malaysia's Sharmini Ratnasingham at the Singapore Turf Club Riding Centre.

Both riders had turned in flawless displays in their final jump-off with zero faults.

But the Malaysian's faster time (35.9 seconds) gave her the victory over Chew (36.69).

Speaking to the media after her defeat, Chew was still in disbelief. "I went fast but she (Sharmini) went faster. I thought I'd won, to be honest," said the Singaporean, who rode with Coquira.

"(But) all in all, I thought it was a very good competition. The support from the home crowd has been amazing, they have all been really enthusiastic."

Sharmini was in tears after her win. She said: "I never imagined that this would happen. I really had to work for the win and it's been a great show here."

While Chew will be crestfallen over the narrow defeat, the 26-year-old will take heart from the fact that she improved on her showing from the last Games in Myanmar where she finished fourth. She was also part of the Singaporea team that won the team gold on Monday.

Thailand's S. Lertratanachai took the bronze after beating Singapore's Predrag Marjanovic in the bronze-medal jump-off.

drajac@sph.com.sg

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