SINGAPORE – Day 3 at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games saw the latest in breakthroughs for Singapore as Faridah Salleh and Khirmern Mohamad clinched silver and bronze medals, the first in lawn bowls for the country, on Wednesday.
The previous day, para shooter Daniel Chan had secured the Republic a spot at the 2024 Paralympics, thanks to his fifth-place finish in the men’s SH1 10m air pistol event. No Singaporean shooter has previously featured at the Paralympics.
Besides shooting, Singapore will also have representatives in swimming and archery at Paris 2024.
Lawn bowls is not a Paralympic sport, making Faridah’s achievement at the Hangzhou Wenhui School Green even more special.
The 66-year-old, who was diagnosed with polio in her right leg, lost 21-7 in the women’s singles B6 final to Somwang Chamnanpana, her second defeat by the Thai after they met in the group stage.
Faridah had won her other three matches in the preliminary round and earlier on Wednesday had beaten India’s Anju Bala 21-10 in the semi-finals.
On her first medal in her third Asiad attempt, Faridah said: “It was definitely awesome. This is really my first experience achieving this silver at an Asian Para Games. I’ve been trying hard to achieve this. I tell myself that I will try to get a medal at whatever age I am, that’s why I kept trying till I am 66.”
Faridah, also involved in the mixed pairs competition with Mawjit Singh, added: “We (will) try to get gold for the pairs.”
Her teammate Khirmern, 53, a left-leg amputee, beat South Korean Song Myeung-jun 17-11 in the men’s singles B7 bronze-medal play-off. The Singaporean believes that with the bronze on his resume, he would stand a good chance of getting a Sports Excellence (Spex) Scholarship so that he can transition to be a full-time athlete.
He said: “Coming here as a debutant, my target was just top four, but to have this bronze medal, I’m so overjoyed, overwhelmed and excited.”
Parabowls Singapore president James Chia said: “I feel all these great performances and winning of medals have in fact not come by easily, definitely not without the hard work, sweat and tears behind the scenes.”
The Republic have one other silver (Toh Wei Soong in the men’s 400m freestyle S7) and a bronze (Claire Toh in the Class 1-2 table tennis women’s singles).
For Chan, any disappointment about missing out on a podium was soon forgotten by thoughts of Paris. The 36-year-old said: “It was totally unexpected, because coming to the competition, my main goal was just to get into the finals.
“I was really surprised when they announced the quota placing for Singapore after I was eliminated from the finals.”
Chan, who has Erb’s palsy in his left arm – a condition resulting from a traumatic birth delivery which damaged the nerves in his arm and shoulder – had managed a personal-best 565 in the qualification round, finishing seventh to enter the finals. His score of 174 was enough for fifth spot, behind two Chinese and two Indian shooters.
With both countries having already secured spots to the Paralympics, it meant Chan’s result had earned Singapore a qualifying place. It will be left to the Singapore National Paralympic Council to select the athlete.
There are six para shooters here, though Chan is the only one who competes in air pistol. “You never know, maybe someone will pop up and shoot better than me.” he said.
