2025 Asean Para Games: Age just a number for S’pore teen shooter Surya Mohan Jha
The Straits Times continues the countdown to the 13th Asean Para Games, which will be held from Jan 20 to 26 in Korat, Thailand. Team Singapore’s 37-strong contingent will compete for honours across 11 sports, and today, we feature the youngest member, para-shooter Surya Mohan Jha.
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Surya Mohan Jha is part of Singapore's team of four shooters competing at the Asean Para Games.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
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- Surya Jha, 18, discovered his shooting talent at age nine during a holiday and found it a suitable sport due to his lower limb weakness.
- The teenager began competing in 2023 and is the youngest athlete in Singapore's 37-strong contingent at the 2025 Asean Para Games in Korat.
- Surya, who is hoping to improve on this mental strength, is aiming for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.
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SINGAPORE – What began as a fun game at a carnival years ago unexpectedly set Surya Mohan Jha on a path to becoming a national para-shooter.
While on a family holiday in Bintan at the age of nine, he tried his hand at a game that required him to shoot down wooden blocks with pellets from a wooden rifle.
To the surprise of his father and the booth owner, he cleared the farthest row with ease.
He collected a stuffed toy as his prize, but returned home with much more.
Back in Singapore, he took up shooting as a hobby, training at the range on the weekends.
For Surya, who has lower limb weakness and uses leg braces for stability, shooting was a sport he could truly call his own.
Now 18, the Singapore American School student said: “In school with my friends, you run around, you try to play soccer or basketball but they’re very mobile sports and I don’t have that much mobility, so I was very happy that I found a static sport that I was very good at.
“That’s why I really enjoyed shooting as well.
“Because sure, my friends could shoot basketballs, kick soccer balls better, but I could do this to the best of my ability. I liked that I could compete in it properly.”
In 2023, he signed up for his first competition – the Singapore Cup – after a Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) official encouraged him to do so.
He entered the event with modest expectations, an oversized jacket and a rifle that had some technical issues, but ended up beating the defending champion in his event.
That breakthrough performance paved the way for him to join the national team and test himself against the world’s best at international competitions such as the World Abilitysport Games in Korat, Thailand, in November 2025.
The teenager will be returning to the Thai city for his major Games debut at the Jan 20-26 Asean Para Games.
The youngest member of Singapore’s 37-strong contingent, Surya is among four shooters. The others are Paralympian Daniel Chan, Theresa Goh, a Paralympic swimming medallist, and debutante Shannon Heng.
He said: “I’m very grateful that I have the opportunity to go and compete at these big-level Games. I’m very excited because the World Abilitysport Games were recent and I really do think I have it in me and my confidence has gotten much better.
“I’ve worked on my mental game a lot so I’m really hopeful that I can win a podium spot for Singapore at the Asean Para Games.”
Surya Mohan Jha made it to the R3 men’s 10m air rifle SH1 final at the World Abilitysport Games in 2025.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
Surya considers the World Abilitysport Games as one of the highlights of his fledgling sporting career.
Competing in a field that included Slovakia’s Paralympic medallist Radoslav Malenovsky, he finished seventh in the R3 men’s 10m air rifle SH1 final.
In the process, he became the first Singaporean to appear in the final of this category at a World Shooting Para Sport event.
But, more than making history, it created a mindset shift for Surya.
He said: “That showed me I have the technical skills and it’s a mental game... This competition really solidified the fact that it’s not an age thing, it’s a skill thing.
“I received so much support from my coaches, team members at SDSC, and they really focused on the fact that age doesn’t matter in the sport.”
Since then, he has also worked to improve certain parts of his game, including the mental aspects of competing.
He recalled how he felt stressed during the final, while worrying about whether he made a good shot and how others were doing.
One way he has learnt to cope with such situations is through thought replacement, in which he substitutes a negative thought with a good emotion or positive memory.
Surya’s coach Dennis Tan, who has been working with him since 2022, said: “He has come a long way since then, as we explored and experimented with various set-ups in his position and the gun to optimise his execution, making minor tweaks and fine-tuning along the way...
“In essence, Surya’s technical capability at the firing line is well sharpened, but we still need lots of mental and tactical work to thrive over his experienced competition in the world arena.”
Beyond the thrill of excelling in the sport, shooting has also had a positive impact on Surya’s life, teaching him important skills like staying calm and being in the present, as well as time management and discipline.
These are key as he works towards his dream of making it to the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.
He said: “It’s such a big thing. Being a para-athlete and being able to show that I can represent myself at such a high and elite level is a pretty cool feeling.
“It’ll just be so cool to show other people and mainly to show myself that even though I have this condition, it really doesn’t mean anything because I can still excel in something and reaching the Paralympics is reaching that milestone.”
