SINGAPORE – The 2022 season had been a relatively quiet one for national short track speed skater Xu Jing Feng, who did not train much owing to his school commitments.
To his disappointment, he also missed out on the Singapore National Championships last October after contracting dengue fever.
But the 19-year-old made up for it in his first competition in a year by winning four gold medals – three individual (junior A men’s 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m) and one relay – at the SEA Open Short Track Trophy over the past weekend.
He said: “The medals that I won were very significant to me as it proved to myself that I was still able to perform at my best even with all the difficulties that I had faced in the past year.”
The Republic delivered a total of 14 golds, 12 silvers and 10 bronzes at the competition, which returned here after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
It attracted a total of 120 skaters from Singapore, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Philippines and Vietnam.
The competition is the last international event to held here before the closure of the JCube mall, which houses Singapore’s only Olympic-sized ice-skating rink, in August.
The Jurong East building will make way for a 40-storey residential development that will include commercial space on the first and second storeys.
The Rink at JCube is a training venue for athletes from the Singapore Ice Skating Association (Sisa) and the Singapore Ice Hockey Association. The only other ice rink, which is smaller, is at Leisure Park Kallang.
Xu, who won a gold in the men’s relay team event at the 2019 SEA Games, said: “It is a bittersweet feeling as I have had so many enjoyable memories competing with my teammates and other international skaters at JCube.
“The Rink at JCube will always have a special place in my mind, and I am extremely happy that I was able to end my journey at this rink on a pleasant note.”
As discussions between Sisa and national agency Sport Singapore about a new training and competitions facility are currently ongoing, the SEA Short Track Trophy will move to the Philippines next season, with the competition to be held in Manila in October. Thailand will host the Asian Short Track Trophy in September.
SEA Trophy organising committee chair Alicia Tan said: “We are really glad to be able to host the SEA Open Short Track Trophy in Singapore once again, and are pleased to see such active participation from the region.
“We are especially glad to welcome Vietnam, who fielded a short track team for the first time. This bodes well for more competing nations and an even higher level of competition at the next SEA Games to feature ice skating.”
