After erasing 16-year mark, Rei feels he can do better

Two records - one which had stood for 16 years - were smashed at the National School Games (NSG) track and field competition at Bukit Gombak Stadium yesterday.

Raffles Institution's (RI) Rei Tan clinched the C Division boys' high jump with a 1.85m effort, 3cm higher than the 2006 mark set by Hwa Chong Institution's (HCI) Wayne Yap, while in the A Division men's triple jump, Isaac Ong of HCI leapt 14.71m to erase the 14.58m record set by Singapore Sports School's Andrew Medina in 2019.

Rei, who was making his NSG debut, said: "It feels good to have my name enter the record books. I had a certain level of expectation for me to meet that standard but it all comes down to the moments before the jump."

Despite his feat, the 14-year-old felt that he has "potential to do even better but was getting tired towards the end" after he attempted to clear 1.87m in his last try.

Rei's coach, Fuad Idris, was not very surprised by his 1.86m charge's feat as he had been clearing such heights in training.

"He's a talent that we have unearthed in school and from there we polished him and we realised that he can go above and beyond and he's even beating seniors," said Fuad.

Despite acknowledging that Rei is a quick learner and has progressed fast in training, Fuad remains cautious and does not want him to burn out.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Ong's new division record in the triple jump came in his last year of competition. He and his coach had been eyeing this record for the past 11/2 years.

"I had been putting in more effort in the long jump than the triple jump event," he said.

"Going into the triple jump competition, I felt very fatigued and some of the drills that I usually do became a bit tough to do."

In the end, all it took was for Ong to get back in the sandpit to find his groove again.

"During the warmup, I felt quite uncertain and I didn't expect to do well. But after the first jump, I knew I had it in me to go far," he added.

However, reaching the next milestone in his jumping career will have to wait as both Ong and his coach, John Seem, are focused on his A-level examinations before his next return to the sandpit.

In the day's other finals, Raffles Girls' School's Bhavna Gopikrishna took gold in the B Division girls' triple jump with her effort of 11.22m, while HCI's Evan Lye clinched gold in the B Division boys' javelin with a distance of 47.83m.

Due to inclement weather in the morning, the A Division men's discus throw final was postponed to tomorrow.