S’pore’s Yip Pin Xiu, fellow Paralympians go on open-top bus parade

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s para athletes who competed at the Aug 28-Sept 8 Paris Paralympics were taken on

an open-top bus parade

through the heart of the city on Sept 14.

The bus

set off from the OCBC Aquatic Centre

at around 11.30am before journeying through four “cheer points” that have been designated for the route: Chinatown (in front of People’s Park Complex), Orchard Road (along Orchard Road and Bideford Road junction), Serangoon Road (after Tekka Market and towards junction of Buffalo Road) and Victoria Street (mural wall at 8C Jalan Kledek) before it heads back to the Singapore Sports Hub.

All 10 of Team Singapore’s Paris Paralympians were on the bus. They are Yip Pin Xiu, Toh Wei Soong and Sophie Soon (para-swimming), Diroy Noordin (para-athletics), Daniel Chan (para-shooting), Laurentia Tan, Gemma Foo and Hilary Su (para-equestrian), Jeralyn Tan (boccia) and Nur Syahidah Alim (para-archery).

Singapore racked up three medals in Paris

– two gold and a silver – in their best showing at a Paralympics.

The previous best was at Rio 2016, where the Republic earned two golds and a bronze. In Tokyo three years ago, Singapore clinched two gold medals via Yip, who led the way in Paris again as she retained her S2 titles in the 50m and 100m backstroke.

This is the third successive Games in which the 32-year-old has been crowned double champion. She is Singapore’s most bemedalled para-athlete, with seven gold medals and a silver medal from the Games.

On Sept 2, Jeralyn Tan won a silver in boccia to become the nation’s fourth Paralympic medallist after swimmers Yip and Theresa Goh, and equestrienne Laurentia Tan.

This was the second bus parade involving local athletes in 2024.

On Aug 14, thousands of supporters turned out to support 10 Olympians,

including kitefoil bronze medallist Maximilian Maeder, as they were taken through the city.