Modern pentathlon: Singapore chief Cassandra Choh elected VP of Asian body

SINGAPORE - Having served the local modern pentathlon scene for over 10 years, Cassandra Choh will now serve a wider community after she was elected vice-president of the Asian Modern Pentathlon Confederation (AMPC) on Oct 22.

Choh, also president of the Singapore Modern Pentathlon Association, was elected at the AMPC's annual general meeting, which was attended by 21 out of 32 member federations. Her four-year term started on Oct 25.

The 57-year-old is the first Singaporean to serve on the committee and said she was delighted and honoured to be elected.

She joins other Singaporean officials who have assumed roles at the international level such as Singapore Cycling Federation president Hing Siong Chen, who was recently elected treasurer of the Asian Cycling Confederation and former bowling chief Jessie Phua, who led the International Bowling Federation from 2007 to 2011.

Modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport that has four components: fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping and the laser run, which combines shooting and running.

It made its Asian Games debut in 1994 and Singapore has never taken part in the sport at that level. Besides the Asiad, the sport's other continent-wide competition is the Asia/Oceania Championships.

The sport made its SEA Games debut in 2019 without the fencing and equestrian components. Singapore claimed two bronze medals courtesy of Marcus Ong and Shermaine Tung in the men's and women's laser respectively.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics featured five Asian countries out of 29 in the sport.

Acknowledging that it is not the most accessible sport especially in South-east Asia, Choh still hopes to raise continental standards by organising more training camps and lower-level competitions here.

These are important for countries that do not compete at the Asian Games, like Singapore, as they help athletes improve by giving them more experience and exposure, she said.

The personal trainer added: "Athletes can't just compete locally. I want them to have competitions with other Asian members. It's all about education and bringing the sport to the higher level.

"Sometimes, they might get complacent if they just compete with local athletes but when you compete with other Asian athletes, you know it's not the same anymore because they're definitely at a higher level."

She also aims to propose that more international training camps be held in Singapore so that it is more convenient for athletes here.

Singapore's national modern pentathlon team consists of five athletes aged 12 to 36 and Choh said they typically attend training camps or competitions overseas once or twice a year but she hopes to increase this number, especially if they are held in Singapore.

She added that she is excited to help more athletes in her new role.

Choh said: "I don't have any challenges on my mind yet so I'll just go with the plan of collaborating with other Asian countries so the athletes can learn from one another.

"I never expected to get this role and I just want to help the athletes because I love this sport. It's a very interesting sport to me and regardless of whether I'm on the board or not, I'll continue putting a lot of effort into developing the sport."