National long jumper Tia Rozario earns first SEA Games berth after reuniting with coach Valeri Obidko

SINGAPORE – When Tia Rozario was in her early teens, she was already clearing 5.5 metres with her long jumps and dominating school competitions.

Recognising her potential, Valeri Obidko, her jumps coach at the Singapore Sports School then, set her a target of 6m.

More than 10 years later, with coach and protege reunited, Rozario has finally hit that target and, in doing so, qualified for her first SEA Games by meeting the 6.02m qualifying mark.

At the Thailand Open Track & Field Championships on June 22, the 24-year-old shattered her previous personal best of 5.95m. At the National Athletics Centre in Pathum Thani, she jumped an impressive 6.16m, just two centimetres shy of the national record set by Eugenia Tan in 2015.

Rozario, who cleared 6m thrice, earned the silver medal, while Sri Lanka’s Madushani Herath (6.37m) won the gold and Thailand’s Supawat Choothong (6.01m) bagged the bronze.

She said: “I’m definitely very excited to have qualified for the SEA Games for the first time. But I think I was more excited to finally hit the 6m milestone...

“We’ve waited close to 10 years for this moment so it’s really special and feels like a full circle moment that I got to hit six metres with coach by my side.”

Obidko was appointed the national jumps coach by Singapore Athletics in January 2024.

It marked a return to the sunny island for the Georgia-born Singaporean, who had two stints as SSP jumps coach (2004-09 and 2013-15), sandwiching his tenure as national jumps coach from 2009 to 2013.

Rozario and Obidko worked together from 2013 till 2015, when he left to become coach of Thailand’s national jumpers.

They reunited last July when Rozario returned to Singapore after completing her master’s degree in biomedical science at Duke University in the United States.

“Linking up with coach Valeri is definitely vital,” said Rozario.

“He has a lot of passion for the sport and his athletes. His belief in me and my teammates has been what has been encouraging us to give our best every day at training and in competitions.”

Proper training commenced in September as the pair started off with gym sessions and looked into biomechanics to improve her technique.

It has paid off but Obidko believes there is more to come.

“She is a very fast learner and she picks up new techniques well. We are strengthening her and we have seen good progress,” said the 61-year-old. “So we will continue the same way towards the SEA Games. I am also hoping she can win a medal at the SEA Games.”

Rozario, who set the outdoor triple jump national record of 13.01m in 2024, also clinched a triple jump silver in Thailand with her attempt of 13.27m (+3.0m/s).

But that distance cannot be used for records, personal bests or qualifying standards as it exceeded the maximum allowable wind assistance of 2.0 metres per second (m/s).

Herath (13.58m) secured gold and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting (13.26m) the bronze.

In the men’s high jump, Andrew Pak leapt to a personal best of 2.05m – 10cm below the SEA Games qualifying mark – to win Singapore’s third silver at the Thailand Open. 

While Rozario is still some way off the SEA Games qualifying distance of 13.46m for the triple jump, Obidko said she may eventually get the nod for it as well, as her 12.89m effort set in Hong Kong in May is just 5 per cent off the qualifying mark, which puts her on the long list for nomination.

Having already had a taste of winning medals in Thailand, Rozario wants to repeat the trick on a grander stage at the Dec 9-20 SEA Games.

The last Singaporean woman to win a long jump medal at the biennial Games was Foo Hwei Fen, who earned a bronze in 1989. There has never been a Singapore medallist in the women’s triple jump.

At the last Games, Indonesia’s Maria Natalia Londa won the long jump gold with 6.28m, ahead of Vietnam’s Bui Thi Thu Thao (6.13m) and Bui Thi Loan (6.02m), while Thailand’s Parinya Chuaimaroeng – another Obidko protege – won the triple jump gold with 13.60m.

Rozario said: “I’ve spent so many years in this sport, gone through ups and downs, broken so many national records and won championships and travelled all around the world to compete.

“But the feeling of getting to represent Singapore at the SEA Games is going to be different, it is going to be very special.

“The SEA Games is really important to Singapore and to do it with the backing of my family and friends is something I am really looking forward to. I hope to medal at the SEA Games and then work towards the Asian Games next year.”