Yip Pin Xiu (swimming)

Putting tough times to bed

After a difficult start to 2019, Yip is ready for Tokyo without retirement on her mind

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After a nine-year drought, national swimmer Yip Pin Xiu won two gold medals at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships.
Yip Pin Xiu loves pushing her limits, even though she needs a longer recovery time than before. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Yip Pin Xiu loves pushing her limits, even though she needs a longer recovery time than before. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
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Spring was preparing to arrive but sleep would not come. For several months last year, Yip Pin Xiu would get up in the middle of the night and anxiously wonder: "What if I never get better?"

Those sleepless nights haunted her following the Melbourne leg of the World Para Swimming World Series last February while she also confided her insecurities to good friend and now-retired swimmer Theresa Goh.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 21, 2020, with the headline Putting tough times to bed. Subscribe