‘Really heartening’ to see support from Singaporeans for Paralympians’ bus parade

SINGAPORE – Blaring horns sounded as the open-top bus parade kicked off at 11.30am at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on Sept 14 with Singapore’s 10-member contingent from the Paris Paralympics on board.

Thankfully, the heavy downpour in the wee hours had stopped for the para-athletes to enjoy their day of celebration, as about 3,000 red-clad supporters – many of them waving flags and holding signs – lined the city streets to cheer on Team Singapore.

The two-hour parade

began at Kallang with a brief welcome ceremony.

Close to a hundred Team Singapore fans and Sport Singapore staff gathered to cheer on the athletes before Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong presented each Paralympian with an orchid garland.

The Singapore contingent comprised double-gold champion Yip Pin Xiu, Toh Wei Soong and Sophie Soon (swimming), Diroy Noordin (athletics), Daniel Chan (shooting), Laurentia Tan, Gemma Foo and Hilary Su (equestrian), silver medallist Jeralyn Tan (boccia) and Nur Syahidah Alim (archery).

They returned from the Aug 28-Sept 8 Games in Paris with Singapore’s best-ever result, winning two golds and a silver courtesy of

Yip (50m and 100m backstroke S2 golds)

and

Jeralyn (individual BC1 boccia).

Accompanied by a second open-top bus carrying the media, the convoy travelled from Kallang to Chinatown, Orchard Road, Serangoon Road and Victoria Street before returning to the Singapore Sports Hub.

The para-athletes were out to party as they smiled and waved to supporters at the four “cheer points” along the route. One highlight was at the Central Fire Station at Hill Street, where a group of firefighters cheered for them while waving mini Singapore flags.

Along the city streets, onlookers out for Saturday shopping and lunch showed their support spontaneously, cheering and congratulating the athletes as the bus passed by.

For Yip, 32, the enthusiasm was a stark contrast to the lack of awareness around the Paralympics when she made her debut at Beijing 2008.

Speaking to the media after the parade, Yip, who is Singapore’s most bemedalled athlete with seven Paralympic golds and a silver, said: “When I first started in Beijing, barely anybody knew about the Paralympics. Over the years, support has really grown.

“It is a really, really nice gesture that everybody has been supporting us all these years. And more and more people are also aware of this, and viewership is growing.

“It was so nice that Singaporeans came out to all the various cheer points to just say hi to us. They made signs. And even at non-cheer points, there were people waving. So it’s really heartening... and we would like to show our gratitude to everybody that has supported us.”

Fellow swimmer Soon, 27, added: “It definitely feels great. We always see the numbers online, but when you physically get to see people supporting versus just the likes and comments on Instagram and Facebook, it really puts it into perspective and reality hits that we really do have a crowd and a team rallying and supporting us.”

The bus parade came a month after the

celebratory tour for Singapore’s Olympians on Aug 14,

when over 5,000 people gathered along the same route to cheer on 10 Olympians, including kitefoiling bronze medallist Maximilian Maeder.

The last parade featuring a Paralympian

was held in 2021,

when Yip – fresh off a double-gold triumph at the Tokyo Games – joined world champions Loh Kean Yew (badminton), Shayna Ng (bowling), and Aloysius Yapp (cue sports) for an open-top bus ride through the city.