SEA Games 2023: Singapore’s sailors claim three golds in Cambodia

SINGAPORE – The night before the SEA Games’ final day of sailing, Singapore’s Chia Teck Pin was unable to get proper rest.

Unwell and feeling the pressure ahead of the Mixed 29er Open medal race on Monday, he found himself waking up several times on Sunday night.

He and 29er partner Ellyn Tan, who had been sick for several days, were second in the standings going into the medal race, with Malaysia’s Abdul Latif Mansor and Muhammad Dhiauddin Rozaini in the lead.

But, on Monday, the Singaporean duo shrugged off their discomfort to take gold on 23 nett points ahead of the Malaysians (23) and Thais Sutida Poonpat and Suthon Yampinid (29).

Chia, 20, said: “Things were a bit stressful from the whole night before right up to when the race was starting. But I think overall we tried to shake off the feeling of stress and pressure, and focus on our processes when we are sailing and do our very best.

“A lot of us here are coming down with a bit of fever and small flu so we all had trouble sleeping, but the stress definitely added to it. I woke up multiple times during the night but every time I just tried to shake it off and go back to sleep and try not to focus too much on the negatives and think of the positives.”

Their win contributed to the sailors’ haul of three golds and four silvers at the Cambodia Games.

It was a special win for Chia, who will be enlisting for national service in July.

He said: “It’s definitely a bit of an emotional feeling knowing that this will be my last event in the next two years, but it made the moment all the more sweeter and I’m just very happy.”

In the ILCA 7 event, Ryan Lo delivered once again to bring his tally to three individual golds in four appearances at the biennial competition.

The 26-year-old, who competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, was the laser standard champion at the 2017 and 2019 editions.

His total of 11 nett points after 11 races was the best among the six-sailor fleet. Thailand’s Arthit Mikhail Romanyk (25) was second, while Malaysian Muhammad Faizal Ahmad Asri (28) was third.

It was a slightly different experience for Lo, who found himself taking a leading role in Singapore’s 10-member squad. The other nine were making their debut.

“I was trying to be more supportive towards the younger ones and I tried to give any advice and knowledge I had of Games experience to help them along,” said Lo, who will be taking a short break before focusing on qualifying for the Paris Olympics.

“I’m happy that we managed to do pretty decently as a team and everyone did their best.”

Teammate Isaac Goh, who clinched the ILCA 4 gold, finished with 14 nett points from 11 races, ahead of Thailand’s Thanapat Siricharoen (22) and Malaysia’s Muhammad Asnawi Iqbal Adam (28).

Isaac, a Year 4 student at Raffles Institution, was pleased with how he managed the pressures of competing in his first SEA Games.

“I thought the SEA Games would be very high stress and it was. But the people around me helped me get through it much better than I could, so that is an experience that I will always appreciate,” said the 16-year-old.

He is looking to compete at the World Sailing Championships in the Netherlands in August and the Sept 23-Oct 8 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Singapore’s other medallists in sailing were Jayson Tan (RS:X Men Class), Elkan Oh (iQFOiL Men Class), Jania Ang (ILCA 6) and Ethan Chia and Cheryl Yong (Optimist Mixed), all of whom secured silvers.