SEA Games 2025: Athletics needs to ‘come to the party’ in Singapore’s hunt for more golds
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Singapore National Olympic Council secretary general Mark Chay has called for athletics to "join the party" on Singapore's gold medal hunt.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
Follow topic:
- SNOC's Mark Chay urges athletics to improve for Singapore to achieve more gold medals at the SEA Games.
- He stresses the importance of aquatics performing well at the 2029 SEA Games in Singapore.
- Poor performances from football and badminton teams will be reviewed; wushu athletes are determined to improve.
AI generated
BANGKOK – Singapore athletics has to “come to the party” if the Republic wants to finish among the top three nations and pull off a strong showing when the SEA Games return to the Republic in 2029, said Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) secretary-general Mark Chay.
At the Team Singapore review at Bangkok’s Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel on Dec 20, the former national swimmer noted that there were “some hits and some misses” at the 2025 edition.
“In aquatics, the SEA Games is really a breakout or breakdown kind of event,” said the 43-year-old.
Noting that many of Singapore’s 926-strong contingent rose to the occasion, he added that “we do need to inculcate this competitive edge”.
“If not, what we’re doing is that we’re encouraging satisfactory performances, where our athletes are satisfied with not winning,” he said. “We need to do something about that, especially when we have our sights set on 2029.”
For Singapore to make a significant dent at the Games, aquatics and athletics need to pull their weight.
Chay said: “There are two compulsory sports at the South-east Asian Games – aquatics and athletics. Swimming delivered 50 per cent of the gold medals (from 38 events), but for athletics, there are three golds out of 47.
“I think a lot of work has to be done there if we really want to chase medals, if we really want to consistently be top three in South-east Asia, and if we want to have a strong home Games showing.
“If we’re really hunting for golds, hunting for medal tallies, athletics need to come to the party... athletics is an Olympic sport that is there every single Games, whether it’s World games, Asian Games and we need to have more athletes at the world-class level.”
In Thailand, Team Singapore reaped a total of 202 medals – 52 golds, 61 silvers and 89 bronzes – to finish fifth in the region
The Republic’s best-ever ranking was second at the 2015 Games at home, which produced 84 golds, 73 silvers and 102 bronzes.
Chay also stressed that Singapore Aquatics, whose athletes in swimming, artistic swimming, diving and water polo won a total of 22 golds, needs to evaluate to “see what they need to do in the next four years for a good home showing”.
At the Dec 20 review, several sports, including badminton and football, were also singled out for their unsatisfactory results by High Performance Sport Institute chief Su Chun Wei.
He said: “We’ll be upfront to say that there are, in particular, at least two sports in which the performance has been poor.
“Certainly I will be looking at this, going back and discussing with the Singapore Badminton Association to see how we will really have to take stock and take decisive actions.”
Wushu also had a disappointing run, as its exponents did not win a gold medal for the first time since the sport was introduced in 1991
Dr Su said the athletes had come “fully prepared”, though “the outcome was probably not what (the national sports association) had envisioned”.
“But more importantly our wushu athletes... have learnt what it takes to win and that the SEA Games is not a shoo-in and this is as valuable,” he added.
“I was speaking to some of the athletes and I could see the fire in their bellies, and this turns them into more hungry athletes who say, ‘I really have got to come and do this, this is not what we wanted’. If this spurs them on, it’s good.”
