SEA Games 2025: Avvir Tham wins S’pore’s first men’s diving gold in 60 years

BANGKOK – Heading into the SEA Games men’s 1m springboard final, Singapore’s Avvir Tham was not among the favourites.

While Tham, who had the sixth-highest total difficulty score among the nine divers in the final, earned a silver in this event at the Hanoi Games in 2022, Malaysia’s divers were highly fancied as they had won this event since 2005.

But by the end of the competition at Assumption University Suvarnabhumi Campus Aquatic Center on Dec 17, the 21-year-old emerged from the pool as the first Singaporean man to clinch a SEA Games diving gold in 60 years, topping the standings with a personal best of 370.35 points.

He is the first male diver from the Republic to do so since Hui Peng Seng won the men’s springboard diving (required dives) gold in 1965.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Chawanwat Juntaphadawon (357.80) fought his way back from last place after his first dive to claim silver, while Malaysia’s Yong Rui Jie (354.55), a last-minute replacement for the experienced Syafiq Puteh, who was rested for his pet 3m event, got bronze.

Tham’s 18-year-old teammate Max Lee also recorded a personal best of 319.35 to place fourth.

Tham said: “It feels incredible. The moment I finished my last dive and realised that I got gold, it felt like all these years of hard work and failures that I’ve endured built me up to this very moment and everything paid off.”

It was Lee who led the way after the first and second dives before Yong took over first place following the third dive.

Meanwhile, Tham was second after his opening forward 2½ somersaults, fifth following the back 1½ somersault and third after the reverse 2½ somersaults.

But in a strong showing in the second half of his programme, the full-time national serviceman surged ahead after his inward 2½ somersaults and stayed on top with an assured execution for his forward 3½ somersaults and forward 2½ somersaults with 1 twist.

Believing that he has improved on his mental strength since his first major international outing in 2022, Tham said: “I believe that I have reached a level to be able to achieve this medal.

“All I needed to do was just do in competition what I do in training and believe (in) the work that I put in, which I think I did very well, try to do my best dives and let the results happen on its own. I think that it all came together pretty nicely and there were no big mistakes.”

Tham’s victory is a breakthrough moment for Singapore diving as the discipline was revived in 2009, after the Republic was selected to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

The dormant diving programme restarted and in 2013, Singapore returned to the SEA Games podium after a 28-year wait.

Tham’s triumph is Singapore’s first SEA Games diving gold since Ashlee Tan and Fong Kay Yian were awarded the women’s 3m synchronised springboard gold in 2017, after they were bumped up from silver.

Malaysia’s Wendy Ng and Dhabitah Sabri had won the event in Kuala Lumpur, but Ng tested positive for a banned substance and the pair were stripped of their gold.

Tham said: “I’m super proud to take home this gold medal for Singapore and I hope there’s many more to come. Winning this is of great importance to me, because I hope we can inspire more people to join diving and experience this sport that I love so much.”

National diving coach Charlie Tu also hailed his athlete and his crowning moment.

He said: “This is a great testament to his commitment to training as well as his mental resilience and perseverance. It’s especially heartening to see his progress from the last few SEA Games and I’m so pleased for him.

“Over the last few years, we have developed a clear pathway for our athletes, providing them crucial support and assistance to help them go further in their career. We also have a system in place that helps identify and nurture talent, so that we can grow our pool of divers and continue to achieve glory for Singapore.”