SEA Games 2025: Singapore men’s water polo team win gold No. 29 in 30 editions

BANGKOK – Not satisfied with being big fish in the small South-east Asian pond, the Singapore men’s water polo team shifted their sights to an Asiad podium spot just minutes after beating Indonesia 19-16 to claim their 29th SEA Games gold in 30 editions.

“Next up is rest but next year, we are definitely looking at a medal place at the Asian Games,” said skipper Sanjiv Rajandra, 23, following the victory at the Thammasat University on Dec 19.

There is reason for such optimism despite a fifth-place finish at the last Asiad in 2023. They have had a fine season which featured a historic match win in their World Aquatics Championships debut to finish 15th out of 16 teams.

With an eye on the future, Singapore coach Kan Aoyagi made sweeping changes to the 15-man squad, which comprise 11 SEA Games debutants with an average age of 20.5. Only Cayden Loh and Darren Lee were from the 2023 gold-winning squad, while Goh Wen Zhe and Jayden See made amends for their surprise bronze in 2019.

Noting that he would not be making major changes to the team ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asiad, Aoyagi said: “We have a long journey because we want to get a medal at the Asian Games and one day we want to be top of Asia.”

“This (SEA Games gold) is progress and a process to improve ourselves, and I’m really happy because this competition makes us grow up and improve,” added the Japanese, who was soaked after jumping into the pool to celebrate with the team. “After nine months, we have the Asian Games. We will work harder to continue this progress.”

The 45-year-old, who berated some of his players from poolside during the first quarter, added: “I scold them all the time because I am like the father of the team. But even though I scolded them, they became tough and they are mentally strong.”

“Because we selected many young players, they didn’t have enough experience. They are actually very strong in terms of ability, but there is the SEA Games pressure and champion mission. They were really nervous and I’m very happy to win with this team,” he added.

After the Republic beat Malaysia 23-8 in their first match, they edged out hosts Thailand 14-13 in a physical encounter before thumping the Philippines 33-6.

In the decider against Indonesia, the defending champions trailed 0-1, 1-2 and 5-6, but ended the first quarter with an 8-6 lead as six players got on the scoreboard.

However, 2019 champions Indonesia mounted a stunning comeback in the second period, erasing a three-goal deficit to draw level at 11-11 heading into half-time.

The third quarter was a low-scoring affair as Singapore took a 14-13 lead into the final period before seeing out the match in front of about 70 of their family members, friends and fans, who celebrated by singing, “Ole, ole, ole”.

Rajandra said they expected the tough match and played according to plan, while Goh was happy to finally get his hands on the gold medal.

The 23-year-old, who sported a cut on his left brow from the bruising win over Thailand and scored the last three goals against Indonesia, said: “2019 was a very painful experience, but through these years, I worked and worked and finally got to this stage. Today’s scoreline reflects the team’s efforts throughout the whole year.

“We weren’t able to play this level of water polo at the start of the year, so to see the fruits of our labour come out now makes me very proud to be part of this team.

“The shift in target to become Asian Games medallists has increased the quality of our training and our efforts are not focused on just the SEA Games now, as we want to push our level even higher.”

Later in the day, Singapore’s women’s team lost 11-8 to Thailand in their final round-robin match.

Despite having beaten the Philippines (35-6), Malaysia (25-4) and Indonesia (20-5), they had to settle for silver again as the hosts made it five golds in a row since the Republic won the first during the event’s 2011 Games debut.

While Singapore, who had seven Games debutantes and were without first-choice goalkeeper Rochelle Ong who fell and sprained her left ankle before the match, led 2-1, the Thais gradually pulled away despite the best efforts of Mounisha Devi Manivannan in goal and Ranice Yap’s game-high six strikes.

National women’s team head coach Yu Lei said: “We did our best, but did not capitalise on the scoring chances we had. When Thailand pulled away from the third quarter, we panicked. We were predictable in attack and our opponents were able to restrict us.

“Our targets will not change. We will go for gold again at the 2027 SEA Games and aim to at least preserve fourth place and try for a medal at the 2026 Asian Games.”

Overall, Singapore Aquatics delivered 22 golds, 13 silvers and nine bronzes across swimming (19-8-7), diving (1-2-1), artistic swimming (1-1-0), water polo (1-1-0) and open water swimming (0-1-1), before the Dec 20 open water mixed relay, to surpass their target of 20 golds.

Singapore Aquatics president Kenneth Goh said: “On the whole, I’m most proud of how hard our athletes have fought. Medals aside, it’s really about the fight, coming back, going against the odds, and I think all our athletes have done that, and that’s what we should truly celebrate as part of Team Singapore.”