Singapore-based Merlion Masters B claim World Aquatics Masters C’ships water polo men’s 40+ silver

SINGAPORE – Their wrinkles may be more pronounced, their hair grey or thinning, and some are sporting bulging tummies.

But with the same competitive spirit and guile when they dominated the SEA Games in the 2000s, the Merlion Masters B – a predominantly Singaporean side – captured the water polo men’s 40+ silver on Aug 22, the final day of the World Aquatics Masters Championships.

In front of family and friends at the WCH Arena, they beat another Singapore-based side Merlion Masters A 15-8 to finish second out of seven teams in the round-robin competition with five wins.

Their only defeat came in a 12-5 reverse by The Olympic Club, who finished champions, while ACS Hello Sport clinched bronze.

Merlion Masters B coach and captain Marcus Ng said: “We have a group of very close friends and ex-teammates, many of whom haven’t played for years.

“So, when we knew the world championships were going to be in Singapore 1½ years ago, I told them this could be the last chance for us to play water polo at the international level at home. If that’s not a good enough reason to play, I don’t know what is.”

The 47-year-old project director of Innovez Engineering, the firm that constructed the high diving pool at Sentosa for the World Aquatics Championships (WCH), also expressed gratitude to the players’ supportive bosses and wives.

He said: “It really took the support of an entire village for just one player to prepare for this as we had to get permission from bosses to take leave, and permission from wives who had to help to take care of the kids while we are away.”

And so, eight Singaporeans in their 40s – Paul Tan, Leonard Yeo, Jerome Lau, Luo Nan, Nigel Eng, Kelvin Ong, Yip Ren Kai and Ng – along with national men’s water polo coach Kan Aoyagi, fellow Japanese Shinnosuke Hamada and Hungarian Gabor Bertha signed up for Merlion Masters B.

To prepare for the meet, they went for overseas tournaments and training camps in Hong Kong, Australia and China, and trained thrice a week in Singapore. To improve their stamina, they also trained with the national under-16s.

While their commitment is real, so has been the strain on their bodies, especially as they had only 11 players when they could register 15.

Ng had his fingers heavily taped up, while others had plasters across their bodies. Yip, 42, said: “I have a swollen knee and I don’t know why. It hurts everywhere, and it doesn’t feel like my body any more.

“Every year we have open leagues and Pesta Sukan tournaments where we play once a week, but they are nowhere as competitive as this where we play six games in a week.

“We will go for massages and ice baths and think about the injuries later. For now, we will savour this special moment of winning a world masters championships medal on home soil, as many of our families and children did not get to see us play competitively. We showed we still have the same camaraderie in us, which speaks volumes of the bond we have.”

Augmenting the side were goalkeeper Bertha, and Aoyagi and Hamada who produced crucial goals.

Unexpectedly, former Japan national player Aoyagi found himself in the same team as Tan, Luo and Ong after they were opponents at the 2010 Asian Games.

After guiding Singapore to their first WCH win as the men’s team beat South Africa to finish 15th in July, he produced more heroics when he scored the winning goal with five seconds left to seal a 13-12 win over ACS Hello Sport on Aug 20 and secure a medal for Merlion Masters B.

Aoyagi, 45, said: “I’m really honoured to play with this Singapore team. Because of my coaching work, I have not played for a year but I’ve always wanted to play, so this was like a miracle because I never thought about this when I came here in 2021.

“In the masters, we have 35 seconds instead of 28 seconds of possession for each attack, so we were rushing initially, and we played our best in the last two games.

“We are a bit disappointed to lose because if we trained more together, maybe we could be champions.

“That’s why now we are talking about trying to do something for the next world masters championships in two years in Hungary.”