S'pore athletes clinch 9 gold medals on day five of SEA Games

Singapore's athletes delivered a bumper crop of nine golds on day five of the Hanoi SEA Games yesterday, with former Olympic champion Joseph Schooling stamping his mark in the pool with two golds - a fifth straight title in the men's 100m butterfly and the men's 4x100m medley relay.

The swimmers continued to plunder gold at the My Dinh Water Sports Palace, with Gan Ching Hwee and debutante Letitia Sim finishing tops in the women's 200m freestyle and women's 50m breaststroke respectively to take the day's gold medal tally to four.

But it was the silat exponents who kicked off the gold rush, with Nurul Suhaila Saiful claiming an elusive gold in the women's class E (65-70kg) tanding after three consecutive bronze medals.

Her title was the first of three that the Republic's exponents won yesterday, with Hazim Yusli claiming the men's Class C (55-60kg) gold via disqualification after an illegal kick by his opponent to his jaw while Sheik Farhan Sheik Alau'ddin retained his Class J (90-95kg) title from 2017 after his Thai rival Saranon Glompan forfeited midway through the second round.

Their victories gave the silat exponents their best showing at the Games with four gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

There was also joy on the fencing piste as the women's epee team clinched the country's first gold in the discipline after the quartet of Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman, Victoria Lim, Rebecca Ong and Elle Koh defeated Thailand 45-36 in the final.

Over at the Vincom Megamall Royal City's Heroworld Bowling Centre, Cherie Tan struck gold in the women's singles final to continue Singapore's winning streak in the event since 2011. It was the 33-year-old's third singles title after wins in 2011 and 2017.

Competing in his sole individual event at the Games, which he won at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Schooling clocked 52.22sec to finish ahead of teammate Quah Zheng Wen (52.86) and Thailand's Navaphat Wongcharoen (52.98).

Schooling and relay mates Maximillian Ang, Quah and Jonathan Tan then wrapped up the evening with a blistering swim in the 4x100m medley relay, storming home in 3min 37.69sec to finish ahead of Vietnam (3:39.76) and Thailand (3:43.67).

Schooling also hinted he may not be hanging up his trunks just yet. He said: "I'm really pleased to be able to do that (getting five in a row), but at the end of the day the coaches did a great job adjusting to what we had to do today... Looking forward to maybe six next time, I don't know."