Swimmer Colin Soon wins his second gold of the 2023 Asean Para Games
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Colin Soon bagged the gold in 33.47 seconds.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
SINGAPORE – A day after clinching the Republic’s first gold at the Asean Para Games (APG) on Sunday, Colin Soon added another to his tally.
But the 18-year-old swimmer is not stopping there – he is hoping to build on these triumphs to help him achieve his target of qualifying for the 2024 Paralympics.
He took to the pool for the men’s SB13 50m breaststroke at the Morodok Techo Aquatic Centre in Cambodia on Monday, bagging the gold in 33.47 seconds and rewriting the Games record of 34.05sec set by Indonesia’s Marinus Melianus Yowei in 2017.
Teammate Wong Zhi Wei was second in 33.76sec, with Marinus third (35.05sec).
“I am once again surprised and very happy to have won another gold,” said Soon, who has two more events to go. “It has already been fantastic to have won a gold medal and so a second one really means a lot to me.”
On Sunday, he and his older sister Sophie clinched golds in the men’s and women’s SB13 100m breaststroke respectively.
This is Soon’s second Games mark in two days, having also broken Marinus’ SB13 100m breaststroke record on Sunday.
With his confidence boosted by these victories, he is eyeing the bigger stage.
“My current goal for now is to at least try to qualify for the Paris Paralympics,” he said. “And also the two remaining big events for this year for me are the World Championships in Manchester and the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou.”
Singapore also claimed four silvers and one bronze on Monday, taking their total tally to four gold, seven silver and six bronze medals. They are currently seventh out of 11 countries in the standings.
Besides Wong’s silver in the SB13 50m breaststroke, swimmers Darren Chan, Toh Wei Soong and Danielle Moi also finished second. All three set new national records.
Moi, who was second in the S14 50m butterfly in 33.06sec to add to Sunday’s silver in the S14 50m backstroke, said: “I am happy getting the silver...
“I have three more events to go. I am looking forward to better my performance and getting more medals for Singapore.”
Toh clinched a silver in the men’s S7 100m back in 1:18.23. This was his third medal at these Games, having claimed a gold in the S7 100m freestyle and a silver in the S7 400m free on Sunday.
“It’s not the clean medal sweep I set out to claim, but it’s still an exciting journey. It’s exciting to be making history moment to moment here,” he said.
Chan clocked 33.89sec to finish second in the SB14 50m breaststroke.
In table tennis, the men’s TT1-3 team of debutant Rodrick Li and Dinie Asyraf Huzaini claimed a joint bronze after finishing fourth out of five teams.
