Sporting Life
Why the confidence of sprint queen Pereira is a beautiful thing
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Shanti Pereira in full stride at the Commonwealth Games where she became the first Singaporean to make the 200m final.
PHOTO: COMMONWEALTH GAMES/LIM WEIXIANG
Some display it in a swaggering strut, others through an unwavering manner. Some wear it like a conceited air, others like an assured aura. Some speak boastfully about it, others offer quiet sentences filled with conviction. The beauty of confidence is that everyone needs it but no one wears it quite the same.
Many Asian athletes, raised on a traditional diet of humility – of course, there’s no need to show off, but there’s no cause for deference either – often mute their confidence. As if it’s rude to advertise it. Yet confidence is only a reflection of faith in the self and an athlete’s hard-earned, sweat-soaked belief in their own powers.
