Yip Pin Xiu and Nicol David blazing a trail for Asian women in sports

SINGAPORE – When she was 16, Yip Pin Xiu became Singapore’s first Paralympic champion. But a few months later, the national swimmer felt she did not do well for her O-level examinations in which she had 24 points for her L1R5 score (English language and five relevant subjects).

While many would have opted to focus on either sport or studies, Yip decided to continue juggling both and excelled.

After her victorious Paralympic debut at Beijing 2008, she competed in four more Games, racking up seven Paralympic golds and one silver in total.

Off the pool, she attained a diploma in sports science at Republic Polytechnic – graduating as backup valedictorian in 2012 – and a bachelor of social science from Singapore Management University in 2017.

The 33-year-old shared how she broke barriers while speaking as a panellist at the Love, Bonito: The Trailblazers Summit at New Bahru on March 1.

She told The Sunday Times: “If I can win a medal at the Paralympics, there’s no way I cannot study. I can use the same kind of discipline I use in the water.”

Yip, who at two years old was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease which causes the muscles to progressively weaken, had started swimming as a family activity with her older brothers when she was five. At 12, she decided to take it seriously and train full time.

Despite it being a daunting prospect and largely uncharted waters for her parents, they fully supported her ambitions. She said: “There was not as much emphasis on girls’ upbringing in sport as there was for boys, especially during my time, and girls didn’t really get exposed to as many opportunities.

“But I was also very lucky that my parents were very supportive. They sent me to morning trainings when my grades were not good, and they did not put any extra pressure on me to study and stop sport.

“I also feel very privileged that I was then given the opportunities that I have to be able to take this path, and managed to succeed with the support and backing that Singapore has given me throughout.”

In 2022, Yip started Apex Swimming with partners Leonard Tan and Marcus Cheah to create similar opportunities for able-bodied and disabled students, with a goal of helping to groom athletes for the national teams.

She said: “It’s not for a while more that I’m done with swimming, but I want to still be making an impact while I’m swimming, take part in things that help to shape the narrative and create opportunities, and show that it’s possible for women to excel in sport.”

Also sharing her personal stories at the event organised by home-grown fashion retailer Love, Bonito was Malaysia’s squash legend Nicol David, who talked about thriving in a demanding world.

For years, she had conquered her sport, even staying at world No. 1 for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months until September 2015. During her seemingly invincible era, she blocked off any physical or mental vulnerability so that opponents would not be able to smell blood, just as she would capitalise on any signs of weakness.

But two years later, she broke down. David was already an eight-time world champion when she lost to Annie Au in the second round of the 2017 US Open for her first loss to the Hong Konger in 24 meetings, looking out of sorts. Her coach Liz Irving then questioned her desire to continue playing.

Returning to her hotel room, she repeated the question to herself and cried when she realised she “couldn’t see myself playing five or six more years, and I had only two years left in me”.

The 41-year-old, who had been frustrated by her slide down the rankings, told ST: “The moment I knew it was time to let go was like breaking up with a sport that had been my life, that’s why it really hit hard.”

Fortunately, she had Irving to open up to and talk things through, and a two-month break from the sport in 2018 to recover from an empty-handed Commonwealth Games worked wonders as she took gold at the Asian Games to cap an illustrious career.

She said: “You need to push barriers at times to become a champion. But you also need to be aware of your limits and talk about it if something is not right.

“That was the first time I gave myself a break in my 15 years of playing. It was a moment when I made a very hard decision for myself because my mental health wasn’t in a good place.

“I also needed my body to recover and my mind to be stable, so I can train and push myself for the Asian Games. It was the best decision I made.”

After retiring in 2019, she co-founded the Nicol David Organisation (NDO) in 2022 with former Colombia squash player Mariana de Reyes to give back to society by empowering girls and boys through sport and education.

The NDO currently runs the Little Legends programme that provides around 140 children aged eight to 12 from mid to low income families in Kuala Lumpur a subsidised five-year scheme with squash training, English tutoring, life skills workshops and nutrition planning.

It also started in 2024 the Ibu Legends programme that provides around 60 mothers with medical check-ups, mental and physical well-being workshops, and parenting support, and intends to start a similar programme for fathers in 2025.