Yip Pin Xiu and Toh Wei Soong retain top honours at Singapore Disability Sports Awards

SINGAPORE – Swim queen Yip Pin Xiu is looking forward to a hard-earned breather after a hectic two years.

The Singaporean

retained her two Paralympic golds

in the 50m and 100m backstroke S2 events in Paris in 2024 to bring her Paralympic gold-medal haul to seven. She then followed that up by

winning a gold and silver

at the World Para Swimming Championships in home waters in September.

For her feats, she earned her fifth straight, and sixth overall, Sportswoman of the Year gong at the Singapore Disability Sports Awards at the Paradox hotel on Nov 20, which takes into account achievements from April 2024 to March 2025.

The 33-year-old, who recently returned from her honeymoon in Greece, said: “To know that these awards came back in 2019, that I’ve been performing at a certain level that I am pleased about, I feel very grateful and appreciative for the support that I received, and I hope to do this for as long as I can.

“I do plan to continue this kind of consistency, be it in training and competitions and things like that.”

Her training intensity will be significantly toned down in 2026 as Yip shifts her focus to the Para Swimming World Series before setting her sights on the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028.

“I think it is a good time for me to take a break after two years, so I’m taking a bit of a breather for now and coming back strong,” added Yip, who was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease – which causes the muscles to progressively weaken – at the age of two. 

Yip will not be taking part in the Asean Para Games (APG) from Jan 20 to 26 in Thailand because her events will not be contested.

The 41-strong Singapore contingent will be led by fellow para swimmer Toh Wei Soong, who clinched the Sportsman of the Year gong for the fourth straight year on Nov 20.

The Republic returned with a haul of 12 golds, 15 silvers and 17 bronzes from the 2023 edition in Cambodia.

The National University of Singapore graduate secured a gold and bronze at the Citi Para Swimming World Series Singapore in 2024, before reaching the 50m freestyle S7 and 50m butterfly S7 finals at the Paris Paralympics.

His mother Stella Hu collected the award on his behalf as Toh, 27, is in Nagano, Japan, for a training camp in preparation for the APG.

When contacted, he told The Straits Times: “I am very humbled to receive the Sportsman of the Year award. I would like to thank my family for their love and support, as well as the guidance of coach Ang Peng Siong and coach Osamu Gushi.”

He added: “I would like to shout out my fellow nominees too, who are incredible sportsmen I am proud to be part of Team Singapore with and I am so honoured to have shared the field with them today for this award.”

There was a windfall for awardees this year as they also received a special cash top-up – $5,000 for pathway and performance awards and up to $3,000 for community awards – provided by the CKY Foundation.

In addition, the Haw Par Corporation contributed $120,000 to the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) to mark the 10th year of their partnership.

Kelly Fan, executive director of the SDSC, said: “It has been very challenging for the athletes (Yip and Toh), they have worked very, very hard to keep their titles.

“They have had very tough competition from the other nominees in the categories. So it’s not easy for them to keep those titles and I think it’s well deserved.”

On Singapore’s medal targets at the biennial APG, Fan said: “I think we have always tried to field a strong Team Singapore, to represent the country well.

“Our athletes will give their best, we don’t have particular medal targets, but (instead) for everyone to come back with their best results.

“For them to be able to achieve (a new) personal best will be something that they will look forward to, and for the young ones, the debutants, to be able to prove that they are able to step up.”