Singapore shuttlers Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari are gunning to bring home a Gold medal from the 16^th Asian Games after it slipped from their grasp by a whisker at the 19^th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

 

The pair, ranked world number 11, had gotten an auspicious start for the Asiad, which will be held in Guangzhou, China this November.

 

 

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Come this Sunday, the Great Eastern Women 10km will kick off for the 5^th consecutive year. Unlike previous editions where only the top 10 runners received prizes consisting of cash and shopping vouchers, this year the prize pool has been expanded to the top 50 runners.

 

The additional 40 prizes come from a re-allocation of funds which would have been used as incentives for elite runners. In the past, $20,000 of incentives would have gone towards elite runners’ appearance fees, flights and accommodation.

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Singapore’s Mardan Mamat putted his way to third best score with 66 strokes at the inaugural CIMB Asia Pacific Classic which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday.

He shared his feat with three other golfers, including Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Pariya Junhasavasdikul. All three of them posted five-under-par. Scotland’s Martin Laird also got 66 strokes.

 

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What does the 16th Asian Games Guangzhou 2010 mean to you? “The Asian Games is almost like the Olympic Games to me. It will be very challenging. To play against the best in Asia is what I have been looking forward to.”- Robin Ng, Goalkeeper, Team Singapore mens’ hockey team


"This will be the second time that I will be representing Singapore at the Asian Games. I am honoured to be part of Team Singapore contingent and hope that we will be able to surmount all difficulties and make the knockout stages. We will prevail as long as we fight as a team and give nothing but our best as a team." - Hariss Harun, Captain, Team Singapore mens’ football team


"The Asian Games is recognized and competed at almost the highest level, if not below Olympic Games level. Being able to compete at this Asian Games for the dragon-boat event gives the community hope that dragon-boating may reach the limelight of Olympic Games one day. To most of us, it may be an once-in-a-lifetime affair. We really want to enjoy the whole process." - Kieu Chin Wah, Captain, Team Singapore mens’ dragon boat team


“I’ve prepared a lot for this Asian Games, I know that there are a lot of expectations on me by family, coaches, country and most of all, myself. I really want to swim well and hope I can perform in Guangzhou.”- Tao Li, Team Singapore swimmer


“I took the semester off for the Asian Games and in all honesty I do not know if I’m going to be around because I have some injuries and work. So I really hope that this Asian Games will be the most memorable one for me, if it’s the only one.”- Muhammad Amirudin Bin Jamal, Team Singapore track and field athlete.


"This is my first Asian Games and it means a lot to me. The road to qualification was tough as I had to go through intensive rehabilitation and also battle with the fear of a previous injury relapsing. Prior to joining the SSC, I was a full-time tutor. Juggling the busy work schedule, examinations and training was not easy. I had to miss a few overseas competitions due to work commitments. My five years in pole vaulting was definitely not a smooth one, and qualifying for the Asian Games is the greatest milestone for me so far." - Rachel Yang, Team Singapore track and field athlete.
(Photo: The Straits Times © SPH. Reproduced with permission)


"To me, the Asian Games in the second biggest event after the Olympics. It is very close to my heart as we are able to witness the talent of our Asian friends. Being able to compete against them and to try and do well against them gives me a huge confidence boost as I prepare to take on the world in the future." - Rainer Ng, Team Singapore swimmer.


“Participation at the Asian games is not something which can be achieved overnight therefore it means a great deal to me as it represents the fruits of my labour and that of my coaches as well as many others like my family and SSI medical team who have all made this possible.”- Lim Heem Wei, Team Singapore gymnast.

“The Asian Games is a step up from the SEA Games and gives us an excellent gauge of where we stand in the region. It is an excellent chance for us to pit ourselves against the region’ s best.”- Elfi Mustapa, Team Singapore track and field athlete.

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Juanma Mas has the herculean responsibility of coaching the national men’s hockey team going to the 16th Asian Games which will be held in Guangzhou, China this November. This responsibility is made even heavier by the fact that Singapore’s hockey team has not made the Asian Games since the 13th edition in Bangkok, Thailand back in 1998.

This year they managed to break their 12 year drought to qualify for the 16th Asian Games by trouncing Bangladesh in an upset win at the Robi Asian Games Qualifying Hockey Tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh in May this year. They were denied the top spot by a controversial goal from Oman which pushed the Omanis to the top of the table, just one point ahead of Singapore in the total points tally.

However, the euphoria from this historic victory was dampened by the unexpected resignation of Lim Chiow Chuan - the coach who had nursed them to hockey heaven. Rescue came in the form of Juanma.

Juanma hails from Spain and has over 20 years of coaching experience under his belt. He was responsible for the Spanish Youth Olympic Games national team, the Spanish women’s under -15 team for eight years and had a hand in moulding the Spanish Olympic hockey team.

He is no stranger to Singaporean hockey either, being the coach for the women’s national team since 2008.

“This is only an interim position, since the previous coach left quite suddenly a few months ago. So I was brought in as a quick solution,” he said. “But I am looking forward to the Asian Games, of course. I see it as a challenge. It will be an exciting outing for the team.”

The hockey team has been following a strict training regimen since July, according to Juanma. “We are at the last stages of the preparation and we have been training four days a week,” he said.

But preparations have not been smooth sailing. Juanma has had to grapple with the psychological impact his predecessor’s sudden departure had on the team, and the fact that the team have to juggle between work, school and training.

“All the players are working or studying so you cannot prepare as much as you want. But we have to prepare and train, it’s the only way”, said Juanma, adding, “We are trying to train them as much as they can under the circumstances they are currently facing.”

Of course Juanma was not thrown into the deep end without any help. The former coach gave him some much needed advice and information about the hockey team. Juanma also did a fair bit of his own homework. “Before I took the position, I found out everything I could about the team. I watched videos of their matches, especially the qualifiers for the Asian Games,” emphasised Juanma.

An added boon was Andrew Meredith, the German hockey team’s assistant coach, who was brought in as chief technical advisor. “Now we have an expanded team with more expertise and people to help out,” Juanma explained.

Juanma is adopting a stance of cautious optimism for the Asian Games. “We have come this far and can improve and become a little better step by step. Right now the motivation for the team is to do their best.”

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Tragedy struck our national dragon boaters three years ago. In 2007, while competing in the Cambodian Water Festival, our 22-man team was hit with a massive current that left the boat capsized. Team Singapore lost lost five members of the dragon boat team to the tragedy.

 

Fast forward to three years later. While the memories of their five team mates remain etched in their minds, the team has been busy preparing for the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China, from 12 to 27 November 2010. And they are raring to be let loose against other dragon boaters from China, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Myanmar, to name a few, who will also be competing at the Asian Games in Guangzhou.

 

Rebuilding the team, after the tragedy, had not been easy.

 

National dragon boat captain Kieu Chin Wah recalled that the team had to work tremendously hard in 2008 to recruit suitable new members and re-bond the team.

 

“It was a difficult period for the dragon boat fraternity after the incident but we knew that we needed to fight hard in order to build the team again. We increased the intensity and frequency of trainings to 11 sessions per week in 2009 in preparation for the 2009 World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Prague. We learnt valuable lessons from that event and ramped up our efforts in recruiting committed and stronger paddlers, redesigning the training plans and tightening up team dynamics, technique and discipline,” said Kieu.

 

The team swung into full training mode at the start of 2010 in preparation for the Asian Games. Apart from physical training, they also focused on factors which could affect their performance.

 

Kieu added, “We identified our strengths and weaknesses and factored these into the training program in preparation for the Asian Games. Besides adapting to foreign conditions, we also have to handle the competitive anxiety that comes with competing at major Games.”

 

“Overall, I am confident the team will fare well at the Asian Games. So far, we have been able to improve our timings for the few distances at almost every time trial. These are important benchmarks and milestones for us to gauge our progress in comparison with past performances,” emphasised Kieu.

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"Most of us have been playing together for two years and we've been training hard for the Asian Games," said Eunice Tay who will be in the rugby team heading for Guangzhou.

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