Solo, Indonesia, 17 December 2011 – Swimming was the main contributor of medals for Team Singapore at the 6th ASEAN Para games today. Collecting a total of six medals, our para-swimming team performed very well and lived up to expectations.

Benson Tan claimed the gold medal after coming tops in his Intellecutally Disabled Class (ID), 50 meter freestyle event with a timing of 1:03.79 seconds, breaking the games record in the process.

Games debutant Emma Dione Schick also secured gold in her S-9, 50 meter backstroke event, finishing in 47.22 seconds. Prominent swimmer Yip Pin Xiu also claimed a place on the podium, claiming a silver medal from the S5, 50 meter backstroke event. She had finished her event in 1:01.57 seconds. Point to note, she had swum in a higher class, as her class is S3. This was due to the fact that in the ASEAN region, there are no competitors in her class, hence the upgrade.

Other medal winners from swimming include Lawrence Tay, who won silver after finishing his ID 50 meter breaststroke in 36.31 seconds. Charlotte Lee and Chew Zi Ling both clinched bronze after finishing their ID, 50 meter breaststroke and ID, 100 meter freestyle in 55.74 seconds and 1:27.34 seconds respectively.

Over at the Manahan Stadium, Singapore debutant Chua Pei Ni finished third and won the bronze medal for athletics in her T-20, 100 meters event. Muhammad Firdaus came in fourth in his T-54, 400 meter race with a timing of 58.15 seconds. Sivakumar s/o B.Silvermoney and Mhd. Syaiful Bin Rahmat finished their T-20, 1500 meter event in fifth and sixth position respectively.

Bowling also secured a bronze medal at the Bengawan Sports Complex as Anuar Saaid finished third with 779 pin falls. In the TPB9 singles competition, Singapore’s Goh Chen Keok finished in fourth place with 930 pin falls. Tan Swang Hee completed his TPB10 singles competition in seventh place with 859 pin falls.

Singapore shuttler Tay Wei Ming progressed to the quarter-final stages of the BMSTU4 men’s singles after defeating Md.Amin from Indonesia 21-10, 21-5 in his group B match, to progress to the quarter-finals. Kevin Pung, unfortunately went down Narin Chort of Thailand 21-14, 21-8. The pair were also involved in doubles action and they registered a win in their BMSTU4 men’s doubles match via walk-over against Vietnam duo Levan and Nvu Yen Van Tai.

Our paddlers were also in action in the Class-4 mens singles. Eugene Soh missed out on a spot in the quarter-finals after losing 3-11, 2-11, 1-11 Indonesia’s Astan Adios and 8-11, 11-6, 11-13, 14-12 to Vietnam’s Le Binh Yen.

Dr William also failed to qualify for the next round after losing two of his three games. He lost 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 to Vietnam’s Ve Dang Chi and 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 to Timor Leste’s De Araujo Abilio. He did mange to win his last game 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 against Thailand’s Wanchai Chaiwut.

Overall, Team Singapore has managed to obtain 2 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze today. They are currently at 6th place in the overall medal tally standings with 4 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze.