Solo, Indonesia, 19 December 2011 – Singapore's badminton players netted gold and silver in today's competition at the Sritex Arena in Solo, Indonesia. The Republic's shuttlers took center-stage when they competed in both the BMSTU4 men's singles and doubles finals.
Singles defending champion Tay Wei Ming was in no mood of letting his title slip from him. Tay squared off against Tran Minh Nhuan of Vietnam. The game went down to the wire but Tay kept it together and beat his opponent convincingly in the third set to claim the gold medal. Tay's final score was 14-21, 21-17, 21-8. In doubles action, both Tay and Kelvin Pung staged a strong showing against Pham Hong Tuan and Tran Monh Nhuan also of Vietnam. The Vietnamese pair proved to be too strong and our boys conceded their game in straight sets going down 20-22, 15-21. But it was good enough an effort for Tay and Pung to take the silver medal for Singapore.
It was another packed day of action at the pool again! With two gold medals already in hand, Theresa Goh increased her personal tally to three gold medals as she topped her S-5, 50 meter freestyle event in 45.40 seconds. Paralympic medalist Yip Pin Xiu also took to the pool in the same event. Despite being bumped up two classes, Pin Xiu impressed enough to take the bronze medal in 1min:01.58 seconds. Emma Dione Schick was also in top form bagging two more silvers. She finished her S-9, 100 meter freestyle in 1min:30.50 seconds and later returned to clock 38:27 seconds and claim another silver medal in the S-9, 50 meter freestyle.
Fellow swimmers Lawrence Tay and Charlotte Lee also increased their personal medal tallies. Lawrence finished second in his ID, 100 meter breaststroke event in 1min:21.36secs. He was good again for a silver when he completed the ID, 50 meter backstroke in 36.67 seconds.
Charlotte clocked 1:59.98 seconds to claim a silver medal in her ID, 100 meter breaststroke while Han Liang Chou took a bronze in the ID, 50 meter backstroke in 40:01seconds.
With a bronze medal to her name, Chew Zi Ling completed her S-14, 100 meter breaststroke in fourth position, while Nadia Xu who also competed in the same event, finished a credible fifth.
Our paddlers played their remaining two games in their class 4 and 5 men's team group stages. Dr William and Eugene Soh put up a very strong showing against their Vietnamese opponents, winning two doubles matches.
But the Vietnamese proved their grit and the Singapore pair lost three singles matches – eventually bowing out 3:2 on aggregate.
Our Para-bowlers also took to the bowling lanes in a Men's trios event, played for the first time at these Para Games. The team of Anuar Saad, Goh Chen Keok and Tan Swang Hee played and came in 4th placing, with 1736 pin falls.
On a side note, there was something to cheer about when it was officially announced this morning that Yip Pin Xiu's silver medal for the S-5, 50 meter backstroke will be included in Singapore's overall medal tally as she had managed to break the Games record despite finishing two out of two – in a race that was two classes higher than her own classification.
Today, team Singapore bagged 2 Gold, 7 Silver and 2 Bronze medals.
Overall Singapore remains in seventh position with 9 Gold, 10 Silver and 9 Bronze medals.
Thank you for supporting Team Singapore.
