More medals for Singapore's youth athletes
Singapore's athletes racked up three silver and four bronze medals on the last day of the 12th South-east Asian (SEA) Youth Athletics Championships in Ilagan City, Philippines, yesterday.
Victoria Junior College's Syed Hussein Aljunied won his second silver of the meet with his 4min 11.73sec effort in the boys' 1,500m.
The 17-year-old had bagged a silver in the boys' 3,000m the day before.
He said: "I'm happy with my performance but, of course, I still wanted the gold.
"I've learnt a lot from this race and it has taught me to race harder and smarter for my next one."
Yesterday's other silvers were won by triple jumper Ernest Ong, who registered a personal best of 13.76 metres, and pole vaulter Sacin Esan Maran who recorded 3.80m.
Ernest was happy with his performance as he had just recovered from injuries.
Said the Hwa Chong Institution student: "Coming into this, I had injuries.
"Despite that, I managed to better my previous record of 13.50m with a new mark of 13.76m.
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"From here on, I'll do my best to go for the Asian Youth Games."
Yesterday's four bronze medals all came from boys - Matthew Lee in the 5kg shot put, Arfan Azhar in the triple jump, Thiruben Thanarajan in the 400m and Shawn Jong Tze Chean in the 400m hurdles.
In all, the Republic's haul in the two-day meet came to two gold, seven silver and five bronze medals, prompting team manager Ghana Segaran to say: "Almost all of the athletes have a medal each, so I am very pleased. This is a great achievement.
"They are the future of Singapore and this is a great opportunity for the youngsters to fit into the shoes of the senior athletes." - JONATHAN LEE
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