A swimming event for all

Inclusivity was the theme at the Haw Par National Youth Para Swimming Championships organised by the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) at Our Tampines Hub on Friday. 

The only national swimming competition that caters to youths across different impairments – intellectually impaired, deaf and hard-of-hearing, physically impaired, visually impaired, autism and down syndrome – the meet saw 87 participants, aged between 7 and 18, taking part.

Twenty-three participants took part in the newly introduced non-competitive events – "25m finisher" and "50m finisher", underscoring SDSC’s commitment to promote inclusion and create more sporting opportunities for all.

One such participant was Colin Soon who, at a tender age of 13, made waves at the annual meet by sweeping up gold medals in seven events – the 50m freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke and 100m freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke S13 events.

Colin, who has visual impairment, shared his aspirations on swimming:

“I push myself to achieve my best. No matter what, I will always keep trying,” he said.

Sports

Water great way to foster inclusivity

Jan 12, 2019

In an effort to strengthen the disability sports community here, SDSC also embraced the idea of having parents of the participants voluntarily fulfil roles in the running of the events.

Mr KC Wong, father of Wong Zhi Wei, said: “It’s great to see more parents involved in their child’s sporting interest. Taking time off work to show support is important and creates an unspoken bond between child and parent. I hope to see more parents come forward and lend a hand at such sporting events.”