asian games

Rachel Lee and Cecilia Low won gold in the Double Handed Dinghy 420. The sailing contingent had the best performers at the Asian Games. (Photo courtesy of SSC)

Singapore’s athletes returned from the recently concluded 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games with four gold, seven silver and six bronze medals (4-7-6). The 17-medal haul was lower than the pre-game prediction of 30 to 33 medals.

The 2006 Doha Asian Games remains the high watermark of Singapore’s performance at an Asian Games. Then, the contingent returned with eight gold, seven silver and 12 bronze medals (8-7-12).

The sailors were the best performers in Guangzhou, returning with two gold, two silver and four bronze medals (2-2-4), while the bowlers were the next best with one gold, three silver and one bronze medals (1-3-1).

Swimmer Tao Li returned with a haul of two medals — one gold and one silver — in the 50m and 100m Butterfly respectively to earn herself a $300,000 reward, the highest payout among all the Singapore athletes.

Bowlers Shayna Ng and Cherie Tan also stood out with a team gold and an individual silver each. They will each share a $320,000 payout for their respective team gold while also pocketing an extra $100,000 for their individual silver.

In total, Singapore athletes won a combined $2.34 million from the Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme (MAP) administered by the Singapore National Olympic Council. All award winners will pay 20% of their winnings to their respective national sports associations.

Singapore did not reach its stated desire of finishing in the top 10 at the Asian Games. Among its regional neighbours, Singapore finished in 16th with their 4-7-6 haul, behind Thailand (9th; 11-9-32), Malaysia (10th; 9-18-14) and Indonesia (15th; 4-9-13). The Philippines finished 19th (3-4-9).