Story by REDintern Lynn Chia. Photos by Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports
Siew Lei (#222) of HCI cleared a height of 1.54m to clinch the girls’ A Division high jump gold medal. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Thursday, April 3, 2014 — Siew Lei of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) cleared a height of 1.54 metres at the 55th National Inter-School Track & Field Championships to clinch the girls’ A Division high jump gold medal.
The favourite to win this event was Estella Ng of Raffles Institution (RI), who has a personal best of 1.58m. Estella had cleared the height at this year’s Singapore Athletic Association Track and Field Series 2, and the 38th Singapore Junior Athletic Championships in 2012.
The event was a highly-anticipated affair as three of the top five jumpers from last year’s B Division, Lim Ping (#211, HCI), Siew Lei (#222, HCI) and Fatin Nabilah (#83, National Junior College), were now competing in the A Division.
Additionally, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) were participating in the event for the first time.
Only six competitors remained when the bar was raised to 1.40m, leaving Fatin, the sole NJC athlete, to vie with athletes of the two powerhouses, RI and HCI. Fatin had attained a fifth-placed finish in last year’s B Division competition, and went one better this time by clearing the same height of 1.43m to place fourth. She faltered at 1.46m and was eliminated.
Siew Lei, Lim Ping and Estella were the only jumpers in the field to have cleared 1.50m in competition, and it was these three who made up the podium finish. Lim Ping was the first to falter, finishing third in 1.50m. It was her fifth consecutive high jump medal at these championships, having won a gold, a bronze and two silvers previously.
Estella put up her best effort despite nursing a sprained right ankle which was an old injury, but had to make do with a second-placed clearance of 1.52m. She commented, “I felt like I did my best and I’m happy for the girls [who had won]. I’m thankful for my coach and my team mates for they are my driving force to compete and train whenever I feel low.”
Like Lim Ping, the medal was Estella’s fifth consecutive since 2010. This is also Estella’s third consecutive runner-up finish.
Siew Lei broke her three-year old personal best of 1.51m en route to clinching gold despite sustaining a back injury. She said, “I really owe this success to the team, to my awesome team mates, coach as well as my teachers.”
A Div High Jump (Girls) Results
1st Siew Lei (#222, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1.54m
2nd Ng Yu Jing Estella (#116, Raffles Institution) – 1.52m
3rd Lim Ping (#211, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1.50m
4th Fatin Nabilah Bte Ridzwan (#83, National Junior College) – 1.43m
5th Lee Jiaqi Amanda (#107, Raffles Institution) – 1.40m
6th Ong Huan Yun Jordan (#219, Hwa Chong Institution) – 1.40m
7th Bianca Lee Ann [#175, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)], Gabrielle Ong Hui Min (#102, Raffles Institution) – 1.35m
9th Ng Li Ying (#163, Victoria Junior College) – 1.30m
10th Rachel Ng Shi-Hui [#50, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)], Abbott Hannah Li’En [#37, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)], Chen Yingxuan (#143, Victoria Junior College) – 1.25m
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