Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Nadzrie Hyckell, Lee Zong Han, Pek Hong Kiat and Syahir Ezekiel (L-R) took home silver for Singapore in the Men’s Lightweight Four 1000m with a timing of 3:05.25. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
Marina Channel, Sunday, June 14, 2015 — The Singapore quartet of Syahir Ezekiel, Nadzrie Hyckell, Pek Hong Kiat and Lee Zong Han overtook their opponents to win silver in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games rowing competition with a timing of 3 minutes 05.25 seconds.
The Singaporeans had trailed the rest of the teams early into the race, with Indonesia crossing the 500-metre mark first two seconds ahead of Vietnam and Myanmar. At this point, the Singapore rowers overtook the Malaysia and Thailand teams to park themselves in fourth at the halfway mark.
In the second half of the race, the hosts continued to press forward, and their tenacity eventually paid off. They overtook the Vietnamese and Burmese to come in 2.97s behind Indonesia and grab the silver. Vietnam came in third with a time of 3:06.60.
“The second half of the race, we really fought the battle. We were in fourth place at the 500 metres and I don’t know what happened… all of us were just so hungry for the win and just went on to the end of the race,” said Syahir. “I’m very proud of my team. We’ve only trained for like the first six months of this year and it’s a huge improvement from Asian Cup, which happened early this year. I cannot be more thankful to be alongside them, training each and every single day and I look forward to the next Games with them.”
Syahir added, “I think it was a blessing in disguise. The Asian Cup loss really humbled me and it really taught me how to pick myself up and just look forward. I think it resounds for my team as well, to know that losing one battle doesn’t mean losing all the battles. So I’m really proud of them to have the spirit and to have the hunger to really push on and to really go for the gold next time.”
Men’s Lightweight Four 1000m results
1st Indonesia — 3:02.28
2nd Singapore — 3:05.25
3rd Vietnam — 3:06.60
4th Myanmar — 3:10.08
5th Malaysia — 3:11.92
6th Thailand — 3:13.29
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