Story by Nicole Lum/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan and Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports
Zac Leow in action during the men’s 1500m. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
National Stadium, Sunday, December 6, 2015 — In his debut at the 8th ASEAN Para Games, Singapore’s Zac Leow crossed the finish line in 5:44.49 minutes to bag the silver medal in the Men’s T37 1500m final. His feat is not only a Personal Best (PB) but also the nation’s first medal in athletics in seven editions of the Games.
Leow ran with consistent pace at second place behind Indonesia’s Timin until the third lap where he picked up speed in an attempt to catch up. However, his competitor was too strong and even displayed a final lap burst to take the gold in a Games record time of 5:24.62 minutes. Vietnam’s Nguyen Huu Thinh rounded off the podium in 6:12.51 minutes.
Said Leow of his race: “I was really trying to give us a national anthem (moment) here so that sort of spoiled the plan for pacing a little…I was trying to chase Timin down but he’s really better than me at this point of time.”
“It’s a great honour that the country has allowed me to represent her. I especially like to thank SDSC (Singapore Disability Sports Council) for bringing me back here because I was actually studying in Australia…I’m very thankful to be given this opportunity,” said Leow, who is in his first year of PhD (Sports Science) studies at the University of Western Australia.
Being based in Australia, the 29-year old faced “a lot of challenges”. Leow explained: “I’m an overseas athlete, so it takes a lot of effort for me and my sports officer to liaise and to make sure that my results are well accepted here in Singapore. I think my officer, Mr Loh Ngiap Kiang, has done a tremendous job by helping me get everything done.”
Leow was hit with adversity when he encountered a road accident that left him fully paralysed in late 2013. “I was fully paralysed and the doctors told me that I would never run again…the doctors didn’t really give me any form of rehabilitation because they deemed that I would be paralysed for life,” he said.
“But I’m glad that I was stubborn enough to do what I wanted to do and to prove the medical team that it’s possible. I’ve only started running track and field events since February – it’s only been 10 months since I started running again,” Leow added.
Leow’s first run for Singapore was during the Beijing International Paralympic Committee Athletics Grand Prix in April. Looking forward, he hopes to qualify for the 1500m race in the 2020 Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. “I do know of the cutoff for Rio (2016 Paralympics) and to be honest I’m a little far from it…. so I will push really hard for Tokyo 2020. I will be 33 (years old) then so that might be the last chance for me to race,” he explained.
On his impact of his achievement, Leow feels that it is “a big step ahead for the country”.
“Be it for able-bodied or for para-athletes, athletics has been a bit of an underdog sport,” explained Leow. “I hope having the first medal will get more funding and support for the sport. It’s a psychological effect. If we get more funding, athletes like myself or other potential medal contenders would be more supported and we can actually train a little more. We won’t have to work part-time and it may help us in the longer run.”
Men’s T37 1500m final Results
1st Timin (Indonesia) – 5:24.62
2nd Leow Zi Xiang Zac (Singapore) – 5:44.49
3rd Nguyen Huu Thinh (Vietnam) – 6:12.51
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