Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports
Jordan Chia (middle) won gold with a 14.86m throw. Abel Leow (right) was second while Brandon See was third. (Photo © Iman Hashim/Red Sports)
Hwa Chong Institution, Friday, April 8, 2016 — Jordan Chia of Raffles Institution (RI) claimed the A Division Boys Shot Put gold at the 57th National Schools Track and Field Championships, with a 14.86 metres effort.
RI teammates Abel Leow and Brandon See completed the podium in second and third place, with 14.70m and 14.40m throws respectively.
Jordan’s feat was all the more remarkable as he was still nursing a hairline fracture in his right ring finger, sustained about a month ago. In fact, just two weeks prior to the event, he could not even hold a shot put with his stronger right hand due to a metal splint inserted over his middle and ring finger.
Consequently, the RI Year 5 student started throwing with his weaker left hand during training as a plan B – until his doctor replaced the metal splint with a smaller one, with just a week to go before the event.
Undeterred by his handicap, Jordan went on to throw the shot put with only three fingers on his right hand – his thumb, index and middle fingers – on event day.
On his first throw, Jordan recorded a distance of 14.25m, with his senior Abel Leow one position ahead by a mere centimetre (14.26m). After the field was whittled down to the top eight throwers, Jordan then defied the odds to throw an impressive 14.86m with his fourth attempt – which eventually won him the gold. Abel’s 14.70m attempt thereafter fell short.
Jordan acknowledged that the result came as a surpise to him. Paying tribute to his support network, Jordan said, “I’d like to thank my coaches, my teammates and God. I really thank God for my victory.”
Jordan’s throw distance understandably did not come close to his personal best, which stands at a whopping 15.90m, set at last year’s South-east Asian (SEA) Youth Championships.
Due to his injury, Jordan did not take part in the discus event, which was won by Eric Yee of Hwa Chong Institution with a new championship record of 53.48m. Eric came in fourth in the shot put, which came as a shock to observers.
Jordan acknowledged that, saying, “I’m not sure what happened to Eric (in the shot put event). But I guess some people have their bad days and that day just happened to be a not so good day for him. I definitely believe that he deserved the win more than me, but that day he just did not perform.”
Meanwhile, Jordan could not be more pleased that teammates Abel and Brandon joined him on the podium – completing a rare RI podium sweep in an A Division Boys throws event. “I think it was a dream for the three of us for quite a while. From last year, we told ourselves that we could actually do it, that it was a possible dream,” Jordan remarked.
“But after I got injured, it kind of dashed that hope. I didn’t even think of getting onto the podium, let alone come in first. So it’s been a journey and I believe that we all worked really hard towards it – and to finally achieve it is something quite surreal,” he added.
A Division Boys Shot Put – Top 8
1st Jordan Chia Ting Xuan (#123, Raffles Institution) — 14.86 metres
2nd Abel Leow Chen Yue (#140, Raffles Institution) — 14.70
3rd Brandon See Wei De (#121, Raffles Institution) — 14.40
4th Eric Yee Chun Wai (#274, Hwa Chong Institution) — 13.85
5th Brian Loh Ye-Han (#82, Catholic JC) — 13.46
6th Cheng Wei Jian (#51, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)) — 12.43
7th Dennis Chua Di Lun (#295, Tanglin Secondary) — 12.10
8th Aegan Tan Jian Hui (#216, Anglo-Chinese JC) — 11.81
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