ASEAN Para Games: Singapore’s Tay Wei Ming defends badminton singles title

Tay Wei Ming in action during the singles final. Wei Ming beat his Vietnamese opponent 2-1 to win the gold. (Photo 1 courtesy of SDSC)

Solo, Indonesia, Monday, December 19, 2011 — Defending champion Tay Wei Ming beat Tran Minh Nhuan of Vietnam 2-1 (14-21, 21-17, 21-8) to win the BMSTU4 men’s singles final at the 6th ASEAN Para Games.

Team Singapore athletes bagged two fold, seven silver and two bronze medals from the day’s action and the contingent finished the games in seventh position with a total of nine gold, 10 silver and nine bronze.

The game went down to the wire but Tay kept it together and beat his opponent convincingly in the third set to claim the gold medal.

In doubles action, Wei Ming teamed up with Kelvin Pung but the pair went down 0-2 (20-22, 15-21) to Vietnam’s Pham Hong Tuan and Tran Monh Nhuan.

At the pool, with two gold medals already in hand, Theresa Goh increased her personal tally to three gold medals as she topped her S-5, 50m freestyle event in 45.40s. Paralympic medalist Yip Pin Xiu also took to the pool in the same event. Despite being bumped up two classes, Pin Xiu impressed enough to take the bronze medal in 1:01.58s.

Pin Xiu received added cheer when her silver medal for the S-5, 50m backstroke was included in Singapore’s overall medal tally as she had managed to break the Games record despite finishing two out of two in a race that was two classes higher than her own classification.

Emma Dione Schick was also in good form, bagging two more silvers. She finished her S-9, 100m freestyle in 1:30.50s and later returned to clock 38:27s to claim another silver medal in the S-9, 50m freestyle.

Fellow swimmers Lawrence Tay and Charlotte Lee also increased their personal medal tallies. Lawrence finished second in his ID, 100m breaststroke event in 1:21.36s. He was good again for a silver when he completed the ID, 50m backstroke in 36.67s. Charlotte clocked 1:59.98s to claim a silver medal in her ID, 100m breaststroke while Han Liang Chou took a bronze in the ID, 50m backstroke in 40:01s.

With a bronze medal already to her name, Chew Zi Ling completed her S-14, 100m breaststroke in fourth position, while Nadia Xu, who also competed in the same event, finished a credible fifth.

Our paddlers played their remaining two games in their class 4 and 5 men’s team group stages. Dr William and Eugene Soh put up a very strong showing against their Vietnamese opponents, winning two doubles matches. However, the Singapore pair lost the three singles matches, eventually bowing out 2-3 on aggregate.

Tay Wei Ming (left) and Kelvin Pung in action during the doubles final. They went down 0-2 to their Vietnamese opponent. (Photo 2 courtesy of SDSC)

Kelvin Pung (left) and Tay Wei Ming with their doubles silver. (Photo 2 courtesy of SDSC)

Emma Dione Schick was in good form, bagging two more silvers. She finished her S-9, 100m freestyle in 1:30.50s and later returned to clock 38:27s to claim another silver medal in the S-9, 50m freestyle. (Photo 3 courtesy of SDSC)