Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Stefanus Ian/Red Sports

Shaun Moh of NUS clinched the gold medal in the Men's Long Jump event with a final distance of 6.95m. (Photo 1 © Stefanus Ian/Red Sports)

Shaun Moh of NUS clinched the gold medal in the Men’s Long Jump event with a final distance of 6.95m. (Photo 1 © Stefanus Ian/Red Sports)

Kallang Practice Track, Saturday, January 19, 2019 — Prior to this year’s Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Track and Field Championships, two-time defending champion Shaun Moh had inkling doubts on retaining his long jump gold.

The third-year medical undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) had suffered a bad ankle sprain late last year, which caused him to give the 2018 Singapore Athletics (SA) Inter-Club Championships a miss.

“Going into the season, my main worry was tending to the injury and not aggravating it any further,” he said. “So the main challenge for me was to find other ways to keep fit that are not specific to my event.”

Thankfully, all his worries were put aside as he leapt 6.95 metres on his fifth attempt to finish ahead of the field again, sealing his third IVP long jump gold in as many years.

Jerrel Wang of the Singapore Management University (SMU) came in second with 6.78m, while Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s Justin Lee posted 6.70m to round up the podium.

“There was no doubt certain expectations which I wished to fulfill going into the competition which could be a little stressful at times,” said Shaun. “But with my family and friends who came to support, it helped a lot in relieving these pressures and helped me truly enjoy the competition.”

“All my competitors were also encouraging and supportive of one another and I felt it was a good place for all of us to try our best.”

Shaun’s winning distance still falls marginally short of his wind-aided personal best of 7.01m, set at the 2017 SA Series 3 meet. However, he was quick to dismiss any notion of disappointment.

He said: “All athletes hope to break their PB but when it comes to the competition day itself, many factors come into play and on Saturday, the conditions were very good.”

“I’m not disappointed with not being able to surpass my best but I’ll take it as a learning opportunity to work on the aspects that I’m lacking in.”

Earlier in the women’s long jump, SMU high jump specialist Valerie Cheong leapt the furthest distance of 4.89m, while Wang Kai Qing of Nanyang Polytechnic and 100m hurdles champion Rachel Chin of Republic Polytechnic came in second and third respectively.

Over on the field, Shaun’s NUS teammates dominated in the throws events, sealing 1-2 finishes in two out of three events contested on the final day of the IVP championships.

Women’s javelin duo Chiu Jing Wen and Maya Shanmugaratnam posted 38.31m and 33.08m respectively to finish ahead of NTU’s Tracy Ng in third, while in the men’s shot put, Brian See (14.14m) and Bryan Koh (12.70m) beat out Caleb Hoe (12.17m) of the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).

Brian’s winning distance bettered his own IVP record of 13.98m set last year — and impressively, all five of his successful throws posted further than the old 1993 mark of 13.33m.

“Going into the competition on Saturday, I was confident that I could break the record,” said the second-year civil engineering undergraduate. “But then again I was unsure because I had to compete in the morning, and then IVP shot put in the afternoon. I’m just glad that I could further my previous record.”

Brian, who had also won the IVP discus event last week, competed in the discus again at the SA Series 1 meet in the morning where he threw 45.65m to surpass the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games qualifying mark of 44.80m.

“I’m very happy that I am able to produce the SEA games qualifying mark,” he said. “I’ve been doing well during training so I’m expecting this to come. This is a motivation for me to push myself further during training.”

Having already competed for Team Singapore at the ASEAN University Games last December, Brian has bigger goals ahead.

He said: “I’m trying to further my discus mark and eventually hit the 50m mark by SEA games, and hopefully win a medal for Singapore there. As for shot put, I’m hoping to hit the qualifying mark for the next SEA Games and (the World University Games) in 2021.”

Results

Men’s Long Jump
1st Shaun Moh (#181, National University of Singapore) — 6.95 metres
2nd Jerrel Wang (#342, Singapore Management University) — 6.78
3rd Justin Lee (#111, Nanyang Technological University) — 6.70
4th Darren Lee (#228, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) — 6.58
5th Raeshon Loo (#269, Republic Polytechnic) — 6.55
6th Kyaw Linn Naing (#378, Singapore Polytechnic) — 6.43
7th Jarryl Chong (#305, Singapore Institute of Technology) — 6.36
8th Joseph Zhao (#197, National University of Singapore) — 6.33

Women’s Long Jump
1st Valerie Cheong (#310, Singapore Management University) — 4.89 metres
2nd Wang Kai Qing (#31, Nanyang Polytechnic) — 4.74
3rd Rachel Chin Hui Ya (#246, Republic Polytechnic — 4.64
4th Estella Ng (#147, National University of Singapore) — 4.63
5th Zhuo Lin Lin (#156, National University of Singapore) — 4.50
6th Keifa Teo (#322, Singapore Management University) — 4.33
7th Bee Jia Sui (#244, Republic Polytechnic) — 4.24
8th Euodias Loh (#208, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) — 3.98

Men’s High Jump
1st Hairul Syamil Bin Mardan (#38, Nanyang Polytechnic) — 2.00 metres
2nd Toh Yong Xiang (#68, Nanyang Polytechnic) — 1.93
3rd Brandon Heng (#262, Republic Polytechnic) — 1.90
4th Kelvin Fan (#327, Singapore Management University) — 1.75
5th Chen Jinyi (#436, Temasek Polytechnic) — 1.75
6th Ephraim Soh (#274, Republic Polytechnic) — 1.70
7th Chan Sze Yuen (#160, National University of Singapore) — 1.70
8th Yang Tian Zhou (#343, Sinhapore Management University) — 1.65
8th Kieron Lim (#232, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) — 1.65

Men’s Shot Put
1st Brian See (#186, National University of Singapore) — 14.14 metres
2nd Bryan Koh (#172, National University of Singapore) — 12.70
3rd Caleb Hoe (#307, Singapore Institute of Technology) — 12.17
4th Chung Yew Weng (#101, Nanyang Technological University) — 11.96
5th Alvin Sia (#299, Singapore Institute of Management) — 11.69
6th Leroy Koh (#376, Singapore Polytechnic) — 10.42
7th Amos Pee (#338, Singapore Management University) — 9.88
8th Thong Zi Yu (#123, Nanyang Technological University) — 9.72

Women’s Javelin
1st Chiu Jing Wen (#133, National University of Singapore) — 38.31 metres
2nd Maya Shanmugaratnam (#149, National University of Singapore ) — 33.08
3rd Tracy Ng (#82, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore) — 25.22
4th Mirally Soh (#359, Singapore Polytechnic) — 25.19
5th Tan Zhi Xuan (#216, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) — 22.51
6th Megan Too (#362, Singapore Polytechnic) — 22.30
7th Hannah Esther Tan (#17, Nanyang Polytechnic) — 22.23
8th Melissa Yee (#258, Republic Polytechnic) — 21.40

Women’s Discus
1st Melissa Yee (#258, Republic Polytechnic) — 35.92 metres
2nd Kek Jing Wen (#202, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) — 35.56
3rd Mirally Soh (#359, Singapore Polytechnic) — 33.82
4th Chiu Jing Wen (#133, National University of Singapore) — 27.60
5th Faith Seah Kayla (#21, Nanyang Polytechnic) — 27.32
6th Zoe Lim (#350, Singapore Polytechnic) — 26.78
7th Marcella Chua (#76, Nanyang Technological University) — 25.28
8th Joleen Ho (#18, Nanyang Polytechnic) — 25.23

Full IVP Track & Field 2018/2019 Results

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