Shooter Martina Veloso leads the way in creditable Team Singapore showing on the Gold Coast

15 Apr 2018
Category:

  • Athletes from Shooting, Para-Swimming and Table Tennis deliver 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals for Team Singapore
  • Sharp shooter Martina Lindsay Veloso stuns with superb performances winning 2 gold medals
  • Chef de Mission Mark Chay lauds Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games organisers for a memorable, friendly and safe Games

Singapore, 15 April 2018 – Team Singapore’s outing at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games has come to an end. Since 4 April, 59 athletes have been flying the Singapore flag across 11 sports on the Gold Coast. The medal tally for Team Singapore stands at 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals.

A new qualification process was introduced by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at these Games in athlete allocation. Six athletes in para sports, weightlifting, power lifting and beach volleyball qualified directly, and the remaining 53 athletes filled the allocated quota for Team Singapore. The 53 athletes had to fulfil the Commonwealth Games Singapore’s selection criteria and minimum benchmark of a sixth placing from the previous Games.

Thirty-nine out of 59 athletes in the contingent made their Commonwealth Games debut on the Gold Coast. Teams from badminton and table tennis (men) are going through a transition in talent renewal with debutants forming the majority of the squads. Nevertheless, these young athletes impressed to make it through to the semi-finals in some events.

At the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, shooter Martina Lindsay Veloso finished fifth in the 10m air rifle event. This time, the 18 year-old broke new ground, performed superbly to clinch two gold medals in the women’s 10m air rifle and 50m prone events, setting two Games records en route to the wins. The shooting team did well overall, making the finals in eight events out of 13 contested.

Para swimmer Toh Wei Soong earned a bronze medal in his Commonwealth Games debut in the men’s S7 50m freestyle event, winning the first medal for Singapore in a para-event at the Games. The table tennis team is still trying for more medals in three remaining events to add their medal tally of one gold and one silver.

Said Chef de Mission Mark Chay, “Overall, our athletes performed to their potential in a very competitive field. Shooting, swimming and table tennis delivered medals as anticipated. A majority of the athletes are making their Games debut, and we also saw some gritty performances from our young badminton, table tennis and rhythmic gymnastics teams at these Games. These athletes have a long runway ahead of them and it is important that they gain confidence in playing at this level and improve from now on.

“The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games have been very memorable for Team Singapore, we have been very impressed by the hospitality extended to us. Our athletes were given the best possible environment to compete in, and what matters most is that they finished the Games safe and take away valuable lessons to work on for their future competitions and major Games.”