2022 – the rise of history makers and emerging contenders
A new dawn. The coming of age. Call it what you want, but 2022 delivered many firsts for Singapore sports. We watched with pride as our athletes created history and announced their arrival on the world stage. With 2023 on the horizon, here’s a recap of the top 10 sporting moments of 2022.
Loh serves up a storm
These days, you’ll be hard pressed to find a Singaporean with no idea who Loh Kean Yew is. The 2021 world badminton champion clocked a stellar year as he rose to a career-high world No. 3 and made his Badminton World Federation World Tour Finals debut in December. He is now the top ranked male shuttler in Singapore’s history, but can the 25-year-old go even higher next year? Don’t be surprised if he drops another smash hit.
A bountiful year, but that’s nothing new for Hui Fen
New Hui Fen loves the podium. A serial winner, the 30-year-old kegler added three more SEA Games medals – two golds and one bronze – in Hanoi to her collection of nine. But the cherry on top was clinching the silver medal at the International Bowling Federation World Cup. Her stock could rise further with more pinfalls, as the next SEA Games in Phnom Penh is only five months away.
Feng reaches the summit
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Singapore’s most bemedalled Olympian Feng Tianwei etched her name in Commonwealth Games history this year by amassing 13 medals to become the competition’s most successful athlete in table tennis. She is no stranger to glory, with three Olympic medals gilding her winner’s cabinet. The 36-year-old has spent her career vanquishing the world’s best, and her drive for success could set up one last dance.
Marrying grit with ambition to write history
Love stories do not get much sweeter than this. For Terry Hee and Jessica Tan, who forged a partnership both on and off the court, life as a married couple involves winning Singapore’s first Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold in badminton. The world No. 23 pair will be eager to continue their meteoric rise in 2023, having been ranked 406th in the world in October 2021. Let the honeymoon never end.
Singapore’s latest flying fish makes a splash
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A new face has joined the Republic’s long dynasty of swim stars. Teong Tzen Wei showed his prowess in the pool when he went under 22 seconds in the men’s 50m freestyle at the SEA Games this year to become Southeast Asia’s fastest man. He one-upped that performance by bagging a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games – one of three Singaporean swimmers ever to win a medal at the competition – and was the only Asian at the 50m fly final of the 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m). Hold your breaths, the 25-year-old is raring to go again.
Superb silat’s record-breaking SEA Games
A gold rush on the final day of competition at the SEA Games in Hanoi saw Singapore’s silat team finish with four gold, three silver and four bronze medals, their best performance at the regional meet. Leading the charge was Iqbal Abdul Rahman, who finally struck gold on his sixth attempt. That fighting spirit will surely come to the fore again at next year’s SEA Games.
Staying sharp for the win
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Amita Berthier is on the ascendancy. The first Singaporean fencer to qualify for the Olympics, the 22-year-old Notre Dame University student was named Women’s Foil Athlete of the Year in the United States in May. This came two months after winning an individual silver at the National Collegiate Athletic Association fencing championships. Her trust in her thrusts will spearhead her efforts in 2023.
Right on cue for success
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Precise shots, calculated moves and sheer determination. Aloysius Yapp and Toh Lian Han had it all en route to becoming the first Singaporeans to reach the World Cup of Pool’s final in June. The duo, who are more than 20 years apart, still have much more in the tank to offer. Don’t talk to them about generational gap, they only need their skills to shine.
Game on with Olympic Esports Week in 2023
Be it in-person sports or simulations, the inaugural Olympic Esports Week will feature them all. Named by the International Olympics Committee as hosts of next year’s June 22 to 25 event, Singapore aims to entice more to the realms of sports and esports. Fans will be able to attend exhibitions and panel discussions, while also catching the first live finals of the Olympic Esports Series, a virtual and simulated sports competition, in the flesh.
Shanti’s gold leads athletics medal haul
Seven years is a long time. Just ask sprinter Shanti Pereira, who first won the 200m final at the SEA Games as an 18-year-old in 2015. Following years of struggles, her next triumph in the event finally came three editions later in Hanoi, which galvanised the athletics team to cross the line with 12 medals – their best showing since 1993. Who doesn’t love a comeback story?
