Singapore, 23 March 2018 – Gold Coast-bound Team Singapore athletes and officials were given a rousing send-off at the Commonwealth Games Flag Presentation ceremony, held at the Dunman High School this afternoon.

The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games will take place from 4 to 15 April 2018. The Republic has participated in every edition in the Games since 1950, and will be represented by 60 athletes in 11 sports this time round. At the Glasgow 2014 Games, Team Singapore won 17 medals, including 8 gold medals.

Shooter Teo Shun Xie was revealed as the flag bearer at the ceremony. She will lead the contingent at the Games and also hopes to defend her title in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event. The Rio 2016 Olympian said, “It’s an honour to be appointed as the flag bearer for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The team has been working very hard to prepare for the Games and I hope we will all meet our targets.”

The shooters will also form the biggest team within the contingent with 18 athletes, followed by the table tennis team of 10 who have already embarked on their journey to Gold Coast for their centralised training camp. For the first time, Team Singapore will also be competing in Lawn Bowls and Beach Volleyball, a new sport at the Games. The contingent will also be represented in four para events in athletics, powerlifting and swimming – a rare occasion where both able-bodied and para athletes compete as one contingent.

Chef de Mission Mark Chay is looking beyond medals for a successful outing. The former swimmer who competed in the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games said, “We are heading to the Commonwealth Games with a smaller contingent but one that is competing in more sports than in 2014. Our athletes range from 15-year-old debutants to seasoned campaigners participating in their fourth Commonwealth Games, they have all worked very hard to get there. We hope Singaporeans will cheer and support them during the Games.”

Singaporeans’ involvement also extended beyond the Team Singapore’s participation at the Games. Dunman High School has been involved in the Gold Coast 2018 School Connect programme with the Somerset College in Gold Coast since 2016.

At the flag presentation ceremony, medals for three events at the Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games were also presented to Chantal Liew (Swimming – Women’s 10km Open Water – from bronze to silver), Ashlee Tan (Diving – Women’s 3m Springboard – from bronze to silver), Fong Kay Yian and Ashlee Tan (Diving – Women’s 3m Springboard Synchronised – from silver to gold) before the commencement of the flag presentation. These new achievements are due to the rectification of the results following doping violations. Fong Kay Yian and Ashlee Tan both received the SNOC MAP Awards of $15,000 for their gold medal in a team event.