Team Sports School Delivers 6 Medals and New Records

22nd Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England

23 past and present student-athletes were part of the 66-member Singapore contingent who flew the Singapore flag high at the 22nd Commonwealth Games held from 29 July to 9 August 2022. 14 Team Sports School athletes contributed 6 medals – 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze – half of the 12 medals won by the Team Singapore contingent. National Records and Personal Bests were also made in Athletics, Swimming, and Weightlifting by three Team Sports School athletes.

Team Sports School represented Singapore in six sports – Aquatics (Swimming), Athletics, Badminton, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, and Weightlifting. Team Singapore competed in 9 of the 17 sports that were played at the Commonwealth Games. Singapore’s medal haul mainly came from Badminton and Table Tennis, which comprise predominantly past and present student-athletes.

Singapore rejoiced along with the Women’s Table Tennis team when they won gold. Two of the four women in the team – Wong Xin Ru and Zhou Jingyi – are recent graduates from Sports School. They had a convincing 3-0 win over Malaysia in the finals. Xin Ru and Jingyi, who are debutants, also paired in the Women’s Doubles and finished in 4th place after they lost to Wales in the bronze-medal match.

The all-Sports School Men’s Team with past student-athletes Clarence Chew Zhe Yu, Ethan Poh Shao Feng, Koen Pang Yew En, and current student-athlete Izaac Quek Yong (Secondary 4), also booked a spot in the finals. They met a more experienced team from India, which is the same four-man team that took home the title at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. With an average age of 21.2 years old, the younger Singapore team put up a brave fight against the defending champions but lost to them 3-1. With a silver medal for the team event, Clarence, Ethan, Koen and Izaac moved ahead to compete in the Singles and Doubles events with confidence. Clarence and Ethan bagged a bronze medal in the Men’s Doubles event after winning Australia.

In Badminton, history was created when alumni and real-life couple Terry Hee Yong Kai and Jessica Tan Wei Han clinched a gold medal in Mixed Doubles after beating England in the finals. The gold-medal win is historic for Singapore as it is badminton's first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 20 years. In the Mixed Doubles specifically, the Republic's previous best result in the event was a bronze at the 2006 and 2010 editions of the Games.

Terry and Jessica upset the odds by winning home favourites and World No.10 duo Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith 21-16, 21-15. Even though the World No.35 badminton pair were playing high-ranking players on their home ground filled with loud cheers and support for their opponents, Terry and Jessica kept calm and gave a smashing win.

Earlier, the duo had already won a bronze medal in the Mixed Team event. 8 out of the 10 shuttlers from the Mixed Team are past student-athletes, namely Crystal Wong Jia Ying, Jason Teh Jia Heng, Loh Kean Hean, Loh Kean Yew, Nur Insyirah Khan Abdul Hamid Khan, Jessica and Terry. They beat England in the third-place play-off and avenged their loss to England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where they finished fourth. Another bronze was claimed by World No.19 alumna Yeo Jia Min in the Women’s Singles after overcoming World No.17 Kirsty Gilmour from Scotland 21-14. 22-20.

Team Sports School also achieved some of its best results while competing against outstanding athletes. Sprint queen and alumna Veronica Shanti Pereira broke three national records during the heats of the 100m race, and the heats and semi-finals of her 200m event. In Women’s 100m, Shanti clocked 11.48 seconds and finished fifth in her heat, which was won by Grace Nwokocha in 10.99sec. Her time of 23.46s in the Women’s 200m in the heats eclipsed her previous best and national record of 23.52s which was set in earlier this year at the 31st SEA Games. She matched the same national record and personal best in the Women’s 200m semi-finals.

Weightlifter David Mok Pingwei (Diploma in Business, Year 1), who had his first major Games experience at the Commonwealth Games, also achieved a national record and personal best in Men’s 55kg when he lifted a total of 181kg.

Swimmer Maximillian Ang Wei (Extended Diploma in Sport and Leisure Management) had a good outing at his first Commonwealth Games as he set three personal best records in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke and Men’s 100m Breaststroke events. In the 100m Breaststroke, he set a new personal best record in the heats, and bettered his timing with a new personal best achievement of 1.01:42s in the semi-finals. In the Men’s 50m Breaststroke, he clocked a personal best timing of 28.23 and qualified for the semi-finals.


RESULTS

Badminton
Gold
Mixed Doubles
Terry Hee Yong Kai
Tan Wei Han

Bronze
Mixed Team
Crystal Wong Jia Ying
Jason Teh Jia Heng
Loh Kean Hean
Loh Kean Yew
Nur Insyirah Khan Abdul Hamid Khan
Tan Wei Han
Terry Hee Yong Kai
Yeo Jia Min

Bronze
Women’s Singles
Yeo Jia Min

Table Tennis
Gold
Women’s Team
Wong Xin Ru
Zhou Jingyi

Silver
Men’s Team – Clarence Chew Zhe Yu, Ethan Poh Shao Feng, Koen Pang Yew En, Izaac Quek Yong

Bronze
Men’s Doubles – Clarence Chew Zhe Yu, Ethan Poh Shao Feng

Athletics
National Record and Personal Best
Women’s 100m Heats – Veronica Shanti Pereira (11.48s)
Women’s 200m Heats – Veronica Shanti Pereira (23.46s)
Women’s 200m Semi-Finals – Veronica Shanti Pereira (23.46s)

Swimming
Personal Best
Men’s 50m Breaststroke Heats – Maximillian Ang Wei (28.23s)
Men’s 100m Breaststroke Heats – Maximillian Ang Wei (1.01:54s)
Men’s 100m Breaststroke Semi-Finals – Maximillian Ang Wei (1.01:42s)

Weightlifting
National Record and Personal Best
Men’s 55kg – David Mok Pingwei (Lifted total of 181kg)