SINGAPORE: Traditionally a major contributor of Southeast Asian Games medals, Singapore Aquatics (SAQ) will look to continue in the same vein next month.
Speaking at a media event at the OCBC Aquatics Centre on Monday (Nov 10), SAQ president Kenneth Goh said that a target of at least 20 golds has been set for the 71 athletes expected to compete at the Games in Thailand.
The athletes will compete in artistic swimming, diving, open water swimming, swimming and water polo. Of the 71, 40 are Games debutants, including divers Ainslee Kwang and Ryenne Chan, who are both 14.
This is the first time since the 2017 Games that artistic swimming has been included in a SEA Games programme.
“The SEA Games really serves as a gauge of the state of (the) aquatics ecosystem as we work towards our bigger goals at the Asian Games and the Olympic Games,” said Professor Goh.
Games medals are but one indicator of the state of the ecosystem, he added.
“What we are really looking at … is how this reflects the depth of our pipeline, whether our athletes are on aggregate hitting their personal milestones. And then taking this information and recalibrating their plans towards our future and larger goals and ambitions,” he said.
At the last Games held in Cambodia in 2023, Singapore won 23 golds across the various aquatics sports, with 22 from its swimmers and one courtesy of its men’s water polo team. This was close to half of the 51 gold medals won by Team Singapore at that event.
“We come up with these estimates by talking to our coaches, the technical directors as well. So it’s an educated guess,” said Prof Goh. “This is sport, there’s always variation in outcomes.”
Ultimately, SAQ is not “fixating” on medals, but rather focusing on athletes working towards “bigger picture” goals such as personal bests, he said.
“If … other athletes perform poorly, and we come up with a nice bumper crop of medals, does that mean we are doing well?” Prof Goh added.
“What we are really focused on is ensuring that other athletes are on track towards their broader-term, bigger-picture goals, and that’s going to be more important for us.”
OTHER COUNTRIES PREPARING WELL
In swimming, Singapore will field 21 athletes, with a good mix of experience and youth.
“We have a good crop of athletes that are going for this one, but we do know the other countries are also preparing really well for the competition,” said SAQ’s national head coach Gary Tan.