- Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games demonstrated a perfect opportunity for Team Singapore athletes to benchmark against some of the top sport talents in the world
- Historic performances from swimming and badminton, quality performances by our young athletes
- Chef de Mission pleased with overall performance, grades Team Singapore B+
Glasgow, 3 August 2014 – After 10 days at the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the competition for Team Singapore athletes have ended. Team Singapore clinched a medal haul of eight Gold, five Silver and four Bronze medals (17 medals) to conclude their Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games campaign.
Seventy athletes competing in seven sports and 35 officials represented Singapore in the quadrennial Commonwealth Games. Many inspiring and historic breakthrough performances were achieved. Two Games records, seven national records and personal bests were set.
Nation-inspiring performances
Among the significant medal moments which awed a nation included Joseph Schooling winning Singapore’s first ever swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games. Schooling finished behind Olympic champion Chad le Clos (RSA) with a national record of 51.69 seconds, breaking the national record and his own personal best to win a silver medal.
Shooter Jasmine Ser, who won four medals at the previous Commonwealth Games, impressed everyone with an almost flawless performance in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event to win a gold medal.
Derek Wong, Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Chayut Triyachart, also made their mark in the history books being the first shuttlers to feature in the badminton men’s singles and doubles finals, winning silver medals for Singapore in the two events.
The table tennis team continued their dominance in the field, particularly, in the women’s singles event, where Singapore paddlers swept all three medals on the podium winning gold, silver and bronze.
Young debutant punching above their weight
Martina Veloso, at 14 years old, is no doubt the youngest athlete in the contingent, however she demonstrated that her age is by no means a disadvantage at the Games. Veloso finished fifth in the 10m air rifle shooting event, a credible and encouraging result for a debutant who will be heading to the Youth Olympic Games and Asian Games later this year.
Benchmarking against the best
Said Chef de Mission Low Teo Ping, “The overall experience at the Commonwealth Games has been fantastic. The comfort of the Games Village and the friendliness of the volunteers have created a fun and warm environment for our athletes and officials. These are great examples which I hope we can learn and replicate at the 2015 SEA Games.”
“I also like to give a shout out to our team officials and support staff from the National Sports Associations, Commonwealth Games Singapore, Singapore Sports Institute and Sport Singapore, their efforts and care to our athletes have been excellent. This level of support is testament to the increasing standards of sports support we have in Singapore.”
“The Commonwealth Games have also served our athletes an opportunity to gauge where they are in high performance among the top regional and international competition. Over the last 10 days, we have been up against competition we never knew existed. It is important for the athletes to know where they stand in terms of standards among leading nations in sports which we have participated.”
“Long gone is the mentality of Singapore’s dominance in certain sports as new powerhouses are fast emerging in sports such as table tennis, badminton and shooting. It is important that these Games give our athletes a platform where they can perform and excel and give them an opportunity to strengthen their self-belief, so that they can also continue to do well at the upcoming Youth Olympic Games, Asian Games and 2015 SEA Games.”
“Overall, I thank Team Singapore for giving Singapore the historic and inspiring moments here in Glasgow, I am very pleased and would grade their performance at the Commonwealth Games a B+.”
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