National Schools Track and Field C’ships: A new Stefan Tseng in the making?

It looks like Russian coach Valeri Obidko has done it again.

After producing the likes of national-record breaking jumpers like Stefan Tseng and Matthew Goh – who should both be in the mix for a SEA Games medal at next year’s Games now that their national service commitments are over – it looks like the national jumps coach has another jumping gem on his hands.

The boy’s name is Benjamin Ong, and this afternoon, the 16-year-old Singapore Sports School student served notice of his potential as the future successor to Stefan by breaking the 21-year-old B Boys triple jump record at the National Schools Track and Field Championships.

Benjamin’s best effort of 14.42m obliterated the 14.19m record set in 1991 by Huang Jiaping of Chinese High (now known as Hwa Chong Institution), and was 0.80m further than nearest rival and schoolmate Muhd Afiq Hasan (13.62m).

While it is clear that Benjamin has the talent and potential to go far, to call him the next Stefan Tseng could be a little off the mark – for now.

It must be remembered that Stefan was already clearing 15m at age 16. In fact, he broke the national triple jump record of 15.24m back in July 2006, when he was 16. He did it at the Asean Schools Championships in Chiangmai when he cleared 15.52m.

I’m waiting to see if Benjamin can clear the 15m mark by this year, and whether he can go near the 15m distances that Stefan was setting back then. I hope he can, and it will definitely be exciting to watch.

Today’s action at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium produced another stunning result: Eugenia Tan, the teammate and arch-rival of rising sprint star Shanti Pereira, threw down the gauntlet at her good friend in the best way possible – by finishing ahead of Shanti in the B Girls 100m semi-final, and breaking her B Girls record which she only set last year.

Eugenia clocked 12.39sec to break the record of 12.43sec, and finish 0.31sec ahead of Shanti who finished second in 12.68sec.

It remains to be seen whether Shanti was playing possum today, holding back a fair bit in her tank for next week’s final. Whatever the case, it means that we are set for a thrilling showdown in the B Girls 100m next week.

Eugenia’s feat also means that Shanti saw two of her national schools records being wiped out in the space of one week. Last week, it was the Sports School’s Nur Izlyn Zaini who erased her 2010 C Girls 100m record of 12.74sec by clocking 12.73sec in the heats.

Finally, heartiest congratulations too to Cedar Girls’ Low Seow Ting for equalling the C Girls high jump record. She cleared 1.55m, which is the same height as the prevailing record set by See Toh Mun Yee in 1994.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

 

Shanti, Eugenia, Zachary and Zhi Xuan shine brightest on last day of National Schools C’ships

Shanti Pereira, Eugenia Tan and Zachary Devaraj produced stunning record-breaking performances today to provide a fitting end to an exciting National Schools Track and Field Championships.

Singapore Sports School sprinters Shanti and Eugenia, who are coached by Pedro Acuna,  had a day to remember as they both cracked the Girls C Division 100m record and played a role in helping their school to set a new 4x100m relay mark.

However, it will be Shanti’s name in the record books as the new holder of the 100m mark.

The 14-year-old blazed the track at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium to clock 12.75sec in the 100m final, slicing 0.08sec off the prevailing record of 12.83sec. Schoolmate Eugenia also went under the record as she clocked 12.81sec to finish second.

Both Shanti and Eugenia were also part of the 4x100m relay team that set a new record of 49.67sec to smash the 50.53sec record. Incidentally, that record was also set by the Sports School back in 2004.

The duo then grabbed their second relay gold medal when they starred in the 4x400m relay. Although they did their best, the quartet’s time of 4min 13.31sec was just off the record of 4:12.84, also set by the Sports School in 2004.

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) distance runner Zachary Devaraj broke an 11-year-old B Boys record as he stormed home in 4:12.61sec, more than a second faster than the 4:14.13 that Kannan Poobalan set in 1999 in Victoria School’s colours.

The 16-year-old collected his second distance record at the Championships today after slaying the 14-year-old 800m record  of 1:58.38 last Thursday with his effort of 1:57.34.

The ACS (I) 4x100m quartet was also in magnificent record-breaking form today. They clocked 42.58sec to break the 11-year-old mark of 43.14sec which was also set by the school in 1999.

The most significant new record, in my humble opinion, was set by Cedar Girls’ Chan Zhi Xuan. She hurled her discus to a distance of 37.94m in the B Girls final to crack Wan Lay Chi’s meet and Schools National record of 37.25m.

Stunning stuff.

As Lay Chi has gone on to represent Singapore at the SEA Games, it means that Zhi Xuan definitely has the talent and potential to do the same eventually if she decides to continue in the discipline. I do hope she will.

Can you imagine what a wonderful sight it would be to see two local-born female throwers in action for us at the SEA Games?

As it is, it was a proud moment for me as a long-time observer of Singapore athletics to see fresh young talents Matthew Goh and Stefan Tseng jumping at last year’s SEA Games. 

Back to the National Schools Championships. It seems that a totalof 18 championship records and six schools national records were set at this year’s meet (I say ‘it seems’ because I counted 18 while the website says 16. I wonder what’s causing the discrepancy.)

My  heartiest congratulations to all the record-breakers. May this spur you on to greater heights. Hopefully, we will get to see some of you representing Singapore at the SEA Games one day.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

Newsbreak: Amanda Choo cracks her national 100m record at Negri Sembilan Open

Singapore’s top female sprinter Amanda Choo has broken her national 100m record at the Negri Sembilan Open.

The 22-year-old, who is coached by Loh Chan Pew, clocked 12.03sec in her heat on Saturday morning to eclipse her three-year-old record of 12.12sec which she set at the 2007 South-east Asian Games.

Her feat also makes her the first athlete to set a new national open record this year.

Amanda went on to the final but did not win in the end. She suffered from the law of diminishing returns as the meet organisers had bizzarely arranged for the semi-finals and the final to be held on the same day.

She clocked 12.17sec in her semi-final and then 12.37sec, behind Malaysia’s Siti Zubaidah who won in 12.29sec.

It was also a good day at the races for national serviceman Calvin Kang who clocked a season’s best time of 10.61sec.

It’s 0.08sec off his national junior record of 10.53sec which he set in 2008.But when you consider that Calvin only resumed serious training this year after being out for almost a year because of national service duties, it’s, all in,  a very promising sign.

Calvin later went on to win the final in 10.95sec, just ahead of fellow national sprinter Izwan Firdaus (11.01sec)

Singapore also won two golds in the jumps on Saturday.

Long jumper Matthew Goh won the men’s event with his 7.27m effort, which is 0.35m short of his national record of 7.62m while Ronnie Cai won the high jump with his best effort of 2.05m.

On Sunday, triple jumper Stefan Tseng cleared a very decent 15.92m to win the event. Although it is off his national record of 16.04m, it is a good distance considering that he entered national service at the start of the year and has not had the opportunity to train regularly with coach Valeri Obidko.

Let’s hope it all works out for Stefan — that he ends up in a vocation that will enable him to train regularly and qualify for the Asian Games.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan