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

 

Matthew Goh could have been a potential bronze medallist at the IAAF World Juniors

The men’s long jump final at the ongoing IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, was concluded last night.

South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga won it with 7.99m. Eusebio Caraces of Spain was second with 7.90m while Stewart Taylor of Canada took the bronze with 7.63m.

You can read their post-competition interviews here

It makes you wonder whether young Matthew Goh could have snared a podium finsih if he had been allowed to defer his national service and take part in the World Juniors.

After all, he did set his national record of 7.62m at last December’s South-east Asia Games, and under national jumps coach Valeri Obidko, has been known to improve on his distances by 0.2m every year.

Matthew’s father did appeal for his son to be allowed to compete at the World Juniros and to enlist for national service after that, but Mindef turned it down because “the circumstances were not exceptional to warrant granting of deferment.”

You can read Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s response to Nominated Member of Parliament Joscelin Yeo on Mindef’s reasons for not granting Matthew’s request for a three-month deferment here.

Yes, one can always argue that one can never tell if Matthew can set a new national record at the World Juniors, or even finish among the top-three. But then again, I wouldn’t have bet against him doing so given his annual rate of improvement, and the young man’s steely determination.

This is another example of us shooting ourselves in the foot when it comes to Singapore sports. We will never know until we try, and yet we are not willing to give it a try.

And I guess this is why Singapore sport can never go far.

And when we fail to reach the heights, we lament, beat our breasts and complain that our sportsmen don’t have the hunger or the talent. And then we proceed to flood our sports with foreign exports.

And when these naturalised citizens go on to win top honours, and when the general public doesn’t quite share in the manufactured joy, the authorities then slam the people for being ungracious, and for failing to recognise the sacrficies and hard work that these naturalised citizens have put in to achieve sporting glory for Singapore.

Well, I am sure Matthew was also willing top put in the sacrifices and hours of hard work too.

He just wasn’t given the chance because “the circumstances were not exceptional enough to warrant the granting of deferment”.

Bollocks.

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