Team Singapore conclude Paris Paralympics campaign
Team Singapore’s Paris Paralympics campaign ended on Sept 7, with equestrienne Laurentia Tan and swimmer Toh Wei Soong in action on the penultimate day of the Games.
Tan and her horse Hickstead finished eighth out of eight in the freestyle final of the dressage individual event (Grade I), bringing an end to her fifth Paralympic campaign.
The 45-year-old, who has cerebral palsy and profound deafness, has a silver and three bronze medals from her earlier Games.
At the Chateau de Versailles on Sept 7, Tan scored 73.174. Latvia’s Rihards Snikus (82.487) won the gold – his second of the Games – ahead of Italy’s Sara Morganti (81.40) and Britain’s Mari Durward-Akhurst (77.747).
Meanwhile, Toh’s campaign also came to an end after the 25-year-old, who has transverse myelitis, a condition caused by the inflammation of the spinal cord, finished last out of eight swimmers in the men’s 50m butterfly S7 with a time of 30.96 seconds.
Andrii Trusov of Ukraine won gold in 28.75sec, Colombia’s Carlos Serrano Zarate (29.08) bagged the silver and Russia’s Egor Efrosinin, who is competing as a neutral athlete, took bronze in 29.69.
Earlier in the day, Toh had clocked 31.66sec to finish eighth out of 12 overall in the heats to qualify for the final.
He had also placed eighth in the 50m freestyle S7 final on Sept 4, a day after finishing ninth out of 10 overall in the 100m backstroke S7 heats and missing out on the final.
The 10-member Team Singapore contingent ends the Games with three medals – two gold and one silver – in what is their best showing at a Paralympics. The previous best was at Rio de Janeiro 2016, where the Republic earned two golds and one bronze.
In Tokyo three years ago, Singapore clinched two gold medals via swimmer Yip Pin Xiu.
Yip led the way in Paris again as she retained her S2 titles in the 50m and 100m backstroke. This is the third successive Games in which the 32-year-old has been crowned a double champion.
On Sept 2, Jeralyn Tan won a silver in boccia to become the Republic’s fourth Paralympic medallist after swimmers Yip and Theresa Goh, and equestrienne Laurentia Tan.
The closing ceremony of the Games will take place on Sept 8 (Sept 9, 2.25am, Singapore time).
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now