Singapore clinch two golds, one bronze on first day of Citi Para Swimming World Series Australia
The Republic’s swimmers got off to a flying start at the Citi Para Swimming World Series Australia, with two golds and one bronze at the Melbourne Sports Centre on Friday.
Yip Pin Xiu, who was born with muscular dystrophy, won the women’s 100m backstroke multi-class event in 2min 20.98sec with 733 points.
Canadian Aurelie Rivard took silver with 720 points, while Australian Jasmine Greenwood finished third with 712 points.
In multi-class para swimming events, the winner is not always the swimmer who touches the wall before others, but the one who posts the time closest to the world record for their impairment classification category.
Siblings Sophie and Colin Soon, both of whom are visually impaired, made a strong impression as well.
Sophie won the women’s 50m breaststroke multi-class event in 40.17sec, while her younger brother Colin picked up a bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke multi-class event with a time of 34.34sec as compatriot Wong Zhi Wei, who is also visually impaired, finished fourth with a new national SB13 record of 34.72sec.
The Citi Para Swimming World Series Australia runs until Sunday. It is the first leg of the series, which will travel to nine countries this year, including Singapore in April.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
