NO EASY WINS WITH RISING THREATS

Officials urge continued investment in youth; football, badminton among disappointments

- David Lee Senior Sports Correspondent

Even as Team Singapore celebrated a record 202 medals and its third-best haul of 52 golds, 61 silvers and 89 bronzes for an away SEA Games, local sports administrators acknowledged the rising regional threat, and the need to improve if they want to be among the top three nations at the 2029 edition on home soil.

At the Team Singapore review held at the Grand Fourwings Convention Hotel on Dec 20, Singapore chef de mission Lawrence Leow commended the Republic's record number of 926 athletes - close to 60 per cent of whom were SEA Games debutants across 48 sports for competing with resilience, discipline and pride.

Their performances helped the nation place fifth on the medal table among 10 competing nations, behind hosts Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia - an improvement from the 51-43-64 haul for sixth position in 2023.

The Republic's best away SEA Games performance was in 2017, when they won 58 golds, 58 silvers and 72 bronzes and finished fourth out of 11 countries. Their best-ever ranking was second at the 2015 Games at home, where the athletes reaped an 84-73-102 result.

In Thailand, Singapore's aquatics contingent did the heavy lifting as usual by contributing 22 golds - 19 from swimming, on the back of breaststroke specialist Letitia Sim's five golds and five Games records, and one each from artistic swimming, diving and water polo. Fencing had a record haul of eight golds, while sailing and table tennis also delivered four golds each.