‘WEAK’ TEAM'S SILVER LINING

Depleted by injuries and illnesses, S’pore’s artistic swimmers still finish second to Thais

- Melvyn Teoh

The Singapore's artistic swimming team, with just seven members instead of eight, performing their acrobatic routine at the SEA Games on Dec 13. PHOTO: KONG CHEW YEW/SNOC

(KONG CHEW YEW/SNOC)

Eye Of The Tiger, the battling theme song of Sylvester Stallone’s 1982 film, Rocky III, proved an apt choice for the Singapore artistic swimmers’ acrobatic routine on Dec 13.

For rising up to the challenge of their rivals was what the team had to do for these SEA Games, after travelling to Bangkok with a squad depleted by injuries and illness.

While the gold proved elusive in the team event, the Singaporeans managed to score 131.734 in the acrobatic element for a total of 575.9529 to finish second behind hosts Thailand (627.5551).

Indonesia claimed the bronze with 439.2231.

Veteran swimmer Debbie Soh, 27, said: “As athletes we always strive for gold, but we are proud to have achieved this result considering the challenges we had to adapt to along the way.