Anson not satisfied despite Asean shot put record

When Anson Loh hurled a gold-winning 17.46m effort in the boys' shot put at the 2024 Asean School Games, the Raffles Institution student was surprised by the distance he achieved.

- Kimberly Kwek Sports Correspondent

Over a year later, the 17-year-old exceeded that mark by more than a metre, yet he was still not satisfied.

On Nov 23, he retained his title with a meet record of 18.73m at the Games, finishing ahead of Thailand's Korapat Pongsiripun (17.02m) and Mahasamuth Udwong (16.78m).

While his throw at Brunei's Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium rewrote the previous mark of 18.66m set by Indonesia's Narta Hany Sugara in 2013, it still fell short of his men's national Under-18 shot put (5kg) record of 19.09m set at the SEA Under-18 and U-20 Athletics Championships in Medan, Indonesia, a week earlier.

"I found it quite amazing that after everything I've managed to rack up this year, it's allowed me to walk into the competition a lot more confident," said Anson, who also clinched the discus silver with 52.58m on Nov 25, behind Korapat (54.16m).

"It was quite stunning to see my standards get raised by quite a lot.

"Right now I'm throwing way further than that distance (at the 2024 Asean School Games) and I'm disappointed that I somehow didn't extend my national record.

"Even if I've broken the Games record, I'm still not satisfied, so I think it shows a lot of growth."

The JC 1 student also delivered encouraging results during the National School Games earlier in 2025, breaking the national A division shot put record with an 18.48m throw.