Ethan Loses Voice But Wins The Gold

S'porean adds Optimist Asian and Oceanian gong to team title; eyes June-July's worlds

- Kimberly Kwek

Battling a sore throat, fever and headache on the final day of the Optimist Asian and Oceanian Championships on Jan 4, there were moments when Singaporean sailor Ethan Chia found himself losing focus and zoning out.

But quitting never crossed his mind. Instead, he tried to maintain his concentration as the title fight between him and teammate Sean Kum went down to the wire.

The Raffles Institution student eventually won his final race to top the standings with 29 net points, finishing ahead of compatriot Sean (34) and Hong Kong's Margaux Nguyen-Minh (51) to retain his gold medal.

By the time he got to shore, the 14-year-old had lost his voice after a testing day out on the waters off the Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club in Hong Kong.

Ethan said: "Quitting the competition was not an option for me, I didn't want to because I trained so hard for it.

"I just wanted to make sure that no matter what, I didn't quit so I just tried to push through."