18 athletes selected to represent Singapore at London Olympics

SINGAPORE : The Singapore National Olympic Council has picked 18 athletes to represent Singapore at the London Olympics which kicks off on July 27.

The 18 athletes were picked from eight sports.

For table tennis, Singapore’s representatives are Gao Ning (Men’s Singles, Team); Yang Zi (Men’s Singles, Team); Zhan Jian (Men’s Team); Feng Tianwei (Women’s Singles, Team); Wang Yuegu (Women’s Singles, Team) and Li Jiawei (Women’s Team).

Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari will represent Singapore for the women’s badminton doubles. Derek Wong and Gu Juan will compete in the men’s and women’s badminton singles.

Colin Cheng Xinru and Elizabeth Yin Yue Ling will take part in the sailing events.

For shooting, Jasmine Ser will take part in the 10 metres and 50 metres events.

16—year—old Joseph Schooling, who was named Sportsman of the Year in May, will represent Singapore in the 100 metres and 200 metres Butterfly events.

Gary Yeo Foo Ee and Dipna Lim Prasad will take part in athletics.

SNOC said that two sports — gymnastics and canoeing — are making their Olympic debut and breakthrough.

Lim Heem Wei will don Singapore colours for the women’s artistic category in gymnastics.

Lee Wei Ling Geraldine will compete in the 200 metres and 500 metres canoeing events.

Meanwhile, more athletes could be joining this preliminary group, including swim queen Tao Li, and a few other swimmers, who all met the "B" qualifying mark for the Olympics.

Chris Chan, Secretary General of the Singapore National Olympic Council, said: "Maybe for swimmers, if one other can make it besides Tao Li, because Tao Li I think should get in because she is on a very high B."

Jeffrey Leow, president of the Singapore Swimming Association, said: "FINA’s deadline for qualifying for the Olympics is Monday the 18th of June; until that day, FINA will not issue any invitations to any of the B qualifiers."

The Council did not touch on medal predictions, but added that the final submission for names is on July 9.

But Singapore would once again be relying on the paddlers to lead the podium charge.

Two medals have been targeted for the women’s table tennis team. But their ranking has slipped from second to third behind Japan.

The Singaporean paddlers have an uphill task, with only the Brazil Open tournament left to chalk up crucial ranking points. A second place ranking would assure that they avoid meeting powerhouse China till the finals of the Olympic table tennis competition.

Channel NewsAsia spoke to swimmer Tao Li, who said there are a lot of expectations on her and she will try her best to prepare for the Olympics.

She said: "Especially this time round, a lot of people are watching, a lot of expectations on me, that is why I want to try my best, at least not let my coach, my families and those people who support me, down."

Jessie Phua, Chef de Mission, London Olympics, said: "Of course we are disappointed that we will not be able to bring as big (a team) as we have been able to, for the last game in Beijing.

"But having said that, the writings are on the wall. Major games like the Olympics have to cap the number of athletes that they have to cater to and as such, swimming, FINA has limited the number of swimmers to 900. So the bar has been raised."

— CNA/ck/ms