Quah Zheng Wen, who performed admirably in the Olympics, has secured a deferment till the next Olympics, to be held in Tokyo in 2020.

Ng Eng Hen, Defence Minister, announced the great news on his Facebook page on Thursday afternoon:

"MINDEF has granted Quah Zheng Wen’s application to extend his National Service deferment until after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Zheng Wen got close to a medal, having reached semi-finals in 100m and 200m in Rio.

For the first time ever, we now have two Olympics medal prospects –Zheng Wen and Joseph Schooling – who are exceptional sportsmen and meet all the existing criteria for deferment. This speaks well of our sporting talent in our younger generation. I hope their achievements will encourage many more sportsmen and women to excel.

I spoke to Zheng Wen and his father. I thanked them for their commitment to excellence, the many hours of training Zheng Wen has put in and many more needed for the next four years, for him to win in Tokyo 2020. I wished Zheng Wen the very best in his training and his ambition to win glory for Singapore. 加油，我们支持你! (add oil, we support you!)"

This is great news, as Quah had not expressed a firm desire to apply for deferment since the end of his Rio 2016 campaign till now.

Looking forward to 2020.

Top image from City News

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