Swimmer Toh Wei Soong clinched Singapore's first gold medal at the Asian Para Games on Oct. 26, 2023.
Smashing the men's 100m backstroke final in the S7 category, he came in first place in 1 min 14.99 sec.
He also set a new Games record in Hangzhou, China, The Straits Times reported.
Toh bags 1 gold & 1 silver
Toh beat China's Yang Huaqiang (1 min 20.12 sec) and Huang Xianquan (1 min 20.80 sec), who won silver and bronze respectively.
S7 category is one of the para-swimming classifications to differentiate swimmers based on their level of disability. Swimmers in this class have high-functioning arms and trunk, but limited leg function.
The 25-year-old swimmer has transverse myelitis, a condition that causes inflammation of the spinal cord, which has affected his ability to walk since young.
This is Toh second medal at the current Games, and his fifth Asiad medal since 2018. Asiad is another term for the Asian Games.
On Oct. 24, Toh clinched silver in the men's 400m freestyle in the S7 category.
He will also be expected to compete in the men’s S7 50m free and fly on Oct. 27.
With Toh's gold, Singapore now has a haul of five medals - one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes.
Toh is currently a recipient of the Sport Singapore's Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship). The scholarship provides an "enhanced level of support" for selected athletes.
He is also an an NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and NUS College undergraduate. He is reading philosophy, political science and economics.
NUS president Tan Eng Chye congratulated Toh in an Instagram post:
TeamSG has 5 medals in total so far
Lawn bowlers Faridah Salleh and Khirmern Mohamad won one silver and one bronze respectively on Oct. 25, whereas tennis player Claire Toh got bronze on Oct. 24.
Swimmers Sophie Soon and Yip Pin Xiu are not competing in the current games because of insufficient competitors, The Straits Times reported on Oct. 18. Their events have been cancelled.
33 para-athletes will be competing at the Asian Para Games from Oct. 22 to 28. They are representing Singapore across nine spots - archery, athletics, badminton, boccia, lawn bowls, powerlifting, shooting, swimming, and table tennis.
You can view TeamSG's Facebook post here:
Top image from Team Singapore/Facebook.
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