Singapore wins four silvers, four bronzes at WorldSkills Shanghai

SHANGHAI - Nanyang Polytechnic graduate Sheryl Ong had just won a silver medal but as she walked off the stage, her mind was on her teammates.

Tearing up alone in the middle of a crowd of celebrating winners, Ong said she felt overwhelmed.

This was because she felt for her teammates who did not win despite their best efforts. “Even though I won, my team members were upset. I want to be there for them, and I want to comfort them.”

Ong’s silver medal in visual merchandising was part of Singapore’s overall haul of four silver and four bronze medals at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, including a first-ever podium finish in digital construction.

Ong is one of two team captains among the Singapore contingent of 34. These youth, who competed across 31 skill areas, are from the Institute of Technical Education and the five polytechnics.

The 19-year-old recounted the demands of the gruelling four-day competition. “There were times where I would fall asleep while eating dinner. I would have food in my mouth, and my head would be on the table. And before I knew it, I had already slept a few hours on the table.

The international skills competition saw nearly 1,400 young people from close to 70 countries and regions vying for gold across 64 skill areas.

“But I believe that’s the same for a lot of our competitors,” she added, fresh tears streaming down her face. “I am proud of all of us.”

Aside from visual merchandising, Singapore bagged silver in restaurant service, chemical laboratory technology, logistics and freight forwarding.

The bronzes were in software applications development, 3D digital game art, cloud computing, and digital construction.

The competition ran from Sept 23 to 26 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. Winners were crowned at the closing ceremony on Sept 27.

Singapore also won its highest number of awards since first taking part in WorldSkills in 1995. On top of the eight medals, 19 medallions for excellence brought the nation’s total haul to 27 awards. This award is given to those who achieve the median score of 700 points or more.

Among the participating countries, Singapore had the fifth-most number of awards.

Held every two years, WorldSkills is the world’s largest international skills competition and has been dubbed the “Olympics of vocational skills”.

Republic Polytechnic’s Charmaine Lee won silver in restaurant service, competing against 27 others.

She also claimed the Best of Nation award, presented to the highest scorer of each country.

Among her tasks was a bartending challenge, where she had to memorise 27 cocktails in 30 minutes before the competition began.

She said simulating the “time squeeze” during her training helped her prepare for the task and attributed her win to her passion, perseverance and resilience.

The 21-year-old hopes to work in the fine dining industry, and further her studies in hospitality or food and beverage.

NYP’s Yuki Lee, 20, won silver in chemical laboratory technology, which had 10 competitors.

She never thought she could win a medal at WorldSkills - especially not when she failed to complete a module on the first day.

The competition had tested her on a complex analysis of a mixture of acids, and she had to use an unfamiliar auto-titrator model.

Lee said her parents, who flew to Shanghai to show their support, helped her. “Whenever I see them, I know that they have faith in me. They believe in me, and because of that, I should believe in myself.”

She said muscle memory from her three years of training also kicked in.

Now a first-year chemistry and biological chemistry undergraduate at NTU, Yuki hopes to deepen her knowledge in chemistry, to do research, and “hopefully, find out something new in the world.”

Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s (NP) Norwin Goh clinched silver in logistics and freight forwarding, which had six competitors.

Athough it is the last time this skill is included in the competition, he hopes to see it make a comeback in a new form - such as logistics and supply chain.

Logistics and freight forwarding will not feature again as it did not meet the minimum number of participants required.

Goh, who is six months into his year-long internship with global transport and logistics firm GEODIS, said logistics is an important sector in Singapore as a global trading hub.

In the competition, the 21-year-old had to present proposals on solutions to keep cargo moving during disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Strait of Hormuz crisis.

Goh, who previously won bronze and gold in WorldSkills Singapore, said: “This medal weighs the heaviest amongst all. This is a medal that I won representing the country - hard earned, hard won.”

Three NYP students won bronze - Hayden How in cloud computing, Jackie Soon in software applications development, Nur Insyirah Hanna Nor Azhar in 3D digital game art.

NP’s Samuel Tan won bronze in digital construction - Singapore’s first medal in the category at WorldSkills.

The nation first competed in digital construction in 2022, when the skill was introduced. In the last competition in Lyon, France, Singapore had received a medallion for excellence in this skill.

The 19 medallions of excellence in 2026 included those in all three new skills Team Singapore competed in: rail vehicle technology, software testing and unmanned aerial systems.

These were among the seven new skill events introduced as organisers sought to reflect industrial shifts and technological advancements.

Singapore’s latest haul breaks its previous record of 22 awards set at WorldSkills Kazan in Russia in 2019.

In 2024, Singapore won two golds, four silvers and two bronzes, as well as 11 medallions for excellence.

This year’s host country China, which sent competitors for all 64 skills won the most golds, sweeping 41 of them.

France, Switzerland, and Korea came in joint second, with four golds each.