Singapore Athletics flags off West Zone Athletics Meet to let teens compete

SINGAPORE – Ezra Lim’s love for running began with a childhood game of catching, where his quick feet were used to dodge friends at the playground.

But with track and field not offered as a co-curricular activity (CCA) at Fuhua Secondary School, the 15-year-old chose Tchoukball and represented his school in annual inter-school competitions.

On Oct 26, Ezra finally got the chance to put his speed to the test on the track, as one of 100 students from four schools in the West Zone Athletics Meet held at Hwa Chong Institution.

Fuhua, Kent Ridge Secondary School, Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) and Yuan Ching Secondary School participated in the inaugural event, which featured the 100m, 400m, 1,500m, 4x100m and 4x400m relays, shot put and long jump.

The meet was part of Singapore Athletics’ (SA) pilot programme to encourage more young people to experience and take up the sport. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo was in attendance as guest of honour, joining students for a warm-up ahead of the competition.

In his first track race, Ezra clocked 13.81 seconds to finish second in the men’s U16 100m timed finals. He said: “This is my first time competing so I was very nervous but excited as well. But to win a medal makes me really happy. Since I was younger, I always wanted to be in a track competition and now I finally got the chance to compete in one.”

While he acknowledged that he may not yet be at the level required to pursue athletics more seriously, winning a silver medal has motivated him to explore if training can help him improve and develop his abilities.

The other medallists in his event were Yuan Ching’s Josan Tok, 14, who won gold with an 13.26sec effort while Tan Yi Teng, 15, from Fuhua was third in 14.03sec.

For MGS’ Leia Ong, 15, the meet was a welcome opportunity after she missed out on the National School Games earlier in the year due to a hip injury.

Leia, who clocked the fastest time of 13.45sec in the women’s U16 100m timed finals counts Singapore’s current top sprinters, Shanti Pereira and Marc Louis, as her inspiration.

Leia, who also led her school to victory in the 4x100m relay, added: “I like that there is another opportunity for me to run for my school because usually, I run for my club (Team Cicada) in outside competitions. So being able to run for my school and win for my school is really fun and meaningful. I think it increases our exposure to (other competitors), and we can be together as a team to compete as well.”

Leia’s schoolmates, Chloe Lay (14.09sec) and Alexis Wong (14.78sec) were second and third respectively in the 100m timed finals.

SA president Lien Choong Luen had previously told The Straits Times in an interview in February that the pilot programme’s goal “is that promising student-athletes can then race under a zone flag at the national schools level”.

He said then: “This is an opportunity to discover new talent. We have 130 to 140 secondary schools in Singapore; there’s no reason the lion’s share of talent should come only from the top three or four schools.”

At the event on Oct 26, SA deputy president Marinda Teo said that the idea for the zonal pilot programme was first mooted by Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Teo added: “Track and field is dominated by a few schools and he (President Tharman) wanted us to think about how we can broaden the talent identification, broaden the participation, and give athletes a chance to participate.”

“We used to have a lot more schools participating in the National School Games (NSG), but now if you go to the NSG, it’s the top four boys’ schools and top four girls’ schools. The rest of the kids don’t have a chance to get access to training opportunities and competition opportunity.

“Some don’t have a (track and field) CCA in school. So what we’re trying to do is to give these kids a chance to compete. A zonal meet is a way to bring them all together, and they were all really excited.”

Through the programme, SA will look at how it can work with the schools better and provide resources to ensure the student-athletes will get the required support.

She added: “What we’ll do is have a seed funding for the schools who are interested to set up athletics CCA, or to get a coach in the lead up to NSG, to see how they can better train their kids to compete. And eventually, hopefully, from the zonal competition, we can have the zones compete with each other.”