S'pore's largest contingent of 72 athletes raring to compete at the World Aquatics Championships
The Singapore contingent for the World Aquatics Championships (clockwise from back row): water polo captain Lee Kai Yang, open water swimmer Ritchie Oh, swimmer Mikkel Lee, artistic swimmer Claire Tan, swimmer Gan Ching Hwee, diver Ashlee Tan and women's water polo captain Abielle Yeo.
SINGAPORE – After a fruitful 3½ years in the United States, Gan Ching Hwee will embark on the next chapter of her sporting career in the comforts of home.
The 21-year-old has decided to return to Singapore in May to pursue swimming full-time as she puts her further studies on hold after graduating from Indiana University.
She said: 'I've been looking forward to coming back to Singapore since (the) Paris (Olympics) because my preparation for that was quite good back home.
'I'm just excited to be back home having good food... and just getting to see friends and family again.'
With the cravings for her favourite dishes like prata, chicken rice and bak chor mee satisfied, Gan has switched her focus to the big task ahead: the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore from July 11 to Aug 3.
The distance swimmer was among the athletes unveiled as members of the 72-strong Singapore contingent, the largest from the Republic to feature at the world meet, during a presentation at the World Aquatics Championships Arena on July 2.
The line-up includes 16 swimmers, 10 divers, nine artistic swimmers, eight open water swimmers, and the men and women's water polo squads.
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Apart from Gan, who will turn 22 during the event, the swimming team also include Asian Games silver medallist Teong Tzen Wei.
Debbie Soh will lead the artistic swimming team, alongside Yvette Chong and Kiera Lee, who are fresh off a historic bronze medal in the duet category at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Series, Singapore's first medal in the circuit.
Synchronised springboard divers Max Lee and Ayden Ng, winners of the Sportsboy Team of the Year (event) accolade at the recent Singapore Sports Awards, are part of the diving contingent.
The men's water polo team will make their world championships debut, while the women's team will be competing for the second time since their bow at Doha 2024.
For Gan, her promising outing at the 2024 Olympics has only served to fire her up to achieve more progress.
In Paris, she
claimed two national records in the 800m and 1,500m events, missing out on making the final in the latter by just one spot after placing ninth in the heats.
While she hopes to go a step further this time, she also noted that 'focusing on the process rather than the outcome has worked better for me, so I'll just keep at it and do my best'.
Gearing up for her fifth long-course world championships has also brought back fond memories as she recalled how watching the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore cemented her ambitions to become a competitive swimmer.
She hopes that the upcoming world meet on home soil will be equally inspiring for the local community, saying: 'It's very rare that a swim meet gets hosted in Singapore...
'With it being in Singapore, we have more viewership, more attention to the events and hopefully with that, younger kids can come forward and feel inspired and motivated to represent Singapore on this stage.'
One thing that many of the home athletes are relishing is the home support when competing in Singapore.
'It's comforting knowing that I have friends and family members who are going to come watch me in a two-hour race. That's why I'm really excited,' said national open water swimmer Ritchie Oh, who will be competing in his third world championships.
'I will even have friends from national service coming to watch me swim so being able to swim in Singapore is very different compared to other countries,' added the 22-year-old.
As the global meet approaches, national diver Ashlee Tan, 24, is feeling a mix of nerves and excitement.
She said: 'We have fellow Singaporeans watching us live for the first time on a world stage so that's the nerves, but it's mostly overpowered by this positive feelings of excitement.
'The fact that we are performing on the world stage is already very exciting and we would also be able to learn from other international athletes as well.'
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