Shanti Pereira makes history with 'groundbreaking' feats at Asian meet
Singapore's sprint queen Shanti Pereira added yet another feather to her cap, clinching her second silver at the Asian Athletics Championships on May 31.
Despite failing to retain both her 100m and 200m titles, coach Luis Cunha hailed Pereira's "groundbreaking achievements" after she became the first sprinter to win two medals in back-to-back editions of the meet.
Cunha said: "Her feat of earning two individual medals (sprint) in the Asian championships was unprecedented for Singapore. This is a truly remarkable milestone for Singaporean sports and athletics in Asia."
At the Gumi Civic Stadium in South Korea, the 28-year-old clocked a season-best time of 22.98sec, just 0.01sec behind gold medallist Chen Yujie (22.97) and ahead of Li Yuting (23.23), both of China.
Defending champion Pereira had qualified second-quickest in the field of 20 after clocking 23.59sec. Japan's Remi Tsuruta topped the heats with 23.37, while Chen (23.60) was third.
Pereira, who won a 100m and 200m double in the 2023 edition in Thailand, had also settled for silver in the 100m final on May 28 after clocking 11.41sec, losing out to China's Liang Xiaojing by just 0.04sec.
While Pereira did not respond to a request for comment by press time, Cunha preferred to look on the bright side, despite his charge missing out on a gold medal this time.
He said: "Life's all about perspective. A glass of water can be half-full, half-empty, or even full but too cold or not tasty. Unfortunately, we're often surrounded by people with the latter perspective."
Singapore Athletics (SA) president Lien Choong Luen too was upbeat about Pereira's performances. He said: "Shanti's back-to-back silver medals over 100m and 200m in Korea is an incredible feat in field packed with lots of talent.
"While her performance at the 2023 edition saw different medal colours, the ability to stay consistent over multiple years is a testament to her determination and that of coach Luis and her team. Her longevity and performance is an inspiration for our young athletes."
Besides the two silver medals, Pereira ended her campaign in Gumi with a national record, after teaming up with Elizabeth-Ann Tan, Shannon Tan and Laavinia Jaiganth to set a new mark of 44.66sec in the women's 4x100m relay while finishing fifth of seven teams.
The previous mark of 44.96sec was set in 2017 by Pereira, Wendy Enn, Dipna Lim-Prasad and Nur Izlyn Zaini. The mark was equalled in April by Pereira, Jaiganth, Elizabeth-Ann Tan and Kerstin Ong.
In Gumi, China won the race in 43.28, ahead of India (43.86) and Thailand (44.26).
Said Elizabeth-Ann Tan: "Coming into this meet, the national record was our aim, and we have been practising really hard together.
"We are very happy that our hard work paid off, and that we managed to beat the record and not just equal it this time, but really break it by a whole 0.3 seconds."
(From left) Laavinia Jaiganth, Shannon Tan, Elizabeth-Ann Tan and Shanti Pereira set a new mark of 44.66sec in the women's 4x100m relay. PHOTO: SINGAPORE ATHLETICS
Teammate Jaiganth believes that the result is a good indication ahead of December's SEA Games.
She said: "I think it was a very good experience, especially in such a big competition like the Asian championships. We were obviously all very nervous, but we managed to actually lock in and run to the best of our abilities. There's room for improvement, and we're ready to work on that.
"It's a very motivating result, because out of all the SEA Games countries, we were ranked second. It's a very happy outcome and very encouraging."
SA coach Khairyll Amri added: "In the last edition, the bronze medal time was 44.5sec, this time around it was around 44.2 by Thailand, which was something we didn't expect, because during the Singapore Open, the gap between Thailand and Singapore wasn't that big.
"So we were actually very hopeful of at least trying to close in on Thailand, but when everybody starts rising to the occasion, these things happen. So maybe on another day it might have been better."
In other results, Singapore's 400m hurdler Calvin Quek clocked 50.94sec to finish last in the field of seven runners. The event was won by Qatar's Abderrahman Samba (48.00), with compatriot Bassem Hemeida second (49.44) and Chinese Taipei's Lin Chung-wei (49.73) third.
Meanwhile, the Singapore men's 4x100m relay team of Daryl Tan, Teo Yan, Xander Ho and Marc Louis were disqualified for an errant baton exchange after finishing last in a time of 40.96sec.
Hosts South Korea claimed the gold with a meet record of 38.49sec, ahead of Thailand (38.78) and Hong Kong (39.10) after China, who finished third, were also disqualified for the same reason.
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