SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party Chief Pritam Singh was among those who praised Shanti Pereira after the runner’s back-to-back wins at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok over the weekend.
“What an absolute superstar! Asian 100m and 200m champion. Take a bow Shanti! #teamsg,” Mr Singh wrote in a Sunday night (Jul 16) Facebook post, adding a 44-second video of Pereira’s 200 m win from earlier that day.
The 27-year-old runner has had a banner year so far, smashing her own records left and right beginning in March and becoming the first Singaporean to top World Athletics‘ women’s 100m outdoor rankings in Asia before winning both the 100m and 200m races at the SEA Games in Cambodia.
On Friday, Pereira broke the national record for the 100m she set a few weeks ago in Germany, with a time of 11.20. On May 28, her time at the event was 11.26 at the 58th International Pentecost Sports Meeting in Rehlingen.
It was the sixth time she beat her national record this year.
And at the 200m two days later, she ran a 22.70 race, setting a meet record, but just falling short of beating the record she set at the SEA Games, where she had run a 22.69 race.
Pereira is now being dubbed Singapore’s Sprint Queen and Asia’s Sprint Queen, given the number of medals she has bagged this year alone.
On Monday morning, Pereira paid tribute to her coach, Portugal’s Luis Cunha, 58, a former sprinter, and the whole team in an Instagram post, writing, “Coming home a Double Asian Champ. @luisfilipecunhacunha and my WHOLE team – we did it 🥹
🥇11.20 (0.0m/s) – PB, NR
🥇 22.70 (+0.1m/s) – CR
Thank you, @asianathletics2023 🫶🏽” /TISG
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