SINGAPORE — Shanti Pereira and Ang Chen Xiang broke new national records in their respective track and field events, with Shanti creating waves with three record-breaking feats at the Australian Track and Field Championships in Brisbane. At the same time, Ang competed in the Hong Kong Athletics Series 3 competition.
Over in Australia, Shanti’s latest national record was set in the women’s 200m heats on Apr 2, clocking a time of 22.89s. This new timing bettered her previous record of 23.16s which she set on Mar 25 at the Brisbane Track Classic (World Continental Tour Silver) on Mar 25, where she finished in third place behind Australian Ella Conolly and Georgia Hulls from New Zealand.
According to Singapore Athletics, Shanti’s 200m national record would have won her the gold medal in the last five editions of the Asian Games. Also running in the same 200m heats was Elizabeth-Ann Tan, who clocked a new personal best time of 24.23s. In an interview with CNA, Shanti’s coach Luis Cunha said that despite coming out top in the women’s 200m heats, Shanti did not compete in the finals as they wanted to avoid ‘ overstretching her both physically and mentally.’
Shanti’s first record-breaking feat at the Australian Track and Field Championships came in the women’s 100m preliminaries event on Mar 31. She came in first with a time of 11.38s. But the newly written national record did not last long as Shanti broke it again the next day in the 100m finals, winning the event with an impressive timing of 11.37, with Australia’s rising star Torrie Lewis coming in close behind her in second place with a time of 11.38s.
‘The race felt really good, especially towards the end. I just focused on executing what my coach and I were working on the past few weeks and took advantage of the great weather we had today. Reaction once again wasn’t the best, but I’m glad I didn’t let that affect the race!’ said a joyful Shanti after her preliminary race.
Shanti’s achievements on the track caught not only the attention of her fans and the media but also Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister and coordinating minister for social policies. The senior minister congratulated Shanti on her win and explained how a sports programme provided for Singapore athletes would enable them to focus and prepare for competitions.
“Shanti first broke the national 100m record when she was 16. She’s had her ups and downs since then, which makes her even more a Singapore hero. Now at 26, she shows what guts and persistence are about. As she herself has put it, ‘Just continue growing into it because ultimately it is your journey. If there’s anyone that can determine how it turns out, it is you.’ said Senior Minister Tharman.
“The Sport Excellence (Spex) Scholarship programme, which provides financial and other support to help athletes prepare for major Games, helps. Shanti joined the programme last November, allowing her to train full time,” added the former Deputy Prime Minister.
Shanti and other track and field athletes, including Ang are now preparing for the 2023 SEA Games, which will be held in Cambodia in May. In the previous 31st SEA Games held in 2022, Shanti won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m race. It was a historic win for Ang when he won silver in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.94s, as the last time that Singapore had won a medal in this event was back in the 1989 SEA Games.
While many in Singapore celebrated Shanti’s success, Ang flew the Singapore flag high in Hong Kong as he won the men’s 110m hurdle final, setting a new national record of 13.90s. He broke his record of 13.94s which he previously set at the 2022 SEA Games when he won the silver medal.
“I’m very happy to have executed my technique consistently over the 2 races today. It is a good checkpoint to show that I am on the right track, and to keep doing what we’re doing. Also, I want to give a shoutout to Singapore Athletics for supporting my training and competition plans in this lead-up to the SEA Games,” said Ang who had broken the 110m hurdles record for the 10th time since 2015.