Singapore wins first Asian women's 100m gold medal

Thailand's Veronica Shanti Pereira made history for the Southeast Asian country when she won the women's 100m at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships.

Sprinter Shanti Pereira celebrates winning the women's 100m gold medal at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships. Photo: AAC

On the evening of July 14, at Suphachalasai Stadium, Shanti Pereira finished first in the women's 100m race with a time of 11.20 seconds, 19% faster than Iranian athlete Farzaneh Fasihi and 20% faster than Chinese athlete Ge Manqi. The 26-year-old runner also broke the national record for Singapore and Southeast Asia, which she also held, by 6% of a second.

Before Shanti Pereira, the last Singaporean athlete to win an Asian medal was Rachel Yang, with a silver medal in the men's pole vault in 2007. Shanti Pereira also made history in Singapore when she became the first athlete from the country to win a gold medal at the Asian Championships.

As she crossed the finish line, Shanti Pereira still looked like she couldn't believe what she had achieved. On the podium, she burst into tears as the Singapore national anthem played. "More than winning, it was the moment of a lifetime," Shanti Pereira told the Straits Times . "I won the SEA Games and now the Asian Games. It's crazy."

The Singaporean athlete did not celebrate for long, as she regrouped for the women's 200m event this morning, July 15. Shanti finished with a time of 24.33 seconds to rank 11th in the qualifying round, qualifying for the semi-finals tomorrow morning, July 16.

Shanti Pereira comes from a background in Singaporean school sports . She rose to fame at the 28th SEA Games on home soil, winning a gold medal in the 200m – 23.60 seconds and a bronze medal in the 100m – 11.88 seconds. Since then, the 26-year-old runner’s performance has improved dramatically as she has been continuously trained and participated in major tournaments around the world.

Shanti Pereira holds two Southeast Asian records in the women's 100m and 200m. Photo: AAC — Shanti Pereira holds two Southeast Asian records in the women's 100m and 200m. Photo: *AAC*

At the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, Shanti Pereira won a double gold medal in the 100m with a time of 11.41 seconds and the 200m women's race with a time of 22.69 seconds - a SEA Games and personal record. She is now aiming to compete for a gold medal at the 19th ASIAD held in China.

Southeast Asia has already won three gold medals at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships. Before Shanti Pereira's 100m gold, Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines won the women's 400m hurdles gold in 57.50 seconds. The Thai men's relay team had prodigy Puripol Booson win the men's 4x100m gold in 38.55 seconds - breaking the national record.

Thailand is currently ranked fifth in the overall standings with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals. The Philippines and Singapore are tied for eighth. Vietnam did not compete successfully in this tournament, with only one bronze medal in the women's triple jump by Nguyen Thi Huong and ranked 14th with Kuwait and Mongolia.

Hieu Luong

Source link