Singapore sprinter Shanti Pereira has qualified for the World Athletics Championships (WAC) happening next week from 19 Aug to 27 Aug.
The 26-year-old qualified for the women’s 100m and 200m events at the biennial meet through her world ranking.
What’s more impressive is that she’s the first Singaporean to qualify for WAC through merit in over a decade.
Source: v_shantipereira on Instagram
Shanti had previously participated in three iterations of the WAC but as a wild card.
According to The Straits Times, Shanti qualified for the women’s 100m and 200m events at the 2023 WAC through her world ranking.
Even though she did not meet the qualifying time of 11.08 seconds and 22.60 seconds respectively, she qualified for the event through the points accrued from previous competitions.
This is the first time that a Singaporean athlete has done so since at least 2011 when tracking of such data began.
For the women’s 100m event, Shanti reportedly qualified as the 36th-highest entrant as each country is only allowed a maximum of three participants.
As for the women’s 200m event, the 26-year-old was 2nd on the list of those who qualified through their world rankings.
Fellow Singapore sprinter Calvin Quek will join Shanti at the WAC, held in Budapest.
Posts on Shanti’s Instagram page indicate that she’s already in the Hungarian capital.
Source: v_shantipereira on Instagram
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Shanti says she hopes to achieve personal best (PB) timings for both events.
At the moment, her personal bests for the 100m and 200m events are 11.20 seconds and 22.69 seconds respectively.
Prior to this year, Shanti had reportedly participated in three past WACs, but as a wild card.
Shanti scored two gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships last month, breaking the national record for the women’s 100m event in the process.
She ended the month on a high two weeks later by winning gold at a competition in Germany.
We wish Shanti and Calvin all the best in the upcoming WAC. We have no doubts that they’ll do Singapore proud.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Team Singapore on Facebook.
GrabCab must adhere to the same fare structure components as other taxi operators.
Onlookers applauded when an officer grabbed her and pulled her to safety.
The joint venture, which included a Chinese company, had bought steel from a shuttered steel…
The 1,582 sq ft unit is "bigger than a five-room flat" and offers the same…
Prime members can access the sale a day earlier on 3 April.
A 17-year-old boy who identified as an "East Asian Supremacist" has also been detained.