While national shuttler Loh Kean Yew was making waves in Dubai over the weekend, Yip Pin Xiu was doing literally the same thing in Singapore.
The national Paralympic swimmer won two medals in two days at the Citi Para Swimming World Series held at our doorstep.
Source: Sport Singapore on Facebook
In the process, she broke a world and Asian record.
Yip is currently competing in the Citi Para Swimming World Series 2023, held till Monday (1 May) at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
This is the first time the international competition is being staged in Singapore since 2019.
As it’s on home ground, expectations might have been high that Yip, a five-time Paralympic gold medallist, would blow the competition out of the water.
It proved to be so on Saturday (29 Apr), the very first day of the event.
In the multi-class finals, Yip won a gold medal for S2 Women’s 200m Freestyle, the Singapore Disability Sports Council said in a media release sent to MS News.
Source: Entertainment – Mediacorp on YouTube
She finished with a time of 4 minutes 41.46 seconds, ahead of Thailand’s Nattharinee Khajhonmatha and Hong Kong’s Chan Yui Lam.
Source: Entertainment – Mediacorp on YouTube
This wasn’t an ordinary gold medal, though — it was one that broke a world and Asian record.
Source: Singapore Disability Sports Council on Facebook
It turns out that her time of 4:41.46 broke the previous record set by China’s Feng Yazhu in 2015.
Yip came in faster by 5.64s.
The achievement elicited cheers from the home support at the OCBC Aquatic Centre when it was announced.
She told The Straits Times (ST) that she was “really happy to be able to do it on home ground”.
But Yip was far from done yet.
On Sunday (30 Apr), the second day of the Swimming World Series, she would continue her streak, adding a silver medal to her tally.
This time, she did it in the Women’s 50m Backstroke multiclass event, finishing with a time of 1:03.28 and 884 points, behind the Philippines’ Angel Mae Otom. Greece’s Alexandra Stamatopoulou won the bronze.
Source: Entertainment – Mediacorp on YouTube
Yip said her medal was “a good indicator” of continuous progress and noted that the timing was still faster than what she notched at the Para Swimming World Series in Sheffield in March, where she won bronze, adding,
We are going to take it as a good sign, and continue working really hard and hopefully show even more improvement (at the Para Swimming World Championships) in Manchester.
Photo courtesy of Singapore Disability Sports Council
Yip’s fellow Singaporean teammates were no slackers, either.
On the first day, para swimmer Toh Wei Soong snagged Singapore’s first medal, earning a silver in the Men’s 50m Butterfly multi-class finals.
Source: Singapore Disability Sports Council on Facebook
He racked up a total of 976 points.
Congrats, Pin Xiu and Wei Soong, for another amazing performance.
Singaporeans are no doubt proud of our para swimmers for their achievements.
Yip will be in action again on Monday (1 May) in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S2, along with a number of other Singaporean swimmers.
So do show your support for them if you can, especially since the event is being held here.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Singapore Disability Sports Council on Facebook and Sport Singapore on Facebook.
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