Fill Me In

Quah siblings, Zheng Wen, Ting Wen, and Jing Wen are up for several accolades at this year’s Singapore Sports Awards.

Zheng Wen and Ting Wen are nominated for Sportsman of the Year and Sportswoman of the Year, while the youngest Quah, Jing Wen, is in the running for Sportsgirl of the Year. Both sisters have also been nominated in the Team of the Year (Event) category for their participation in the Swimming Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Team at the 2019 Sea Games.

Historical first

Should the elder two Quahs win, they would be the first brother and sister pair to win the coveted title for Singapore athletes.

For Zheng Wen, winning the title would end Joseph Schooling’s long reign as Sportsman of the Year. Schooling, Singapore’s first Olympic gold medallist, won Sportsman of the Year in 2012, and then for five consecutive years from 2015 to 2019. The title was unfilled in 2013. He is also not in the running for the title this year.

Zheng Wen was named Most Valuable Player for male athletes at the SEA Games in Philippines last year, after an astounding performance that bagged him six golds and two silvers.

Elder sister Ting Wen also performed well at last year’s SEA Games. The 28-year-old won six gold medals in solo and team events.

Nominations are encouragement to trio

Speaking on behalf of her siblings, she said that “[the nominations are] particularly meaningful because 2019-2020 has not been an easy year [for the siblings]”. The nominations are also encouraging to the three who are “still hanging on to [their] dream of being in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics together, representing Singapore”.

Men’s softball team up for Team of the Year

The Singapore Sports Awards also has another heroic nomination of the national men’s softball team for the category of Team of the Year (Team Sport). 2019 was a breakthrough season for the softball team, who competed at the Men’s Softball World Championship – a first since 1992 – after finishing third at the Asian Men’s Softball Championship. Their qualification has been the team’s best placing at the quadrennial championship.

While Singapore only placed 15th in the World Championship, the team managed to clinch their first-ever gold medal at the SEA Games last year.

Nomination as parting gift to former coach

The nomination makes for a pleasant parting gift for former captain Ivan Ng, who retired after the SEA Games.

Ng, who captained the team for a decade, said: “It was fortunate that we made history and that motivated a lot of youngsters who want to continue this legacy. It was not great not just for softball in Singapore, but those overseas too because they now think it’s possible to turn the tide.”

“For myself, it was great to end with the historic SEA Games gold and this nomination is unexpected so it’s the cherry on top.”

Where to catch the awards ceremony

This year’s main awards selection committee was chaired by Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) president Tan Chuan-Jin while the selection committee for the Sportsboy and Sportsgirl awards was helmed by vice-president Jessie Phua, who was re-elected last month at the SNOC’s annual general meeting.

This year’s winners will be announced at a presentation ceremony on 28 October, where only finalists will be allowed to attend, due to restrictions set by the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will also be streamed ‘live’ on SNOC’s Facebook page.

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