Speed skater Trevor Tan wins the September 2019 edition of the Team Singapore athlete of the month, overcoming stiff competition from seven other Team Singapore athletes including Yeo Jia Min, Nurul Suhaila and Quah Jing Wen.

We are greeted with an unprecedented eight nominees for Team Singapore athlete of the month for September 2019, in what was an incredible haul for Team Singapore in August. The athlete nominees are as follows:

Yeo Jia Min (Badminton)

For winning the Hyderabad Open women’s singles title, came back from one set down to beat South Korea's An Se Young (32) 12-21, 21-17, 21-19 in 73 minutes.

She overcame world no. 1 Akane Yamaguchi in straight sets 21-14, 21-18 in a match that lasted 40 minutes at the  BWF World Championships in Basel, Switzerland, making it through to the third round.  

She defeated Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang in the third round, but run ended after a loss to former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the quarters.

 
Quah Jing Wen (Swimming) 

She broke her own 200m butterfly race national record of 2:11.38s set at the Tokyo leg of the FINA World Cup Series with a timing of 2:10.26s, clinching the bronze medal. 

Nurul Suhaila poses with her trophy after winning at the UNJ Open Pencak Silat championships. Photo: Nurul Suhaila

Nurul Suhaila (Pencak Silat)

Wins her category in the UNJ Open Pencak Silat Championships, and also won the Best Female athlete for the tournament.


Jonathan Tan (Swimming)

Set a new National record with a time of 22.46s to beat Joseph Schooling’s mark of 22.47s set at 2015 SEA Games. Qualified for the final of the 50m Freestyle at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, and finished 5th overall in the 50m Freestyle Finals.

 
Trevor Tan (Speed Skating)

Trevor defeated powerhouses China and Korea, clocked 1min 29.899sec to top the five-strong final for 15-to 16-year-olds. He won the men's Junior B 1,000m title at the Asia Open Short Track Speed Skating Trophy in Kunming, China; and has been training in Korea after deciding to take a gap year from Singapore Sports School.

Koen Pang (Table Tennis)

Koen had some outstanding achievements at the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships held in India, claiming 1 Silver in mixed doubles, 2 Bronzes in the men’s singles and men’s doubles; and also made history by being first Singaporean to be ranked world’s no. 1 Under 18 table tennis player.

He scored a string of victories in the past few years including three titles – singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles – at this year’s National Table Tennis Grand Finale in January

Cherie Tan (Bowling)

Cherie was crowned the World Champion in Bowling in the Gold Medal match of the Masters Category of the World Bowling Women’s championships.

Kyra Poh (Sky Diving)

Kyra was crowned champion of solo freestyle at the Australian Open Indoor Skydiving Championships in Sydney, which was her third Gold medal in this category following her previous wins in 2016 and 2017. She won a silver medal for 2 way dynamic with her partner, Tobias Chaloupka, in the 2 way dynamic open category and teamed up with Thailand’s Amy Watson and Australia’s James Dehombre to finish third in the 4 way dynamic open category.


Other Key TeamSG Happenings for August 2019

 
Contessa Loh (Archery) was a Silver Medallist at Taipei 2019 Asia Cup Leg 2, becoming the first ever Singaporean finalist for compound women at the Asia Cup for archery. She improved her standing from the first Asia Cup in March where she clinched the bronze medal (Thailand). She will be heading for her third Asia Cup (Philippines) in September for the Sea Games Test Match.

In Tchoukball, the Women's Under-18 clinched gold after beating Chinese Taipei in the finals. They were trailing behind 10-13 after the first period but bounced back by winning the second and third period, eventually winning 38-30. The team ended the World Youth Tchoukball Championships with 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze.

In badminton, Loh Kean Yew clinched the silver medal at the Hyderabad Open for the men’s singles, losing out to home favourite Sourabh Verma. It was his third runners-up finish this year following his placing in the Russia Open in July, and he currently ranks 34th in the World. He is the first Singaporean men’s shuttler to reach World Championships last-16 since 2011, and he lost to world no. 2 Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16

Tay Wei Ming overcame Thailand’s Pricha Somsiri and advanced to the quarter-finals of the MS SU5 category at the TOTAL BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2019, where he lost to Poland’s Bartłomiej Mroz 18-21, 19-21 in the quarter-finals

In dragon boating, Singapore's women dragon boaters @ 14th IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships held in Thailand took first in 200m race, second in 500m race and second in the 2000m race for Junior A Category and claimed third in the National Women category for the DB12 Premier Womens 200m Small Boat event.

Elizabeth Liau from Cycling clinched top spot in the Women Junior Points Race at the South-east Asia Track Cup GP 2019 held at Velodrom Nasional Malaysia, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. She stepped on the podium for the second time as she came in 3rd for the Women's Junior Scratch Race at the South-east Asia Track Cup GP 2019 on the same day.

Team Singapore's Wushu team claimed 5 golds, 7 silvers, 8 bronzes at the 10th Asian Wushu Junior Championships, an improvement from their previous achievement of 4 golds, 8 silvers, 2 bronzes achieved in 2017. Zoe Tan, 15, contributed to the medal haul with 2 gold medals from the junior girls’ gunshu and daoshu and 1 bronze in the girls’ changquan.