SINGAPORE: Swimmer Toh Wei Soong won Singapore’s first gold medal at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou on Thursday (Oct 26).
Toh put in a dominant performance to finish the men’s 100m backstroke S7 final in first place with a time of 1:14.99, setting a new Games record.
He was more than five seconds ahead of silver medalist Yang Huaqiang from China.
The podium was rounded off by Huang Xianquan, another Chinese swimmer.
Toh had previously won a silver medal in the men’s 400m freestyle S7 at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena. He now has a total of five Asian Para Games medals.
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Despite the convincing win, Toh said afterwards that he could have swum a better race.
“I was gunning for the Asian record as I exceeded that time in training, so it wasn’t a perfect race for me,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said that he was proud to be Singapore’s first gold medalist at this edition of the Games.
Toh added that he was hoping for better performances in his pet events, the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly, on Friday.
He is the defending champion in the 50m freestyle S7, having taken the gold in Jakarta five years ago.
With Toh’s gold, Singapore moved into 20th place in the medal table with a haul of one gold, two silvers and two bronzes.
Singapore’s other medals at this year’s Games were won by lawn bowlers Faridah Salleh and Khirmern Mohamad, who claimed a silver and bronze respectively, and Claire Toh, who picked up a bronze in table tennis.