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MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
29 May 2007
The six elite swimmers with disability return from British International Disability Swimming Championship 2007 and 21st International German Championship 2007 today.
The road to Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games seems smooth-riding so far for Singapore. Theresa Goh Rui Si, 20-year-old swimming prodigy who is one of two Singaporeans to have earned qualification for the Beijing 2008 Games, continues to show improvement. Theresa has just rewritten her own two world records – 50m Breaststroke (SB4) and 200m Breaststroke (SB4) – at the recent 21st International German Championship 2007 and British International Disability Swimming Championship 2007 respectively.
While she toiled milliseconds off her 50m breaststroke, Theresa shaved more than 13 seconds off her 200m breaststroke timing.
Worthy of mention is that during last December’s Beijing 2008 swimming qualifier, Theresa lost a world championship title to Inbal Pezaro from Israel in the 100m (SB4) event by 0.04 seconds. She was initially placed first during the preliminary rounds, but eventually lost during the finals.
During the heats in Germany this time, Theresa initially lost to Inbal by 0.11 seconds. However, she fought back hard in the finals, eventually winning Inbal’s 2:02.99 with a new personal best of 1:58.14.
Although 50m and 200m breaststroke (SB4) will not be offered in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, the 100m breaststroke (SB4) event is set to be an exciting fight for Singapore. Especially since Singapore might be in the running for its first Olympic gold with Theresa or Mohd Firdaus Bin Nordin (wheelchair racer), after a long break from the silver medal by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang during the 1960 Olympic Games.
And this afternoon, it will be a victorious return for Theresa, as well as five other fellow swim mates, who have each achieved at least two personal bests during the last 10 days. James Leow, amputee swimmer in S9 category, has shown vast potential with new personal bests for 5 out of 6 events entered. James was one of four swimmers with disability who represented Singapore during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He was also a bronze medallist in the 2006 Far East and South Pacific (FESPIC) Games for the Disabled held last year, which was participated by over 45 countries in the Asia and Oceania region.
Marked as the biggest international disability swimming event in Great Britain, the British International Disability Swimming Championship was held at Sheffield from 18 to 20 May 2007. Over 250 swimmers from 15 countries, such as Australia, Canada and Iceland, participated.
The 21st International German Championship 2007 was held at Berlin from 24 to 27 May 2007. Over 445 athletes from 28 countries such as Sweden and Denmark participated.
The 6 swimmers will return to Singapore this afternoon via LH778 (Lufthansa) at Changi Airport Terminal 2, 3.50 pm.
Click here to download the results.