From kitefoiling champ to sprint queen: What to look out for as Team Singapore begin Asian Games campaign

SINGAPORE: After a five-year wait, the Asian Games is finally back.

Delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 19th edition of the Games will be held in Hangzhou, China.

Team Singapore will send its largest contingent ever to the meet, with a total of 431 athletes across 32 sports representing the country.

At the last edition of the Games, Singapore clinched four gold, four silvers and 14 bronzes.

The Games will officially open on Saturday (Sep 23) and CNA will bring you the latest from the meet. Here are five things to look out for:

2023 has been an absolutely brilliant year for Shanti Pereira.

Going into the Asian Games, the 27-year-old has clocked the quickest timings of any Asian woman in the 100m and 200m.

In May, she became the first Singaporean woman to win both the 100m and 200m events at the same edition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and then followed that up with a sprint double at the Asian Athletics Championships in July.

Last month in Budapest, Hungary, Pereira became the first Singaporean to make a World Championships semi-finals after a stellar showing in the 200m. She also met the qualifying mark for the event at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The Asian Games will be the “final sprint” for Pereira after a long year, and she is targeting a medal in both sprint events.

"The foundation has been laid; I've been competing, I've been doing well, all that is done," she told reporters earlier this month. "All I can do now is just tune up and give it my all."

The last Singaporean to win a track and field gold was Chee Swee Lee (women's 400m) in 1974. Will this be Pereira's time?

Despite being just 17, Maximilian Maeder has a vastly impressive resume.

The latest accolade the kitefoiler added to a growing list was gold