Singapore sailors take 2 silvers, 2 bronzes at Asian Games in Hangzhou

HANGZHOU: More than a decade after his last Asian Games medal, two-time Games champion Justin Liu clinched a silver in the mixed Nacra 17 event at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday (Sep 26).

And this was a finish to savour, for it was one the sailor earned by pairing up with his wife Denise Lim.

"I'm very happy for her, she's put in a lot of work even though she's never been to an Asian Games," he told reporters.

"Asian Games brings about a different kind of pressure, with a small fleet, and the form book goes out the window. And every day she's been like: 'Let's keep fighting' ... It was inspiring me this whole time."

Zhao Huancheng and Wang Saibo from host nation China won gold while Thailand’s Teerapong Watiboonruang and Siriwimon Harintachat claimed bronze.

"It feels quite surreal. It hasn't really sunk in, still absorbing it," said Lim. 

"We wanted to qualify for the Asian Games in 2014 and we didn't qualify for it, and the next Asian Games didn't have our event. So we've been fighting for many, many years to try to make it to the Asian Games," added Liu, who partnered Sherman Cheng to win the men’s 420 event in 2006, and repeated the feat at the 2010 Asiad. 

"To finally be here, to finally get a medal, when we finished it was so much emotion because the journey has been so long and we finally did it."

There was also another silver and two bronzes for Singapore, courtesy of Isaac Goh (boys' ILCA4), Keira Carlyle (girls' ILCA4) and the duo of Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low (women's 49erFX).

Goh, a gold medallist at the Southeast Asian Games earlier this year, finished second after eleven races. The event was won by Thailand’s Weka Bhanubandh while Malaysia’s Muhammad Asnawi Iqbal Adam took bronze.

The Singaporean said he was