Sprint queen Shanti Pereira takes 100m silver to end Singapore's 49-year wait for Asian Games athletics medal

HANGZHOU, China: Shanti Pereira ended Singapore’s near 50-year wait for a track and field medal in the Asian Games, after she clinched a silver in the women’s 100m on Saturday (Sep 30).

At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Pereira clocked 11.27s to take silver. The Singaporean’s personal best time stands at 11.20s. 

China's Ge Manqi took the gold in 11.23s, while Bahraini Hajar Saad Saeed Saad Alkhadi finished third (11.35s) for the bronze medal.

The last Singaporean to win an athletics gold was Chee Swee Lee (women's 400m) in 1974. Singapore’s last Asiad medal in track and field also came that year.

Pereira was up against fierce competition in the final, with China’s Wei Yongli (10.99s) and Ge (11.04s) as well as Bahrain’s Ofonime Odiong (11.05s) and Saeed Alkhaldi (11.17s) all possessing quicker personal bests.

This is Pereira’s first Games finals in the 100m. In 2018, she did not advance out of the heats.

In Friday’s heats, Pereira finished sixth overall. She clocked a time of 11.42s in the second heat which was won by Bahrain's Saeed Alkhaldi (11.34s). Thailand's Supanich Poolkerd crossed the line second in a time of 11.36s.

While she had missed out on the two automatic qualifying spots in her heat, she went through by virtue of clocking the fastest time outside of the six automatic qualifiers.

Going into the Games, the 27-year-old had clocked the fastest timings of any Asian woman in the 100m in 2023. Her time of 11.20s was then eclipsed by Ge (11.17s) in the heats on Friday (Sep 29).

In May, Pereira 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