Tossing metal balls and making waves: A pair of Singapore’s young talents primed for SEA Games debuts

SINGAPORE: In a city along the French Riviera about seven years ago, Josephine Pan caught a glimpse of a sport she had never seen before: Petanque.

“I was very curious about it because I never seen something like that before,” she told CNA. “They just kind of looked like they were having a lot of fun together.”

Returning home from Nice, Josephine practised with brightly coloured plastic petanque balls her parents had bought.

“I would just play with my family downstairs, and then eventually we realised that there were actual courts here. One of the times we were playing here just for fun, we were invited to an … introductory event,” she said.

At 16, Josephine will be Singapore’s sole representative in petanque at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia. She will compete in the women’s singles event.

In petanque, players score points by tossing metal balls or boules as close as possible to a small target ball, which is known as a jack. The game is typically played on a gravel-like surface.

“I didn't really think about representing Singapore (when I first started). I was just working on my technique and I found it fun because I like the challenge of constantly just refining my technique,” she said.

The desire to keep improving is something 17-year-old swimmer Nicholas Mahabir shares.

"I’ve sacrificed a lot. A lot of my energy, time with family, time with friends, my social life. I don’t really have much of a social life. I just go to bed really early," said Nicholas, who is also making his Games debut in Cambodia.

"There’s so many things, I can’t really put it into a couple of sentences. Just waking up early, everything we eat, everything we consume. The amount of things we have to do to be a high-level swimmer is a lot."

One of the things