SINGAPORE, (Bernama): Singapore’s sprint queen Shanti Pereira and nine other women were inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame (SWHF) today, in conjunction with the International Women’s Day celebration.
The 27-year-old Olympian and SEA Games women’s 200m record holder is joined by bowling icon, Grace Young-Diao; Grandmother of Singlish, Sylvia Toh Paik Choo; educator, author, and poet Hadijah Rahmat; and TV newscaster Tan See Lai.
The national sprinter won silver in the women’s 100m race at the Asian Games in September 2023, in Hangzhou, China. That feat was bettered by a gold in the women’s 200m, becoming the first athlete to win a track and field medal for Singapore at the Asian Games in almost 50 years.
The last time Singapore won a gold medal was when Chee Swee Lee won the women’s 400m gold in 1974 at the Asian Games in Tehran.
Preceding her Asian Games wins, Pereira was also the first Singaporean woman to win both the 100m and 200m sprints at the SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in May 2023. In July of the same year, she clinched two more gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Pereira was not present at the ceremony and was represented by her mother Bridget, who received the award on her behalf.
Also in the list are mountaineers and endurance athletes, Sim Phei Sunn and Vincere Zeng; environment champion, Kirtida Mekani; trailblazer in the Asian creative industry, Linda Locke; and pioneering advocate of successful longevity, Mary Ann Tsao.
The Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO), in a statement, has confirmed that the SWHF now boasts 192 honourees, including the 10 women who were recently inducted.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam presented the 10 women with The Flame, the glass trophy that represents the vitality of the Hall of Fame women and the torch of inspiration that is passed from one generation to another, at the SCWO International Women’s Day Celebration and the SWHF 10th Induction Ceremony, at a hotel here today.
SWHF was launched 10 years ago to recognise and honour Singapore’s most outstanding women in all categories of endeavour, document their stories, and share these stories widely so as to inspire others.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a Facebook post said since the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development was published two years ago, women have made significant progress in areas such as workplace opportunities, caregiving support and protection against violence and harm.
"Still, in some areas women continue to face barriers or difficulties, and we must tackle these. Women or men, young or old - we all have a part to play in building a more inclusive and fairer society,” he said. - Bernama
