BANGKOK (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore Sprint queen Shanti Pereira added another glittering chapter to her SEA Games legacy on Dec 13, after she retained her 200m crown to complete a historic double-double for Singapore at the biennial event.
Competing in her pet event, Pereira blazed through to victory in the final in lane 5 at the Suphachalasai National Stadium in 23.05 seconds.
Vietnam’s Le Thi Cam Tu won the silver in 23.14sec, while Zion Nelson of the Philippines claimed the bronze (23.50).
Pereira said after her race: “I’m really happy I managed to win today, but kind of disappointed, though. I mean, I wish I did a better time today, honestly, because my training indicated I could definitely go faster, and so did my warm-up.
“That’s okay. The goal was to come and defend my title, and I did that,t so I’m really happy.”
Pereira, 29, is the first Singaporean to win the 100m and 200m women’s titles in back-to-back Games – she first won the sprint double at the 2023 edition in Cambodia. She joins Vietnam’s Vu Thi Huong as the only woman from the region to achieve such a feat.
Huong completed the sprint double-double in 2007 and 2009.
On her achievement, Pereira added: “Oh wow, I didn’t know that. That feels amazing, honestly. To be able to have that title is pretty amazing. I’m honoured to have that.
“This is my 7th SEA Games. It’s been such an incredible journey and so many ups and downs. Everyone in this room knows my story already, but here I am. I showed up, and I won. Just incredibly thankful for everything.”
On Dec 11, Pereira retained her women’s 100m gold after she clocked 11.36sec to beat home favourite Khanonta Jirapat (11.54) and Ha Thi Thu (11.58) of Vietnam, who finished second and third, respectively.
Earlier in the day, she clocked 23.35sec to top her heat and the 11-athlete field, with Le and Nelson second and third overall in 23.50 and 23.62, respectively. Teammate Elizabeth Tan was disqualified in heat 2 for lane infringement.
Pereira is hoping to add to her medal haul on Dec 15, when she competes in the women’s 4x100m relay. -- The Straits Times/NN
