Jovin Tan and Aloysius Gan won silver and Jeralyn Tan took bronze at the Nagoya General Gymnasium Rainbow Hall on Wednesday (21 October), giving Singapore its first individual boccia medals in Asian Para Games history. Until that afternoon, Team Singapore’s only boccia medal at the Games was the mixed pairs BC3 silver won by Nurulasyiqah Mohamad Taha, Toh Sze Ning and Faye Lim in 2018.
Jeralyn Tan resets in five hours
Jeralyn’s day started badly. The Paralympic silver medallist lost 8-0 to Malaysia’s Angeline Melissa in the morning semi-final of the women’s individual BC1, which sent her into a bronze medal match against Iran’s Neda Ghayebi, the player who had beaten her 8-1 in the pool stage.
This time she won 6-1. The team had less than five hours to reset and leaned on the squad’s psychologist to do it. “We met Iran in the pool stage, and we lost by a big margin. But we managed to reset and then come back stronger,” said her coach, Yurnita Omar.
It is a second major podium in two months for Jeralyn, who won bronze at the World Boccia Championship in Seoul in September.
Jovin Tan medals in a second sport
Jovin, 40, reached the men’s individual BC1 final on four straight wins, the pick of them a 6-2 result over Hong Kong’s reigning Paralympic champion John Loung. The final was a rematch with Thailand’s Witsanu Huapradit, whom he had beaten in Korat in January on the way to ASEAN Para Games gold. Witsanu, the world No. 12, turned it around and won 4-1.
The silver makes Jovin the first Singaporean to win Asian Para Games medals in two different sports. His first came 12 years ago, a sailing gold in the Hansa 303 double-handed event with Yap Qian Yin. He only took up boccia in 2022.
Aloysius Gan survives, then falls one point short
The men’s BC3 draw nearly ended early for Aloysius. He led South Korea’s world No. 2 Jeong Howon by four points going into the fourth and final end of their semi-final, watched the lead disappear, then won the tiebreaker.
In the gold medal match against Thailand’s Withun Chanthakhat, he pushed for a late comeback and lost 4-3. It is an upgrade on his fourth place in Hangzhou. “This medal represents how far he has come, the hard work he has put in and the progress he has made over the years,” said his father and coach, Kagan Gan.
Aloysius is back on court on Thursday (22 October) with Nurulasyiqah in the mixed pairs BC3. The pair won Singapore’s first gold at the World Boccia Championships last month.
Toh Wei Soong adds a third bronze
In the pool, Toh Wei Soong touched third in the men’s 50m butterfly S7 in 31.53 seconds. China’s Zhang Yilong won in 30.71 and his teammate Ruan Jingsong took silver in 31.50.
That makes three medals from three events for the defending champion, who still has the 100m backstroke S7 and the 50m freestyle S7 to come before the Games close on 24 October.
Sophie Soon finished sixth in the women’s 100m backstroke S13 but lowered the national record to 1:25.45, and swims the 50m freestyle S13 on Thursday. Cyclist Amelia Tan also took bronze in the women’s B time trial on Wednesday, CNA reported.
