Zachary Ian Tan (right) and Leow Li Shen share a moment after the boys’ 100m freestyle event at the 2015 championships. Who will light up this year’s championships? (Photo © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
The Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships is back with a bang this year. Spanning a total of eight days, with the Junior events happening from March 11 to 13, and the Senior events from March 16 to 20, this year’s meet is set to wow fans and athletes alike.
Here is a list of 5 things to look out for.
Qualifications for the Rio Olympic Games
With the Rio de Janeiro Olympics happening in August 2016, the Singapura Finance 47th SNAG Swimming Championships is the last local qualifying competition for our senior swimmers to book their tickets to the quadrennial event.
With no less than six of our swim stars having hit the ‘B’ qualifying mark, will they be able to kick on and clock fast enough times to clock the elusive ‘A’ timings to secure their berths on the Olympic team alongside Joseph Schooling and Quah Zheng Wen? We’ll find out come March 16 to 20!
Quah Zheng Wen
In last year’s edition of the event, our swimmers broke a total of five national records and 81 meet records with Quah Zheng Wen leading the way, shattering three national records and rewriting another six meet records all by himself. This despite only restarting his full-time training regime just a few months before. With a year of proper training under his belt, be sure to expect great things from him as he fine-tunes his repertoire to prepare for the Rio Olympic Games.
Records and Cash Prizes
Speaking of records, did you know that Singapura Finance is offering a cash prize of $500 and $200 to swimmers who break national and meet records respectively? According to its CEO, Mr Jaime Teo, the cash prizes are a way for the financial company to “encourage record breakers to keep swimming hard and rewarding them for their record-breaking accomplishments”. A total purse of $18,700 was given out last year. Will this year’s crop of participants be able to top that?
Next Swim Star
Junior meets are where national selectors go to find the next generation of swimmers to groom and prepare for future international competitions. The SFSNAG is no different. Last year’s event saw Zachary Ian Tan announce himself to the nation as Singapore’s next swimming superstar when he broke a mind-boggling 11 meet records out of the 11 events he contested in for the 12 and under category. It will be exciting to see if there is going to be another junior swimmer from this year’s events who can make a splash in the same way.
Smaller clubs on show
Powerhouses such as Swimfast Aquatic Club, Aquatic Performance Swim Club and Chinese Swimming Club traditionally dominate the high performance swimming scene in Singapore. However, there is a growing list of smaller clubs like SwimDolphia Aquatic School, Sha Aquatics and Ace Swim Club that are starting to climb up the medal tally. With the local scene riding a wave of unprecedented talent, it will be interesting to see how these clubs build on the successes of last year as they embark on another challenge against the big guns!
For more thrills, head down to this year’s Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships and catch the events for free. More information can be found at www.swimsnag.com.sg.
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