Team Singapore athletes returned from the recently concluded 19th Commonwealth Games to a reward of S$1.88 million dollars. The Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme (MAP), administered by the Singapore National Olympic Council and sponsored by the Tote Board and Singapore Pools, provides cash rewards for athletes who win medals.
12 years ago, Singapore returned with no medals from the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur. There no medals from the two games prior to that. Up to 1998, Singapore had won a total of only nine medals since the games' inception in 1958.
The team, consisting of Richard Chng, Jeremy Kevin Matthews, Mattias Ng, Arren Quek, Teo Zhen Ren, Aaron Yeo and Dzulhaili Mohd Kamal, were not considered to be Singapore's best possible representatives. The main squad are preparing for next month's Asian Games which have been identified as their target meet for the year. Nevertheless, the swimmers gave a good account of themselves at the Delhi Games.
The Singapore contingent has returned from India with a record haul of medals. Singapore returned with 11 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze medals. In the 2006 Melbourne games, Singapore won five gold, six silver and seven bronze.
Singapore's Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari fell at the final hurdle when they lost the women's doubles gold to India's Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa Machimanda. The Singapore pair were the top seed in the tournament and had beaten the same opponents twice before this year. However, in front of a partisan Indian crowd and rattled by a controversial umpiring call, Yao Lei and Shinta succumbed 16-21, 19-21.
Singapore picked up another two table tennis gold medals today at the 19th Commonwealth Games. Yang Zi beat fellow Singaporean Gao Ning 4-1 to capture the men's singles gold at the 19th Commonwealth Games while in the women's doubles, another all-Singapore final saw Sun Beibei and Li Jiawei beat Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu 3-2.
Gai Bin capped off his Commonwealth Games appearance with an individual gold in the 25m Standard Pistol event.
Gai Bin and Poh Lip Meng won another shooting gold for Singapore at the Commonwealth Games, this time teaming up to win the 25m Standard Pistol event.