Singapore’s female sprinter Shanti Pereira has qualified for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games after achieving a 11.74s gold medal finish at the Asean University Games (AUG) in Myanmar.
She also picked up the 200m gold medal after crossing the line at 24.12s.
The undergraduate qualified for the Philippines SEA Games as she had done better than the 2017 SEA Games bronze-medal mark of 11.76s, a mark she had set.
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Her return to the podium will surely lift her after a year of being held back by injuries and a lack of preparations for the Jakarta Asian Games.
She didn’t get past the first round in the 100m after posting 12.01s and was 12th in the 200m semi-finals with a 24.33s finish.
Pereira told The Straits Times in a phone interview: “I didn’t really participate in many competitions this year because of the injury, so I’m very happy with my performance here, especially with the SEA Games 100m qualification as it was my target.”
“I still need to work on my endurance for the 200m and I will try to qualify at next year’s Singapore Open in March, but I’m very excited about what’s to come.”
Singapore’s track and field athletes picked up two gold medals, four silver and five bronze medals at the AUG, their best ever showing.
Photos: Singapore Athletics Facebook.