NATIONAL rower Saiyidah Aisyah has become the first Singaporean rower to qualify for the Olympic Games.
She finished first in the B final of the 2,000m women’s single sculls event at the 2016 Fisa Asia and Oceania Continental Olympic Qualification Regatta yesterday morning.
The 28-year-old clocked 7min 53.13sec at the Tangeum Lake in Chungju, South Korea to earn a coveted spot at the Rio Games in August.
Only the top seven rowers at the regatta qualify for the Summer Games.
These comprise all the six rowers in the A final – from Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Taipei and Vietnam – as well as Saiyidah, winner of the B final.
The 2013 South-east Asia Games rowing champion and 2015 SEA Games double bronze medallist won her tightly contested race ahead of Thailand’s Phuttharaksa Neegree (7:54.22) and Qatar’s Tala Aladin Abujbara (7:55.66).
Geraldine Lee and Lim Heem Wei became Singapore’s first canoeist and gymnast respectively to qualify for the Olympics at the London Games in 2012.
aleysaj@sph.com.sg
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