THIS year's 'Olympics of Skills' saw Team Singapore participating alongside 900 competitors from 51 countries in Calgary, Canada last month for the 40th WorldSkills Competition (WSC). The Republic was represented by a contingent of 19 from the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic and Nanyang Polytechnic.

Marking the pinnacle of excellence in skilled trades and technologies training, the biennial event promotes global competency industry standards, with competitions ranging from robotics to Web design, welding to cooking, and auto-body repair to landscape gardening.

Singapore came away with its best performance ever at the WSC, taking home three golds, one bronze, eight medallions of excellence and the top Albert Vidal award. All the medals, incidentally, were won by students from Nanyang Polytechnic.

In the first of a two-part feature, we hear from 19-year-old TAN THIAM SHUI, who bagged the most prestigious Albert Vidal award, given to the overall top scorer. He was also the gold medal winner in the IT-PC/ Network Support skills area and winner of the Best-of-Nation Award.

EVEN before I began my journey to the WorldSkills Competition, I could feel a sense of excitement in the build-up to the event. I could not help but feel stressed as Singapore had won the gold medal in the IT-PC/Network Support skills area for four consecutive editions, and being the representative this year, there was a lot expected from me.

I was up against 25 others from all over the world, including Finland, the United States, Switzerland, Japan and Germany.

As part of my preparations, I had the opportunity to be attached to NCS, a leading vendor-independent IT and communications engineering solutions provider, where I acquired valuable skills in advanced network technologies and was exposed to real-life troubleshooting issues.

After four days of gruelling and intense competition, the long-awaited grand closing ceremony was finally held where the winners would be announced.

As I did not know my ranking for each day, I waited anxiously for the names of the winners to be announced, and was jubilant to learn I was the gold medallist and had done my part to keep the Singapore flag flying high once again.

Next, all the 51 countries' 'Best of Nation' winners gathered on the stage to await the compere's announcement for the Albert Vidal Award, a prestigious prize given to the competitor who has the highest score among all the competitors in 45 skills areas.

After learning I was the winner, it was satisfying to know that all my hard work had paid off - staying back late at night, the long hours put into practice, the countless hours devoted to research, sacrificing my vacation time and the need to juggle between training, studies and co-curricular activities.

Looking back, I had come a long way. It was a challenging yet rewarding journey. I had certainly learnt a lot, both in technical and soft skills and have become a more mature person overall.

The writer is currently pursuing a diploma in information technology at Nanyang Polytechnic

This article was first published in The Business Times.