Jia Yi: A busy world champion

SINGAPORE - It looked as if the ship had sailed for Loh Jia Yi after his first regatta.

He took up sailing in Primary 3 at St Hilda's Primary School after first trying his hand at badminton, and finished his first competition behind every one of his more-experienced peers.

While it wasn't exactly an explosive start to his career in the Optimist class, Jia Yi stuck at it and, after five whirlwind years, he climbed all the way to the top.

Today, the Raffles Institution student is the reigning Optimist world champion, the Republic's first boy after Kimberly Lim and Yukie Yokoyama in the past three years.

"I never imagined I'd be where I am now," Jia Yi told The New Paper, after his exploits at the Optimist World Championships in Lake Garda, Italy in July.

"I wasn't really sure what competitive sailing was like and in my first few, I finished last and third last in the entire fleet. "Obviously, after that, things went uphill.

"After finishing all my regattas last month, I can lie on my bed and see how everything has fit into place over the past few years."

Even though his sailing adventures have taken him to five grand locations around the world, Jia Yi, 15, still manages to find a balance between his studies and sports.

For this Year 3 student, the trick is being aware of his busy programme and then making full use of whatever free time he has.

He said: "When you have 20 minutes to study, you should make full use of that time to study instead of spending 10 minutes staring at the ceiling and another five thinking about what to write.

"You have to maximise your time and, at the same time, be aware that you're behind and need to catch up.

"Almost all my time after school is used for training and I have to use up a little bit of my sleep. You always have to make sacrifices as you can't possibly have the best of both worlds."

For national Optimist coach Fernando Alegre, the teenager has been a dream to work with.

The Peruvian said: "Jia Yi is one of the best athletes I've had the pleasure to coach. He's very mature, self-driven and very focused.

"We have been working together since he was 10 and I remember he was the youngest of the squad. When he came in, we saw the potential right away and we just let him develop under the structure.

"He's someone who has learned from his seniors as he's trained with sailors like Yukie and Kimmie. He's followed their same work ethic and the results have followed."

While Jia Yi's time with the Optimist dinghy has now come to an end, a new, albeit familiar chapter in his sailing story is about to begin.

He is currently training in the Laser 4.7 class, but he will have a taste of the Byte and probably the 420s.

"Next year, there are three major events - the YOG (Youth Olympic Games), the Asian Games and the ISAF Youth World Championships, so I'll try my best to qualify for these events," he said.

"Again, I'll have to take it step-by-step again and work my way up because I have to change my class of boat.

"If I work hard at it, I can catch up with the others who are more experienced than me."

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