Poor start for Wushu

They had targeted at least one medal from their first day of action.

But the Singapore wushu contingent left the Wunna Thiekdi Indoor Stadium in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, empty- handed on Saturday.

Singapore's wushu coach Yang Ning did not hide his disappointment.

"We wanted a medal in the (men's) duilian event, but we made some unexpected mistakes," he said.

"It's the first day of the competition but we need to get into competition mode.

"We will improve and get better, and we expect a medal in the next few days."

On Saturday, the men's duilian trio of Yong Yi Xiang, Jesse Colin and Etienne Lee came closest to bagging a medal for Singapore.

However, their score of 9.65 was good enough for only fourth place, just 0.01 points behind Indonesia who claimed the bronze.

Fung Hui Xin also just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth out of six competitors in the women's jianshu event.

But Valerie Ling, who won a bronze in the women's taijiquan and taijijian (combined) event in Jakarta two years ago, kept herself in contention for a medal.

She finished the day in fourth place with 9.63 points after her taijijquan routine, and completed her taijijian routine.

The wushu contingent will complete all their events on Tuesday.

BRONZE

Meanwhile, in the adjacent hall at Wunna Thiekdi, Singapore's men's chinlone team were awarded their bronze medal in the non-repetition category.

They were beaten over three days of matches this past week - including a 159- 349 thumping by champions Myanmar - but were jointly awarded the bronze with Malaysia, as there was no thirdplace play-off.

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