10-gold Brian, Eric have sights on SEA Games

SINGAPORE - Singapore's bemedalled thrower James Wong may have retired last year but two promising schoolboys have emerged in the search for his successor.

Step forward Brian See and Eric Yee, who both displayed their potential at the Schools National Track and Field Championships this week at Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

Brian, from Raffles Institution (RI), retained the A division shot put title yesterday with a throw of 16.51m, beating his previous personal best of 15.27m achieved last year.

The 18-year-old also won the discus gold on Monday, improving his personal best of 48.40m with a throw of 50.29m.

The results meant that he has won 10 consecutive medals in the two throwing events in the past five years.

He had previously won double gold in the C division once (2010), B division twice (2011, 2012) while studying at Catholic High School, and A division once (2013).

The RI student wants to keep improving to get into the national squad for the 2015 SEA Games.

"I need to spend more time in training and also build up on my mass to throw better distances," said Brian, who will be training full-time after his A levels are over.

Making his mark in the B division discus, 15-year-old Eric threw 48.79m on Monday to break Scott Wong's eight-year-old national Under-17 record of 48.70m.

Despite rewriting the record, the Hwa Chong Institution student lamented: "I am slightly disappointed as I have been doing better in training."

Eric is also setting his sights on next year's SEA Games, and has already started training with the 2kg discus used in senior competitions, an increase from the 1.5kg discus used in A and B division school-level competitions.

Wong, winner of 10 SEA Games discus and hammer gold medals, feels Brian and Eric have what it takes to succeed.

The 45-year-old said: "Brian and Eric have the potential, and if they continue putting in the hours and training hard, they can fulfil it.

"They are still young so let's not put too much pressure on them."

twtoh@sph.com.sg

This article was published on April 10 in The Straits Times.

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