BY CHIA HAN KEONG

LAST year, Aloysius Chua was one of many young judo athletes in Singapore.

In two weeks' time, the 17-year-old will be representing the Republic at the South-east Asia Games - in wrestling.

He is the youngest among the four wrestlers - the others are Gabriel Yang, Mohamad Sulaiman and Melvynna Tambunan - chosen to go to Vientiane for the Dec 9-18 Games. It is the first time that Singapore is sending athletes for this particular sport.

The Nanyang Junior College student admitted that he was surprised at such a swift turn of events - from switching his sport to donning national colours for the SEA Games.

He said: "My judo coach told me to give this sport a try, and I slowly grew to like this sport.

"I needed to learn new grappling techniques. For example, in judo I can try grabbing the collar for throws. But I can't do that for wrestling, as we're all dressed in skin-tight spandex attire.

"I was surprised to have made it to the SEA Games squad so quickly, but am very proud and honoured."

Indeed, the rapid development of wrestling - ironically one of the oldest competitive sports in the world - has been a bright spot in Singapore sports over the past two years.

Formed at the beginning of last year to try and groom young athletes for next year's Youth Olympic Games, the Wrestling Federation of Singapore (WFS) has been fervently promoting the sport as a co-curricular activity in local schools.

The efforts were recognised by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also president of the Singapore National Olympic Council.

During the Nov 14 flag-presentation ceremony at Nanyang Polytechnic, he said: "We must give full marks to the national sports association for getting a team of four senior wrestlers to qualify for the SEA Games in such a short time."

Under president Mike DeNoma, the association scored a coup when it hired renowned coach Sergei Beloglazov early this year.

The Russian's wealth of wrestling knowledge, coupled with his infectious enthusiasm, was crucial in getting local athletes fit to represent Singapore for next month's SEA Games.

Said Yang, 22, who is representing the Republic in the over-96kg category at the Laos Games: "He is very knowledgeable in techniques, such as grappling moves and counter moves, and he tries to drill them into us so that we know what technique to employ for various situations on the mat."

Indeed, at the King/Queen of the Mat competition, organised earlier this month by the WFS to celebrate the official opening of its training premises in Upper Aljunied, the national athletes showed that wrestling is about far more than brute size and strength.

They showed their expertise in dealing with a wide variety of opponents. If rivals were over-eager in pushing them out of the boundary, they would deftly sidestep their charging opponents, causing them to tumble out owing to their momentum.

In other cases, it was about their stances - so solid that they can withstand any throwing attempts before launching their own.

It is no wonder that they are aiming to win in Laos, despite their lack of experience on the international stage.

Said Sulaiman, 27: "There's no point going to the SEA Games if I don't want to win.

That has to be our mentality at any competition.

"Winning gold will be out of this world. Winning a medal would be realistic enough."

hankeong@sph.com.sg

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