It was my day: Shanti Pereira celebrates after winning 200m gold at the Asian Games
Kimberly Kwek
The Straits Times
Sept 27, 2026
Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Shanti Pereira thumped the Singapore flag on her chest and let out a celebratory scream after she crossed the line first at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium on Sept 27.
The joy and top-of-the-world confidence she felt in that moment was undeniable, as the 30-year-old became the first woman to win back-to-back 200m gold at the Asian Games.
It did not feel that way on the morning of Sept 27, as the sprinter was feeling the effects of her previous races – the 100m heats, semi-finals and final, and the 200m heats.
Even as the rain pelted down in the final, her belief could not be dampened in the race of her lifetime, as Pereira stormed to victory in a season’s best 22.78sec.
While China’s Chen Yujie was quickest off the blocks in 0.15sec, the Singaporean powered past her teenage rival in the final stretch to finish first.
Chen, who beat her to the 100m gold on Sept 25 in a Games record time, had to settle for the silver after clocking 22.93sec, while India’s Harita Bhadra took the bronze in 23.20.
Taking a few seconds to compose herself in the mixed zone, an emotional Pereira said: “I knew coming into today that it was my day and nothing in the world was going to stop me from getting it.
“I’ve worked so hard for this, I really believed. I’m so exhausted from all my races and I honestly haven’t been sleeping very well, probably from anxiety and just nerves.
“But I knew the mind was a powerful thing and if I believed and just let my body flow, I could bring it back home to Singapore.”
She was so confident that she told her coach Luis Cunha, who usually watches her races from the warm-up track, to catch the final in the stadium, telling him “I want you to witness something special”.
At the 2023 edition in Hangzhou, she won the 100m silver and 200m gold, ending a 49-year drought for Singapore at the quadrennial event.
On Sept 27, she knew she had a shot at doing what no other female sprinter had done, but that it would be no easy feat.
Much can change between Games – new competitors emerge, form fluctuates and injuries happen – all things that Pereira is familiar with.
Following a breakout 2023, a stress injury to her right fibula made the next year challenging, before she worked her way back to the top.
Ahead of her final, she drew inspiration from Singapore swimmer Gan Ching Hwee’s words.
After winning the 400m freestyle silver on Sept 22, Gan had said “If I have a lane, I have a chance”.
Pereira said: “Here at these Games, so many defending champions didn’t have a chance to try and defend their title but here I am with that chance.
“I had lane 7 and I was so thankful for that. I was healthy and I may be so tired from my races but I’m good so I let my mind take over.”
It was also the perfect belated birthday celebration for Pereira, who turned 30 on Sept 20.
Her fiance Tan Zong Yang, a former national sprinter, and her friends had thrown her a surprise birthday party a month ago.
But in the days leading up to the Asiad, she was so focused on the competition that she did not realise her birthday was approaching until Tan mentioned it the day before.
With her mission complete, a teary-eyed Pereira said she had done her younger self proud.
The six-gold SEA Games medallist said: “She wouldn’t even believe the kind of person she grew into.
“She used to be so scared of everything, scared of her competitors and I really let the pressure get to me last time.
“It took a lot to get here and a lot of help from so many people – all of my close friends, family and my coach.”
Cunha has been an influential figure in Pereira’s rise and the pair shared a hug in the mixed zone later.
“As a coach, I see myself as a lighthouse, someone who guides the athletes so I’m very satisfied that I’m on this process of helping her and she’s in a position where she can really touch the hearts of so many people in Singapore,” said Cunha.
“She doesn’t run just for herself, she feels that when she runs and when she’s healthy and in top shape, she can really do something.”
The women’s 4x100m relay quartet of Pereira, Amanda Loo, Elizabeth-Ann Tan and Kerstin Ong later clocked a season’s best 45.12sec to place fourth in Heat 1 and ninth out of 10 overall.
The men’s 4x100m relay team comprising Ian Gan, Xander Ho, Mark Lee and Tate Tan advanced to the final on Sept 28, after posting a season’s best 39.34sec to come in fifth in heat 2 and eighth overall.
In the men’s high jump final, Singapore’s Kampton Kam was eighth out of 13 competitors after clearing 2.10m, with Taiwanese Fu Chao-hsuan clinching gold with a season’s best 2.25m.
Ang Chen Xiang was seventh in the men’s 110m hurdles with a 13.90sec effort, 0.75sec behind China’s gold medallist Chen Yuanjiang.
Thiruben Thana Rajan was sixth in heat 3 of the men’s 800m after clocking 1min 55.76sec and finished the heats 19th overall.
It was double joy for South-east Asia on Sept 27, when Thailand’s Puripol Boonson completed the sprint double, equalling Chinese athlete Xie Zhenye’s Asian record of 19.88sec to win the men’s 200m.
China’s Huang Youwen was second in 20.45sec, while Japan’s Soshi Mizukubo was third in 20.56sec.
The women’s long jump was won by Chinese Huang Yingying in 6.55m, while compatriot Yan Ziyi outperformed Japan’s reigning Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi in the women’s javelin throw to claim gold in a Games record 70.46m.
Japan’s Mako Fukube took the women’s 100m hurdles crown in 12.74sec.
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