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Singapore ended the 2026 Asian Games with two golds, nine silvers and seven bronzes, meeting internal medal projections, while team sports again failed to reach the podium and officials study ways to improve them.
Singapore's young contingent of Asian Games athletes met internal medal projections for the 2026 meet in Aichi-Nagoya, top sports officials said on Sunday (Oct 4).
Singapore Meets Historic Medal Projections
The team ended with two golds, nine silvers and seven bronzes. The golds came from sprinter Shanti Pereira and MMA fighter Tiffany Teo. High Performance Sports Institute chief Low Jia Ren said most athletes met their targets, adding that the main target is not the medal itself but allowing athletes to inspire the nation through their journeys and performances. The Games produced historic feats.
Pereira became the first woman to win the 200m twice, Loh Kean Yew clinched Singapore's first badminton singles medal, and golfer Shannon Tan secured the country's first golf medal with a bronze. The nine silvers are the most Singapore has won at the meet.
However, the two golds are the joint-lowest since 1998, when Singapore also took two golds, three silvers and nine bronzes. At the last Games, Singapore earned three golds, six silvers and seven bronzes. Low described the Games as tremendous for the athletes, citing many historic breakthroughs and good stories.
He said fewer medals must be put in context because every Games has different events and sports, noting that Olympic medallist and world champion Max Maeder did not feature as kitefoiling was not included, while bowling was also absent. Sport Development Group chief Dr Su Chun Wei said competitors are progressing very fast and the competition level has changed significantly. Converting silver to gold is what Singapore continues to want to do, and officials will work on that winning touch.
Young TeamSG Contingent Takes Aichi-Nagoya
Singapore fielded 300 athletes across 26 sports. About two-thirds were making their Games debut, with an average age of 23. Chef de mission Goh Kee Nguan said he is proud of what Team Singapore achieved and, more importantly, of how athletes competed and fought with ambition, discipline, resilience and determination. Unlike Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore did not set public medal targets before the Games.
Low said there is a trade-off, as making targets public could multiply pressure on some athletes, coaches and sports. He added that it is not out of the question that targets could be made public in future, saying never say never. While individual performances shone, team sports again drew a blank. Only water polo has delivered team sport medals for Singapore at the Asiad since the inaugural 1951 edition.
Team Sports Face Prolonged Medal Drought
Since a men's team bronze in 1986, no Singapore team has stood on an Asian Games podium. Water polo was overtaken by more rivals. The men's team slipped from fifth to seventh out of eight nations, while the women's team slid from fourth out of seven countries to last out of six. The men had previously contributed one gold, three silvers and three bronzes in past Games.
Other team sports also struggled. The women's field hockey team finished 10th out of 12, the women's rugby sevens team placed seventh out of eight, the men's rugby sevens team was 11th out of 12, and the women's softball team finished seventh out of eight.
In 3x3 basketball, the men's team lost 20-16 to last edition's bronze medallists Mongolia in the play-ins for the quarter-finals, but gave South Korea their biggest test in a 19-14 pool defeat, the most the eventual champions conceded. The women's team reached the last eight before losing to eventual runners-up Philippines. Low, a former men's national basketball captain, said team sports need a bigger talent pool.
In individual sports, athletes can control their own race or shooting, but in team sports there are opponents and teammates, and everything needs to click at the same time to win at the Asian level. He noted that unlike continental powerhouses, Singapore lacks professional leagues in many team sports, which would give athletes opportunities to pursue their sport full-time and reach a higher level. Studies are being conducted to see what can be adapted for the Singapore context.
Citing 3x3 basketball, which is supported on the FIBA 3x3 circuit, Low said the difference was that the players came together, trained full-time, went overseas and competed regularly. Almost every weekend they faced the best in the world and worked on what it takes to be competitive. Most other team sports have at best ad-hoc training and competition tours before major meets, with a handful of players attached to foreign clubs.
Singapore Seeks Full-Time Competition Pathway
Low said this must now be studied across all team sports because each environment and league is different, and Singapore must move towards a full-time and competitive environment, whether locally or overseas. The Games also saw organisational issues, including a shortage of rooms for some contingents and transport problems for athletes. Some countries criticised the organisation. Unlike past Games, there was no athletes' village to save money, with participants sleeping in temporary wooden units.
While a few sports were well attended, many events, including the opening ceremony, took place in front of thousands of empty seats. Goh said the Asian Games are complex and major, with many countries and different expectations, and that the organising committee really tried their best.
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ChannelNewsAsia:Singapore athletes met 'internal medal projections' at Asian Games, will look to close gap to golds: OfficialsThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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