Singaporean para swimmer Toh Wei Soong missed out on defending his 50m butterfly S7 title but secured a hat-trick of bronze medals at the 2026 Asian Para Games on Wednesday (21st October).
At the Nagoya City General Gymnasium, the 28-year-old clocked 31.53 seconds in the final. China’s Zhang Yilong won gold in 30.71 seconds, while compatriot Ruan Jingsong took silver in 31.50 seconds.
Toh opened Singapore’s account at the Games by winning bronze in the men’s 400m freestyle S7 on 19th October. He led the first 100m before finishing third in 5 minutes 24.23 seconds, behind the Philippines’ Ernie Gawilan in 4:56.72 and Zhang in 5:01.36. Toh had earned silver in the event at the previous edition three years earlier.
Asked for his thoughts on the result, he said: “The 400m has never been the primary focus of my race schedule. It’s an event that requires a different mindset and approach than the sprints, which I love and I have a natural aptitude for. I have the most fun when I’m getting out fast and strong out of the gate and that just suits my natural temperament the best.”
The following day provided those conditions for Toh, who was Singapore’s most decorated athlete at the 2023 Asian Para Games. On 20th October, he raced in the 100m freestyle S7 final, an event that was not contested at the previous edition, taking bronze in 1:05.33 behind Zhang and Uzbekistan’s Sardor Bakhtiyorov.
Toh has transverse myelitis, a condition caused by inflammation of the spinal cord that restricts the use of his legs. He is scheduled to defend his S7 titles in the 100m backstroke on 22nd October and the 50m freestyle on 23rd October.
Asked about competing in five events at the Games, Toh said he believes he has found a “happy medium” that allows him to do his best. He added: “I’ve been competing internationally for the last almost 14 years now, it’s half my life, with the territory comes the full spectrum of doing too much and doing too little, being too hyped up and not hyped up enough, and then finally figuring out the happy medium that lets you be yourself and lets you do your best. It’s taken me a long time to figure out how to swim like me, and I’m very happy with how I’ve developed as an athlete, and as a person.”
The bronze medal on 19th October was Toh’s eighth Asian Para Games medal across three editions, and his latest results have lifted his overall tally to 10. At the 2023 Games in Hangzhou, he won three gold medals in the 50m butterfly S7, 50m freestyle S7 and 100m backstroke S7, along with a silver in the 400m freestyle S7. He also won two gold medals and a bronze at the 2018 Games.
Toh has competed at two Paralympic Games. Earlier this year, he won silver in the 50m freestyle S7 at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.
A total of 20 athletes across nine sports are representing Singapore at the Games, which run from 18th–24th October, with eight making their Games debuts. They are competing in para archery, para athletics, para badminton, boccia, para cycling (road), para judo, para swimming, shooting para sport and para table tennis. Singapore’s total medal haul currently stands at two silver medals and five bronze medals.
In the women’s 100m freestyle S13 final on 19th October, Sophie Soon, who swims in the S11 category, finished last among the six competitors, clocking 1:20.45. Japan’s Ayano Tsujiuchi won gold in a Games record of 1:00.84, ahead of Uzbekistan’s Mubinabonu Khalilova in 1:01.23 and Muslima Odilova in 1:02.35. With no S11 event on the programme, the visually impaired swimmer competed in the S13 class, which is for swimmers with the least severe visual impairment. S11 swimmers have little to no sight, race in blacked-out goggles and rely on tappers to signal when they are approaching the wall.
In the men’s 100m freestyle S13 final, Wong Zhi Wei missed out on a podium spot, clocking 58.55 seconds to finish fourth among five competitors, behind Uzbekistan’s Egor Bolotov in 52.90 seconds, India’s Ravi Karthik Budigina in 56.68 seconds, and Kazakhstan’s Viktor Volkov in 57.23 seconds.
Meanwhile, para archer Nur Syahidah Alim qualified for the round of 16 in the women’s compound open. At the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Aichi, the 41-year-old Singaporean finished second among 18 competitors in the ranking round with a score of 629, behind India’s defending champion Sheetal Devi, who scored 646, and ahead of China’s Xu Xueqing, who scored 623. Syahidah, who won silver at the previous edition, faced Kazakhstan’s Zhanat Aitimova on 20th October for a place in the quarter-finals.
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