PHNOM PENH – Singapore continued to steam ahead in their quest to wrest back the SEA Games water polo gold as they beat Malaysia 14-1 at the National Olympic Stadium Swimming Centre pool on Saturday.
The Republic took a 4-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, scoring another 10 without reply. Cayden Loh led with three goals, and there was a good spread of scorers with Paul Tan, Chiam Kun Yang, Lee Cheng Kang, Yip Yang grabbing a brace and Loh Zhi Zhi, Yu Jun Jie and Koh Jian Ying also getting in on the act.
Singapore had a perfect run of 27 consecutive men’s water polo gold medals at the Games until they lost to eventual champions Indonesia and drew with hosts Philippines to finish with a bronze in 2019. The sport was omitted from last year’s edition.
In a Facebook post, the Singapore Swimming Association announced the win over Malaysia and used the hashtag #bringbackgold as well as #revengeforfootball – which was later removed – after the Young Lions suffered a 7-0 loss to their Causeway rivals in the men’s football competition on Thursday.
On Friday, Singapore kicked off their campaign by beating Thailand 12-7 and will face Indonesia in a crunch match on Sunday, before taking on the Philippines and Cambodia over the following two days.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s women’s water polo team lost 11-4 to Thailand on Friday and will need to beat Indonesia on Sunday to stand a chance of a medal as no bronze is awarded for their three-team event.
