Singapore, Belgium announce teams for Rio 2016

The National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Singapore has announced its delegation for Rio 2016, alongside Belgium who have added nine athletes to their roster.

The 12 Singaporean athletes will participate in six sports, a new record for the country.

Boccia athlete Nurulasyiqah Binte Mohammad Taha, will compete at her second Paralympic Games. “I’m looking forward to competing at the Rio Paralympic Games alongside my boccia partner, Sze Ning, who will be making her Paralympic debut in Rio. We are working hard, together with our support team, to put up our best performance at the Games,” she said.

For the first time in history, Singapore has also qualified in the archery competition at a Paralympic Games. Nur Syahidah Binte Alim sealed gold in the women’s compound open at the 8th ASEAN Para Games securing a historic spot for Singapore at Rio 2016.

Singapore’s swimmer and recently announced flag bearer Yip Pin Xiu will be at the centre of attention as she hopes to add more medals to her stack after gold and silver at Beijing 2008. Breaking the world record in both the 50m and 100m backstroke S2 at last May’s IPC Swimming European Open Championships she looks like a very strong contender for gold in Rio.

Singapore’s National Paralympic Council chairman Teo-Koh Sock Miang is very satisfied with the upward trend in her country. “We are very proud of Singapore’s para-athletes, who have qualified for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,” she said.

“Our athletes are training hard and looking forward to flying the Singapore flag high at the Games. We sincerely hope that all of Singapore will support and cheer our athletes on during the Games as they seek to achieve sporting excellence and bring honour to the nation,”

Belgium added nine athletes who will form the cycling, swimming and wheelchair tennis teams at Rio 2016.

Cycler Christophe Hindriq will make his third appearance at a Paralympic Games where he is hoping to improve his fourth place finish from London 2012 in the men’s individual road race H1.

In the swimming Belgium hope to seal a medal through Sven Decaesstecker who won a silver medal in the 200m individual medley SM10 at the 2014 IPC Swimming European Open Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands. In his fourth Paralympics in Rio Decaesstecker aims to make it to the podium.

Current world No. 3 wheelchair tennis player Joachim Gerard also keeps up his country’s medal hopes. Gerard will compete in the singles and doubles and looks like a strong candidate for the podium, especially after he defeated Japanese world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda in the 2015 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters spoiling Kunieda’s 77-matching winning streak.

Singapore

Archery

Nur Syahidah Binte Alim

Athletics

Norsilawati Binte Sa’at

Suhairi Bin Suhani

Boccia

Nurulasyiqah Bte Mohd Taha

Toh Sze Ning

Equestrian

Laurentia Tan

Maximillian Tan

Gemma Rose Foo

Sailing

Tan Wei Qiang, Jovin

Yap Qian Yin

Swimming

Theresa Goh

Yip Pin Xiu

Belgium

Cycling

Kris Bosmans

Griet Hoet

Jonas Van de Steene

Christophe Hindric

Jean-François Deberg

Swimming

Sven Decaesstecker

Maarten Libin

Michelle Franssen

Wheelchair tennis

Joachim Gerard

__

Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs)

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.

Visa International is the exclusive payment card and the official payment system for the Paralympic Games.