Singapore’s Shanti Pereira (third from left) on her way to winning a silver medal in the women’s 100m final at the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea on May 28.PHOTO: SINGAPORE ATHLETICS

 Singapore’s sprint queen Shanti Pereira said she feels proud and satisfied after claiming a silver medal in the women’s 100m final at the Asian Athletics Championships on May 28.

At the Gumi Civic Stadium in South Korea, the 28-year-old clocked 11.41sec, just behind gold medallist Liang Xiaojing (11.37) of China. Tran Thi Nhi Yen of Vietnam claimed the bronze in 11.54.

Defending champion Pereira was second-quickest in qualifying, clocking a season’s best 11.40sec in the heats in a field of 21 sprinters.

Liang topped the group in 11.22, while Japan’s Aiha Yamagata (11.53) was third.

As Pereira had expected, she got off to a slower start, but the 28-year-old felt she executed a strong race overall, finishing just 0.04sec behind Liang – who was a 60m world indoor championships finalist in March.

Pereira added: “Proud of another milestone in my ability to compete at Asia’s highest levels, delivering clutch performances in major competitions.

“Satisfied to be able to continue to inspire Singaporean sportspeople and elevate Singapore’s profile in Asian athletics.”

While she missed out on the gold, coach Luis Cunha noted that Pereira performed well.

The Portuguese said: “Everything we did this season was to prepare for this competition.

This is our first major competition, so everything is good. She’s healthy, she’s in shape and she did a good race.

“This time, it was not enough to cross the finish line first, but everything was according to the plan and we cannot ask for more.”

Singapore Athletics president Lien Choong Luen added: “It was a very tight race today against very strong competition and Shanti was closing very strongly at the end.

“Her season has been going well with overseas training and races in Nea Zealand and Japan, as well as her great run at the Singapore Open last month. Looking forward to her upcoming 200m races.”

The Asian Athletics Championships have previously been a happy hunting ground for Pereira, who claimed the historic 100m and 200m sprint double at the 2023 edition in Thailand after clocking 11.20sec and 22.70 respectively.

She went on to clinch a gold and silver (200m, 100m) at the Asian Games two months later.

Comparing her race to her gold-medal run two years ago, Cunha added: “The time was different, but the conditions were also different.

So second place, behind the Chinese girl that is one of the best athletes in the world, is a very good result.”

This is Pereira’s ninth event of the 2025 season, which began in February when she clocked 11.68sec in the 100m at the International Track Meet in Christchurch, New Zealand.

She added that she is highly motivated for her pet event, the 200m, with the heats taking place on May 30.

In other results, Singapore’s Marc Louis did not qualify for the men’s 100m final after finishing joint-14th out of 22 runners in the semi-finals.

He clocked 10.52sec, 0.10sec behind the last qualifiers for the final – China’s Wang Shengjie and Oman’s Malham Al Balushi.

Teammate Ang Chen Xiang missed out on the semi-finals of the men’s 110m hurdles, clocking 13.87sec to finish fifth in his preliminary heat.

The men’s 100m final on May 28 came down to the wire, with Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita clinching gold in a photo finish.

He won in 10.194sec, ahead of Thailand’s Puripol Boonson (10.196), while Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Abdullah Abkar (10.296) edged out Al Balushi (10.299) for the bronze.

• Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.