'Remarkable feat, remarkable athlete': President Tharman, PM Wong congratulate Shanti Pereira on historic 200m Asiad title defence
Singapore's sprint queen Shanti Pereira did not allow rain to dampen her plans as she became the first woman to defend her 200m Asian Games crown.Pereira, 30, clocked 22.78s, crossing the line ahead of China's Chen Yujie's 22.93s at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Sunday (Sept 27),The Singaporean's win comes just two days after she took home the silver medal in the 100m event, finishing behind the 17-year-old she beat in the 200m event."I'm so exhausted from all my races and I honestly haven’t been sleeping very well, probably from anxiety and just nerves," Pereira said.She added: "But I knew that the mind is just such a powerful thing, if I believed and just let my body flow, I could bring it back home for Singapore."Describing the win as "brilliant", President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the sprinter gave everything she had — physically, mentally and emotionally, again — to make history.