SINGAPORE – In his fourth outing at the Asian Para Games, Singaporean swimmer Toh Wei Soong was thrown a “tough” challenge that tested his resilience.

The 28-year-old, who swims in the S7 class, had won three golds and a silver at the previous edition in China in 2023.

But in Japan this time around, he was unable to retain his titles in the men’s 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m backstroke.

On Oct 23, he earned a silver in the 50m free, adding to the 100m back silver and three bronzes (400m free, 100m free and 50m fly) he had clinched earlier in the competition.

At the Nagoya City General Gymnasium’s Rainbow Pool, Toh touched the wall in 29.22sec to finish behind China’s Zhang Yilong (28.85), who also won the SM7 200m individual medley and the S7 categories of the 100m free and 50m fly events.

Uzbekistan’s Sardor Bakhtiyorov was third in 29.72sec.

While it was not easy, Toh took pride in how he persevered through the meet.

He told the Team Singapore website: “I’ve been fighting very, very hard these past few days, I’m very proud of myself for how far I’ve come.

“It’s been tough going up against my competitors, and I just want to thank my team for being there with me.”

With his five-medal showing in Nagoya, Toh now has 12 medals, including five golds, across three editions of the APG.

The competition in Japan also showed him the importance of believing in himself.

“That’s something I have struggled with throughout my career,” said Toh, who has also won two silvers and a bronze across three editions of the Commonwealth Games.

“This idea of being able to trust myself, being able to just stop trying to be a perfectionist… to the point of trying to control every variable, and instead just accepting that things are gonna go however they’re gonna go. It’s really to build on the things I’ve learnt this meet.

“To me, it seems like this long campaign of coming to more than 13 years has been leading up to me learning some very important lessons about who I am... and I think this is getting me very close to that conclusion and that outcome, so I’m very glad to be here.”

Fellow swimmer Wong Zhi Wei set a national record of 2min 26.16sec en route to placing fifth in the men’s 200m individual medley SM13 final.

Toh won Singapore’s only medal of the day, although boccia players Aloysius Gan and Nurulasyiqah Mohd Taha are guaranteed at least a silver after beating Thailand’s Ladamanee Kla-Han and Withun Chanthakhat 4-2 in the mixed pairs BC3 semi-finals. They will meet Japan in the final, which takes place on Oct 24.

Going into the final day of the quadrennial event, the Republic’s tally currently stands at five silvers and five bronzes across four para-sports – boccia, archery, cycling and swimming.

Para-sprinter James Ang missed out on the podium on Oct 23, finishing fourth in the men’s 400m T13.

Ang, who also placed fourth in the event three years ago, clocked a season’s best 52.25sec at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium, 2.22sec behind Thailand’s bronze medallist Jakkarin Dammunee.

South Korea’s Jang Min-ho took gold in a world record 46.24sec, eclipsing the previous mark of 46.44 set by Algeria’s Djamil Athmani in 2024, while Japan’s Ryota Fukunaga (47.98) was second.

In para-cycling, Games debutante Amelia Tan placed fourth in the 55km women’s B road race two days after clinching the 15km women’s B time trial bronze.

As Kazakhstan’s Anastassiya Kalaus (2hr 05min 47sec) and Zhuldyz Kainarova (2:09:43) ran away with the top spots, the rest of the field splintered, leaving Tan and Thailand’s Watcharobon Boonmalert officially classified as lapped (-1 lap) in third and fourth, respectively.

Meanwhile, para-shooter Daniel Chan set his second national record of the competition with a score of 556 points to place 11th in the open 25m pistol SH1 event.