Joseph Koh Seng Leong (born 19 September 1983) is a Singaporean former sailor, who specialized in the Laser and 470 classes.[1] He represented Singapore across two editions of the Summer Olympic Games (2000 and 2008), finishing outside the top twenty-five each in two separate boats, respectively. Outside Olympic career, Koh collected a total of two medals in a continental regatta, spanning the 2006 Asian Games in Doha and the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima.[2][3] Koh trained throughout his sporting career at SAF Yachting Club in Changi, under the tutelage of his personal coach Brett Beyer, a six-time Laser Apprentice Master world champion from Australia.[4]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joseph Koh Seng Leong | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Singapore | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 September 1983 Singapore | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 71 kg (157 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sailing career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Class | Dinghy | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | SAF Yachting Club | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Brett Beyer (AUS) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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At the age of 16, Koh became the youngest sailor to compete in Sydney 2000. There, he and his partner Tan Wearn Haw finished twenty-eighth in the men's 470 class with a net grade of 192, sparing them from the back of the fleet by a twelve-point edge over the Hungarian duo of Marcell Goszleth and Ádám Szőrényi.[5] Switching to a single-handed dinghy, Koh sought to bid in the open Laser for Athens 2004, but he lost the selection to two-time Olympian Stanley Tan. In 2005, Koh had his left hand fractured in a freak motorbike accident, impelling him to sail a boat in the forthcoming regattas with a modified technique.[6]
Eight years after competing in his maiden Games, Koh qualified for his second Singaporean team, as a 24-year-old, in the Laser class at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He finished twenty-third out of 52 sailors in the silver fleet to lock one of the ten quota places available at the Worlds six months earlier in Terrigal, New South Wales.[6][7] Koh stayed in the middle of the fleet throughout the series, until he chased harder to finish third on the penultimate leg by a few marks ahead of Poland's Maciej Grabowski. Koh's best result, however, was not enough to reach the top of the overall scoreboard, sitting him in thirty-sixth with 239 net points.[8]
References edit
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Koh Seng Leong". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Romzi gives hope for first Asiad medal". The Star. 6 January 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ "Medals Decided In Mistral and Laser". World Sailing. 13 December 2006. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ "Seng Leong Koh: Back On Course". World Sailing. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Sydney 2000: Sailing – Men's 470 Class". Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 77–78. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ a b Tan, Yo-Hinn (14 February 2008). "Koh gets it right" (PDF). Singapore Management University. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ Lin, Xin Yi (27 June 2008). "Koh siblings among four off to Beijing" (PDF). Singapore Management University. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "Beijing 2008: Men's Laser Class". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
External links edit
- Koh Seng Leong at the Singapore National Olympic Council
- Koh Seng Leong at Olympedia
- Seng Leong Koh at NBC 2008 Olympics website at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 July 2012)
- Seng Leong Koh at Olympics.com
- Seng Leong Koh at Olympic.org (archived)
- Seng Leong Koh at World Sailing