SINGAPORE – It was one of the most iconic moments at last year’s South-east Asian (SEA) Games: Singapore sprinter Shanti Pereira, tearing up the track at the National Stadium in the women’s 200m race, and clinching the country’s first gold medal in the event since 1973.

And there was a sense of déjà vu on Friday (April 29) at the 78th Singapore Open, as Shanti returned to the scene of her greatest triumph to date and, in front of 15,075 spectators, blew the competition away in the same event to secure gold.

While Shanti’s time of 24.04s was 0.44s off her personal best (PB) and national record of 23.60 – which she set at the SEA Games – it was still enough for her to finish comfortably ahead of Malaysia’s Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifi (24.36s) and Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Oanh (24.48s).

“It feels good to win gold here again, especially since the 200m is my favourite event. I was very tired after yesterday as I had a lot of races back to back,” said Shanti who won silver in the women’s 100m on Thursday.

“So I was definitely nervous, but I tried to get that out of my mind. If I’m scared, I can’t perform. So I just forgot all about my fears and tried to chase the people in front of me.

“Thankfully, I managed to emerge after the curve, and I’m very happy to have won.”

Despite her win, Shanti’s time was not enough to secure direct qualification to this August’s Olympics. The qualifying mark for the Rio Games is 23.2s.

The alternative to securing a ticket to Rio is via a wildcard, which is given to countries who do not have any athletes, male or female, directly qualifying for the Games.

However, the former Singapore Sports School student still has over two months to meet the qualifying mark since the qualifying window is up to July 11. And Shanti believes her performances at the Singapore Open show she is hitting form at the right time.

“My time might not be my PB, but I’m still satisfied that at this period of the year, I’m still able to hit reasonable times like this. “There are a few more meets in May and June. For now, I’m just continuing my own season training till those meets.” NOAH TAN