SINGAPORE – For the first time, a woman windsurfer will fly Singapore’s flag at the Olympics.

This comes after the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) announced today (June 24) that it has been granted an unused quota place in the RS:X Women’s windsurfing event for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this August. The SNOC was granted the spot by World Sailing, the international federation governing the sport of sailing.

The SNOC said today that Singapore national windsurfer, Audrey Yong, has been nominated by the Singapore Sailing Federation for the spot, and that the SNOC selection committee “supports and endorses their nomination”.

The unused quota place is awarded based on results at the 2015 RS:X World Championship in Oman last October. While Yong did not compete in that regatta, teammate Nicole Lim did, and the latter’s results placed Singapore high enough in the rankings to be awarded the quota slot for the 2016 Olympics. Lim did not continue her campaign for the Olympics after that event.

“It feels surreal to have been given the chance to represent Singapore at the Olympics. I still can’t believe it,” said Yong, 21, who was named Sailor of the Year at the Singapore Sailing Federation Annual Awards last week.

“My family, friends and the Federation have been a great support in all my sporting endeavours. I am incredibly grateful.

“I started windsurfing 8 years ago and I have never looked back ever since. It’s been an amazing experience and I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to represent our country.”

Some of Yong’s notable achievements include a bronze medal at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in the techno 293 class. More recently, last December, Yong took Singapore’s first windsurfing gold medal at the South-east Asian Games in 26 years, after triumphing in the RS:X event in the 2015 edition on home ground.

If Yong, 21, is confirmed for the Olympic spot, she will join fellow national windsurfer Leonard Ong in Rio.

Ong booked his spot in the men’s RS:X class earlier in March at the Asian Sailing Federation (ASAF) Asian Championship in Abu Dhabi, while Yong narrowly missed out. The last Singaporean windsurfer to compete at the Olympics is the late Kelly Chan, who went for the 1984 edition in Los Angeles.

With Yong’s pending inclusion to Team Singapore’s 2016 Olympic roster, it brings the total number of the country’s Rio-bound athletes to 22. Out of the 22, 10 are sailors.

“Our women’s windsurfer won a YOG bronze, a SEA Games gold - both unprecedented - and narrowly missed out on Olympic qualification,” said Ben Tan, president of the Singapore Sailing Federation (SSF). “SSF is grateful that Singapore has landed an Olympic slot as the next best qualifier, as that will help us better prepare for 2020.”

A larger list of athletes was also given in-principle endorsement by the SNOC on May 31. The SNOC added that there are “at least three more athletes who are waiting to receive the nod” for the 2016 Olympics from their respective federations.