Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan Keng Yam were among the many who congratulated Paralympics swimmer, Yip Pin Xiu, who won gold medal in the Women's (S2) 100m backstroke on Saturday. This is Singapore's first gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The Singaporean leaders took to social media to congratulate the 24-year-old Singapore Management University student. Prime Minister Lee posted on Facebook that she has made the entire nation proud and reminded everyone that any obstacle can be overcome with hard work determination. "Congratulations to Yip Pin Xiu for her gold medal finish at the 100m backstroke S2 event at the #Rio2016 #Paralympics! She not only brought home Singapore's first medal at the Games but also broke the world record with a time of 2min 7.09sec," wrote PM Lee.
He also wished all the athletes of Singapore good luck.
President Tony Tan, in a similar post, expressed his thrill after the athlete won gold medal. He wrote on Facebook, "So happy that Yip Pin Xiu won another Gold at the Rio Paralympics Women's (S2) 100m backstroke! And she did it in a new world record time too. Well done, Pin Xiu! Singapore is so proud of you,"
The president also wished for more such good news from the Paralympic Games in Rio.
Other than the president and the prime minister, Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu, and Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin congratulated the swimmer.
Gold medallist swimmer Joseph Schooling, who won the men's 100m butterfly in August in Rio Olympics, posted the video of Yip's swim with the sweet and simple message: "Congrats Pin Xiu."
Yip Pin Xiu broke her own world record in the Women's (S2) 100m backstroke and secured the first position. The Singapore swimmer took only 2:07.09s to touch the wall ahead of China's Feng Yazhu (2:18.65s) and Ukraine's Iryna Sotska (2:21.98s), who took the Silver and Bronze, respectively.
Yip, who has been suffering from muscular dystrophy - a condition that weakens her muscles, won the country's first paralympic medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. She won a gold in the Women's (S3) 50m backstroke and a bronze in the 50m freestyle events.
