Singapore marathon king Mok Ying Ren’s Olympic dream lifts off with AirAsia
One small step for Mok Ying Ren, one giant leap for Singapore sports.
Mere moments after the announcement of his three-year, S$100,000 sponsorship by budget carrier AirAsia, the Singaporean and Southeast Asian (SEA) Games marathon and triathlon champion was already thinking of his fellow countrymen.
“This is a big step for sports in Singapore,” said Mok, 25. “I hope more and more corporate companies will come in and support athletes.”
His AirAsia sponsorship, which runs from 1 January 2014 to 1 January 2017, will mainly cover travel expenses, including flights for all overseas training and races, in preparation for Mok’s big goal of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic marathon event in Brazil.
Local fans of Mok will even enjoy travel packages to support the long-distance ace’s overseas exploits.
“We are extremely privileged and proud to support Mok and his big dream of representing Singapore at the 2016 Olympics… We are glad to provide Mok with a platform to excel globally,” said the Malaysian airline’s Singapore CEO Logan Velaitham.
He pointed out, “It’s a bit sad that in this part of the world, athletes don’t get that kind of support, unlike in Western countries.”
Speaking to Yahoo Singapore later, Mok, who is the first Singaporean to win marathon gold at the SEA Games, could not agree more.
“This is not just about me,” the current National Service Full-time (NSF) doctor explained. “We need to start this going…with the SEA Games coming in 2015, many athletes are going fulltime. We need this culture where private companies come in and help.”
“We can’t always rely on the government to keep dispensing funds,” said Mok.
To race or not to race?
After he finishes NS in April 2015, Mok intends to head overseas – to either Japan or Kenya – to train full-time, taking one and a half years of no-pay-leave as he steps up his bid to fly the Singapore flag at the Olympics.
He’s got it all planned out, from training schedules to race calendars to logistics – but one thing he didn’t count on was his “surprise” selection for the Commonwealth Games in July this year.
Mok said he never applied to compete in the first place, for either the Commonwealth or Asian Games, and is now having second thoughts – but not without good reason.
“This year, I didn’t plan to do any marathons – because I wanted to work on my faster-end speeds, so when I do a marathon early next year, it’ll be a good one and I’ll qualify for the SEA Games,” he explained.
“At the end of the day, even though Commonwealth is prestigious, the level of competition is very high. A lot of them start fast, and there’s no good pack to follow… there’re pros and cons."
“I don’t want to jeopardise the ultimate end goal, so along the way… we need to give and take,” Mok added. “We’ll see how it goes… I’m still thinking hard.”
