Quah Ting Wen: Splashing off rust with the Tridents

Quah Ting Wen is the first Singaporean to compete in the International Swimming League which started on Oct 16. Today, she files the second of four weekly dispatches from Budapest on her experience.

Swimmer Quah Ting Wen (centre) cheers on her DC Trident teammates at the meet. PHOTO COURTESY OF QUAH TING WEN
Swimmer Quah Ting Wen (centre) cheers on her DC Trident teammates at the meet. PHOTO COURTESY OF QUAH TING WEN
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On Oct 16, I attended my first swim meet since our local time trials in January. The LA Current, Cali Condors, NY Breakers and Energy Standard were in action on the first day of the International Swimming League (ISL), a professional inter-team competition, in Hungary.

That day, after our practice, my team - DC Trident - went up to the stands to watch the competition. It was a strange experience sitting in empty stands. The health and safety protocols in place here to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are very strict, and the public are not allowed into the venue to watch, so as to keep the swimmers in a quarantine "bubble".

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 26, 2020, with the headline Quah Ting Wen: Splashing off rust with the Tridents. Subscribe