S'PORE COACH AOYAGI EYES 2030 ASIAD MEDAL

Reclaiming SEA Games crown in 2023 will incentivise Republic to go for glory in Qatar

- Kimberly Kwek

For decades, Singapore had been water polo kingpins in the region but were always found wanting against Asian heavyweights like China, Japan and Kazakhstan.

National head coach Kan Aoyagi, however, is feeling bullish about the team's potential after taking over in March 2021 and has set ambitious targets for the Republic to clinch a medal at the 2030 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

First on his agenda, though, is reclaiming the SEA Games title that they lost in 2019, which ended their 27-gold streak at the biennial competition, and the Japanese believes they can achieve it.

"We have a lot of confidence and I hope that our players believe in what we're doing. Our players are very keen to get back the gold medal," said Aoyagi, who is also the Singapore Swimming Association's (SSA) water polo technical director.

"Many senior (players) of 2019 want the gold medal and they start to practise and they want to come back to play. This is very good for us, so my main target is for us to get back the gold medal in May before we prepare for the Asian Games."

The 42-year-old hopes that recapturing the gold in Cambodia in 2023 will pave the way for Singapore to attain a top-three finish at the 2030 Asian Games.

The last time the Republic won a medal at the quadrennial competition was at the 1986 edition in Seoul. Since then, their best performance at the competition came in the 1990 Games, where they finished fourth.