President Tharman, PM Wong congratulate MMA fighter Tiffany Teo for winning historic Asian Games gold

Singapore's leaders have congratulated Team Singapore's mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Tiffany Teo on winning the Republic's first gold medal at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan on Tuesday (Sept 22).

The win is also historic given that MMA, along with BMX freestyle, padel, surfing and teqball, made their debut at the Asian Games this year.

"She and her husband, former teammate and coach, Sim Kai Xiong, earned victory through struggle," wrote President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his social media post on Tuesday.

President Tharman noted that Teo had gone through many years of training and sacrifice before making it to the games in Nagoya.

She also had to overcome top competitors from Iran and India enroute to the finals, where she eventually defeated Uzbekistan's Khilola Sobirova, who had just won gold at the sport's Asian championship in May — beating Teo in the final.

The two fighters drew level after the first two rounds at the Asian Games final and in overtime round, Teo finally took the win, capping off her return from wilderness with a high note.

The 36-year-old did not fight for nearly three years between 2022 and 2025, returning to the octagon only in June 2025.

"I feel like this entire journey kind of led up to this moment. It's not just the fight camp in the past couple of months, it (was) the hours people didn't see when I started as a total beginner," Teo told reporters after the win.

In his Facebook post, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong also congratulated Teo for winning Singapore's first gold of the Games.

He also celebrated fencer Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman's silver in the women's individual epee, swimmer Gan Ching Hwee's silver in the 400m freestyle, and the strong performances by swimmers Russel Pang and Tedd Chan, and the women's table tennis team and wushu team.

Gan's also broke the national record she set at the 2025 World Aquatics Championship with her 16 minutes 0.45 seconds time.

Singapore now has one gold, three silvers and a bronze at the 20th Asian Games.

新加坡领导人祝贺新加坡队综合格斗（MMA）选手蒂芙尼·张（Tiffany Teo）在周二（9月22日）于日本爱知县名古屋举行的第20届亚运会上为新加坡赢得首枚金牌。

考虑到综合格斗、小轮车自由式、板式网球、冲浪和特克球都是今年首次亮相亚运会，这场胜利也具有历史意义。

“她和她的丈夫、前队友兼教练沈凯雄通过艰苦奋斗赢得了胜利，”尚达曼总统周二在社交媒体上发帖写道。

尚达曼总统指出，张德芳斯在参加名古屋奥运会之前，经历了多年的训练和牺牲。

在晋级决赛的路上，她还战胜了来自伊朗和印度的顶尖选手，最终在决赛中击败了乌兹别克斯坦的希洛拉·索比罗娃，后者在五月份刚刚在亚洲锦标赛上获得金牌——并在决赛中击败了张。

在亚运会决赛的前两回合中，两名选手战成平手。在加时赛中，张玉玲最终获胜，为她从低谷中强势回归画上了圆满的句号。

这位 36 岁的选手在 2022 年至 2025 年期间近三年没有参加比赛，直到 2025 年 6 月才重返八角笼。

“我觉得这段旅程仿佛就是为了这一刻而准备的。这不仅仅是过去几个月的备战训练，更是我刚开始的时候，作为一个完全的新手，大家看不到的那些时间，”特奥在获胜后告诉记者。

新加坡总理黄循财在脸书上发文祝贺张志贤为新加坡赢得本届奥运会首枚金牌。

他还对击剑运动员 Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman 在女子个人重剑比赛中获得银牌、游泳运动员 Gan Ching Hwee 在 400 米自由泳比赛中获得银牌、游泳运动员 Russel Pang 和 Tedd Chan 以及女子乒乓球队和武术队的出色表现表示祝贺。

甘的成绩为 16 分 0.45 秒，打破了她在 2025 年世界游泳锦标赛上创造的全国纪录。

新加坡在第20届亚运会上获得了一金三银一铜。