S’pore shot putter Anson Loh eyes more success after Asean School Games record

SINGAPORE – When Anson Loh hurled a gold-winning 17.46m effort in the boys’ shot put at the 2024 Asean School Games, the Raffles Institution student was surprised by the distance he achieved.

Over a year later, the 17-year-old exceeded that mark by more than a metre, yet he was still not satisfied.

On Nov 23, he retained his title with a meet record of 18.73m at the Games, finishing ahead of Thailand’s Korapat Pongsiripun (17.02m) and Mahasamuth Udwong (16.78m).

While his throw at Brunei’s Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium rewrote the previous mark of 18.66m set by Indonesia’s Narta Hany Sugara in 2013, it still fell short of his men’s national Under-18 shot put (5kg) record of 19.09m set at the SEA Under-18 and U-20 Athletics Championships in Medan, Indonesia, a week earlier.

“I found it quite amazing that after everything I’ve managed to rack up this year, it’s allowed me to walk into the competition a lot more confident,” said Anson, who also clinched the discus silver with 52.58m, behind Korapat (54.16m), on Nov 25.

“It was quite stunning to see my standards get raised by quite a lot.

“Right now I’m throwing way further than that distance (at the 2024 Asean School Games) and I’m disappointed that I somehow didn’t extend my national record.

“Even if I’ve broken the Games record, I’m still not satisfied, so I think it shows a lot of growth.”

The JC 1 student also delivered encouraging results during the National School Games earlier in 2025, breaking the national A division shot put record with an 18.48m throw.

He also secured bronze with an 18.59m effort at the Asian U-18 Athletics Championships in Saudi Arabia.

Anson credits the experience gained at various international competitions for preparing him mentally for the bigger stage, as he grappled with managing the weight of the expectations that have accompanied his rise.

Inspired by Sweden’s Olympic and world champion discus thrower Daniel Stahl – known for celebrating victories and throws with playful jigs – Anson has been working on taking the pressure off by having fun.

Like when he made “all sorts of faces” to the camera during the athlete introductions before his event.

Anson said: “Everyone could see the potential in me, so there’ll be a lot of expectations coming up to all these big competitions.

“A lot of times I try to use that to motivate me in training.

“But I don’t think it’ll work during competitions because you are just increasing the stakes for yourself, you’re making yourself more nervous...

“Having something to focus on and a different mindset takes that focus away and helps me.”

His approach has paid off as he concluded his season with a stellar showing in Brunei.

He said: “It’s some sort of proof for all the hard work I put in. Even if you say you hit a massive personal best, it’s very hard for people to put that result into perspective, especially for a niche sport.

“If they see you’ve accomplished something like this, they will probably recognise it better.

“I feel like by doing this, it brings more attention to (the throws community) and it lets people know that there’s actually talent being developed here, not just for me but for other teammates also.”

Anson’s gold and silver contributed to Singapore’s tally of six golds, nine silvers and six bronzes at the competition, which ends on Nov 28, with the medals coming from athletics and swimming.

Peirce Secondary School swimmer Lynus Kek was also happy to win the boys’ 50m breaststroke gold on Nov 23, after clocking 29.74 seconds to beat Thailand’s Pharanyoo Owarakorn (29.84sec) and Malaysia’s Ooi Yuen Zer (29.92sec).

For the 17-year-old, who also clinched silver in the 100m breast the following day, the title was a story of perseverance after a difficult two years since his return to Singapore after his family relocated from Malaysia.

During this period, he struggled with the transition to a new environment and felt his progress had stagnated while his peers improved.

He said: “My competitors kept improving while I was stuck at the same time the past few years and I lost a bit of interest in the sport.

“But my parents, my friends still supported me, they told me to trust the process and keep training hard. In the past few days, I’ve finally gotten that breakthrough and what I really wanted to achieve these past two years.”

The outing at the Asean School Games has motivated him further.

He said: “This week has given me the confidence to keep staying committed to my training and train even harder.

“After this week, I’ve also spotted areas of improvement which I will definitely work on. I know what kind of work I need to do to keep moving forward and being the best version of myself.”