SINGAPORE – Nur Syahidah Alim has formed a habit of collecting medals in 2023.

On Nov 22, she won the women’s compound open title at the Asian Para Archery Championships in Bangkok, adding to her maiden Asian Para Games medal – a silver in Hangzhou in October – and bronze medals in the women’s compound team event at the Asia Cup and Para-Archery European Cup earlier in the year.

Along the way, she has also earned an archery spot for Singapore at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Behind Syahidah’s purple patch is the work by her coach Pang Qing Liang, who has leant on sport science with the help of the Singapore Sport Institute (SSI) to improve the 38-year-old’s performances.

Pang, who has worked with Syahidah since he joined the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) in 2019, said the pair collaborate with SSI staff in several ways.

These include using biomechanical feedback technologies to analyse Syahidah’s shooting angles at full draw and determine what are the optimal parameters to garner the best results.

They also use a high-speed camera to capture the flight of the arrow, besides trackers on Syahidah’s joints to analyse optimum angles for shooting.

After all, he and Syahidah know world championships can be decided by mere millimetres.

Using the data gathered from these sessions, Pang helps to correct Syahidah’s technique.

Pang, 32, the national para-archery coach, said: “I have always been very open-minded about my coaching. I will always listen to the athlete, see what they need, what they want and then from there we evolve and make sure they receive what they want, and also what is needed for their performance.

“Over the years, I have learnt a lot about sport science that have helped improve and evolve my coaching skills.

“I recognised that there are a lot of things that if you train the older way, it will take maybe a longer period as compared to using science to achieve the training objective and improve the athlete’s performance in a shorter time.”

Pang’s work has seen him earn a nomination for the Singapore Coach Medallion – an award for outstanding and inspiring local coaches – to be presented at the International Council for Coaching Excellence’s Global Coach Conference from Nov 30 to Dec 3 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The biennial conference brings together coaches, coach educators, researchers, sport scientists, technical directors and sport administrators from around the world to address current and emerging issues in coaching.

Singapore is the first South-east Asian city and the third in Asia to host the event, after Beijing and Tokyo.

SDSC sports officer Yoon Chi Ho paid tribute to the key role that Pang has played in Syahidah’s success.

Yoon said: “Having majored in theoretical physics, he worked closely with the sport scientists from SSI to optimise her performance, by analysing optimum angles for shooting and customising Syahidah’s equipment to suit her needs.”

Syahidah, who was born with diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy marked by stiff lower limbs and having difficulty walking or standing for extended periods of time, said that she had initially struggled to adapt to Pang’s training methods but has since seen the fruits of their shared labour.

The world No. 4 said: “Based on what has been done in training, I feel that when the form and technique is right then the outcome really takes care of itself.

“So you can see from the results from training and also from competition that whatever that we are doing is actually on track.

“The best thing about coach is that he works very well with the SSI team.

“Through all the hard work and intervention from SSI as well as from him, that’s how I feel I’m able to achieve these performances.”