Singapore’s Thiruben Thana Rajan breaks 38-year-old national record at Asian Athletics C’ships

Thiruben Thana Rajan cracks a 38-year-old national record in the men's 800m race. PHOTO: SINGAPORE ATHLETICS

Melvyn Teoh

UPDATED May 31, 2025, 12:53 AM

Thanks for sharing!

SINGAPORE – Not long after breaking a 38-year-old national record in the men’s 800m on May 30, Singapore’s Thiruben Thana Rajan cast his sights on an even older feat.

The middle distance runner clocked 1min 49.94sec during the heats of the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea to eclipse Sinnathambi Pandian’s record of 1:50.56, which was set in 1987.

Now, the 24-year-old is eyeing a podium spot at the SEA Games.

The only male Singaporean 800m runner to have achieved this was Serjit Singh, who won a bronze in the 1973 edition in Singapore.

Thiruben, who finished 17th out of 28 in the heats at the Gumi Civic Stadium and did not qualify for the final, said he had been aiming to break the long-standing national record for a year.

He added: “I sat down with my coaches (Khairyll Amri and Hamkah Afik) and we had a plan, basically whatever we planned just happened today, so it’s quite surreal for me but it’s an event that I have a lot more potential in, so it’s just the start.

“Seeing the field, I know that I still have some work to do to be at that calibre to get into the final, but it is not impossible… Maybe in the next Asian champs in two years.”

India’s Krishan Kumar clocked 1:48.66 to clinch the last spot for the final, while Ko Ochiai of Japan topped the heats in 1:46.24.

For now, Thiruben has some intermediate goals.

“(My next target is) getting the national record down even more... to 1:48 or 1:47, and then, of course, going for the SEA Games, and being at least on the podium and hopefully for gold,” he said.

Singapore Athletics (SA) president Lien Choong Luen said of Thiruben’s feat: “Another long-standing record broken, and the first Singaporean to dip below 1:50 ever.

“One of my personal favourite events, it was great to watch. Thiru has been knocking on the door all season and for it to come together at this major competition is simply the icing on the cake.”

Thiruben, who works as a full-time marketing and sponsorships executive at SA and is responsible for creating social media content to celebrate athletes’ achievements and milestones, said it was “surreal” to write a post about himself.

Meanwhile, in the women’s 200m, sprint queen Shanti Pereira clocked 23.59sec to finish second overall in the heats, behind Japan’s Remi Tsuruta (23.37sec) and ahead of China’s Chen Yujie (23.60sec). The final will be on May 31.

Pereira, who won a 100m and 200m double in the 2023 edition in Thailand, had settled for silver in the 100m final on May 28 after clocking 11.41sec, losing out to China’s Liang Xiaojing by just 0.04sec.

In the men’s 400m hurdles, Calvin Quek registered 50.58sec to qualify for the final on May 31 after finishing seventh out of 17 in the heats.

Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.

More on this Topic

Join  ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Thanks for sharing!