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In a historic display of grit and excellence, the National University of Singapore (NUS) Rowing Club has made waves on the world stage by securing medals against some of the most prestigious rowing powerhouses, including Harvard, Cambridge, and Munich University, at the Ulsan World Class University Rowing Festival.
Competing against universities long synonymous with rowing tradition and dominance, NUS proved that Singaporean athletes can match — and surpass — the very best. This achievement not only cements NUS Rowing’s place among the global elite but also signals a new era for competitive rowing in Singapore and Asia.
"We went into the competition as the new kids on the block - the unknown underdogs. It was certainly daunting to be competing against universities with established high-calibre crews on a world stage, especially because some of our members have done less than a year of rowing.
However, with some experienced NUS Alumni in our team and the faith we had in our training supported by Singapore head coach OLY Jake Milton Green, we remained focused on the abilities of our crew. Rowing is a sport where the focus within a crew is one of the most crucial components of speed. Across nine gruelling races, we not only managed to maintain that focus but excelled and proved to upset previously dominant teams. I couldn't be prouder of what we managed to accomplish. We aim to set the bar even higher next year!” - Vihaan Jaswal, Captain of the NUS Rowing Club 
The win highlights NUS Rowing’s growth and underscores their commitment to fostering world-class student-athletes capable of competing alongside the most established rowing programs worldwide.
About NUS Rowing Club Established in 2023, NUS Rowing is Singapore's first ever collegiate rowing club. With the vision of being Singapore's most competitive club, NUS Rowing aims to provide rowers of all backgrounds - from complete novices to professionals - the best possible training, equipment, opportunities, progression and community. Through a culture of sportsmanship, teamwork, and resilience, we strive to nurture skilled athletes but also well-rounded individuals. As pioneers of varsity rowing in Singapore, we are committed to raising the standard of the sport while building a legacy that inspires future generations.
In the summer of 2025, we had the honour of hosting German rower, Mr Olli Zeidler, at our humble training ground - Pandan Reservoir.
Our rowing community was noticeably in awe of the World and Olympic champion, who was doing his Henley Regatta preparations on our choppy waters. Mr Zeidler, who spent a month in Singapore for his IMD Business School Master's Programme, was joined by Ms Sofia Meakins, Swiss rower and Olympian, who joined the National Team ladies for a water session in the double scull. Mr Zeidler and Ms Meakins engaged deeply with the rowing community in Singapore, even joining the NUS Rowing Club for dinner at Lau Pa Sat, where they shared their rowing experiences.
Together with the rowing community, we have compiled a list of questions for Mr Olli Zeidler:
Rowing in Singapore Q: What are your impressions of the rowing scene here at Pandan Reservoir? A: I’m impressed by the dedication of the local rowing community, especially given the heat and difficult conditions. There’s a clear passion for the sport, and it’s great to see it in this part of the world. Q. What’s it like rowing at Pandan Reservoir compared to the venues you typically train at in Europe? How would you rank Singapore against the other venues? A: Pandan is very different: warm, humid, no straight buoylines and a shorter length, but it's a unique challenge and with a few changes a good place to prepare for the LA 1500m racing. While it may not match the natural beauty and professional setup of places like the Rotsee or my home course in Munich, the fast and tricky water make it a solid training venue. Q: What has surprised you the most about rowing in Singapore? A: Like everywhere in Singapore, the people are very nice, the rowers were super supportive and motivated to train, which is great to see as rowing is a sport that is not that well known world wide but obviously builds a strong community. Q:. What are your thoughts on other forms of rowing, like beach sprint, coastal rowing or even sweep? Would you venture into those forms? A: I like the tradition of rowing and that’s why I will stick to the flat water rowing but watch the developments of the other sports closely, even if I doubt that I will ever compete in the new formats as I am already one of the older generation now Q. Is there a message you'd like to share with the rowing community in Singapore? A: I really enjoyed my time with you and hope to be able to come back when your new center is built. Questions from the rowing community Q: What is your diet during racing weeks? (Patrick Heuberger, 50yo) A: I try to eat less fat and only food that gives me a light feeling and is easy to digest. Very basic oat meals, pasta/rice and protein are the foundation of my race week diet Q. What does your race preparation look like? (M, 28yo) A: Each season I try to peak towards world champs, so I want to be able to race 4 times 2k as efficient and fast as possible over one week. This is exactly what I practice in training, a lot of high intensity 2k trainings with different tactics to stress my body and mind in different ways to be prepared for what’s coming up in the regatta Q: How long do you think you will continue to row? (M, 28yo) A: I think that the Olympics 2028 will be one of my last if not the last race Q. Who do you think has the best rowing stroke and why? (Tim Glover, 55yo) A: Sverri Nielsen had a very nice rowing technique, he was very clean and powerful through his stroke. I admired how he made the boat go fast and challenged me even if he was a lot smaller athlete than me Q. What kind of psychological/mental strategies do you use to push through, during high intensive training on the ergo and water? (Neil Vijayan, 21yo) A: I always try to focus on my race plan or the training plan. Having a clear plan in mind through the session is a good anker. Setting motivational milestones in the way make the distance or time shorter. Everything what distracts your from the pain is helpful but the mental aspect is also very individual, so my tactics might not work out for everybody 
We would like to thank Mr Olli Zeidler for taking the time to answer our questions, and we look forward to watching you at your next races!
The Civil Service Club recently held its 2025 edition of the Public Service Sports and Family Day, its annual event for all civil servants. The event, held on 26 July 2025, featured indoor rowing as part of its inter-agency team games, in addition to pickleball, tchoukball, and dodgeball.
The indoor rowing challenge, led by Olympian & National Rower Joan Poh, saw great success as we introduced Concept2 slides. Rather than having the teams move on a fixed machine, the slides gave an on-water rowing experience, and the teams could row together on the ergometers. This is the first time Singapore has seen an indoor rowing challenge with slides. “It was incredible to see the energy and enthusiasm from the teams — some of whom were trying rowing for the first time! By introducing the Concept2 slides, we brought the rhythm and teamwork of on-water rowing into an indoor environment. This is more than just a workout; it’s a sport that builds connection, resilience, and trust. I’m excited to see indoor rowing take off in Singapore as both a fitness and community activity.” – Joan Poh, Olympian & National Rower
Apart from planning for the indoor rowing challenge, tryout and training sessions were available for the teams. The teams could experience indoor rowing with the slides while receiving coaching from professionals like Ms Pamela Leow, who is a World Rowing Level 1 and Strength and Movement Coach (MSc).
A total of 6 organisations participated in the indoor rowing challenge: Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health, Civil Service College, Government Technology Agency of Singapore, and Sport Singapore. The challenge featured a Men’s Team Relay (4 males), a Women’s Team Relay (4 females), and a Mixed Team Relay (2 males, 2 females). 4 ergometers were set up on slides, and each team rowed a combined distance of 1000m in synchronicity, where it’s the ultimate test of team work and team effort — no one could simply spin off on their own. To put it simply, there could be no star rower!
The ergometer cable will extrapolate the wattage produced by each rower on the machine, and the timings were computed. Through a round robin system, we ranked the teams according to the number of wins. Congratulations to the following winners of each category!
Women’s Team Relay Champion: Ministry of Home Affairs 2nd: Civil Service College 3rd: GovTech (1) 4th: GovTech (2) Men’s Team Relay Champion: Ministry of Health 2nd: Ministry of Home Affairs (2) 3rd: Ministry of Defence (1) 4th: Ministry of Home Affairs (1) Mixed Team Relay Champion: Ministry of Home Affairs 2nd: Ministry of Defence 3rd: Ministry of Health (1) 4th: Ministry of Health (2)
Thank you to the Civil Service Club for this opportunity to share our wonderful sport, and we are certain that this challenge will be a trailblazer for Singapore to see more indoor rowing events with slides.
We would also like to thank Mr Desmond and Mr Goh Tua Soon for being our point of contact, and to our dedicated volunteers: Ms Lim Jia Yan (Former Rower), Mr Paul Ong (Member of Easter Rowing Club), Ms Pamela Leow (Strength and Movement Coach), and Ms Jasmine Poh (Participant at the last Singapore Indoor Rowing Championships). For anyone out there looking for a recreational or competitive activity, we have you covered! Sign up for our Learn-to-row programme, and we will show you why rowing is one of a kind. If you are only looking to venture into indoor rowing, do mention it in the Learn-to-row form under “Anything you'd like to ask or share with us?” Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to keep up with the latest rowing news!  We are putting together a national indoor rowing team for the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, to be held in Thailand from November 21st-30th.
Please see the timings above to be shortlisted. Further testing and trials will be conducted to select the final squad. If you're interested, please email [email protected] with the following details:
Please indicate your interest by June 16th, 2359hrs. Competition Rules and Regulations
Don't hesitate to DM us on IG for more information! 
On March 30th, 2024 we organised Singapore’s first official, national-level indoor rowing championships on at The Row Space.
Nearly 120 men and women competed across 500m, 2000m and team relay categories. Here are the medallists. WOMEN’S 500M Gold: Nur Izzah Rahman 1:47.2 Silver: Noelle Yong 1:47.5 Bronze: Elizabeth Laws Fuller 1:47.9 ​MEN’S 500M Gold: Franck Schaller 1:23.2 Silver: Barath Kumar 1:23.7 Bronze: William Tan 1:28.5 ​TEAM RELAY (4X2MIN) Gold: Team Nur Izzah Rahman 2350m Silver: Team Yee Kok Pheng 2294m Bronze: Team Fidelis 2236m ​​WOMEN’S 2000M Gold: Joan Poh 7:10.2 Silver: Joanna Chan 7:25.7 Bronze: Madeline Ng 7:44.3 ​MEN’S 2000M ​ Gold: Kyle Fram 5:58.3 Silver: Franck Schaller 6:27.0 Bronze: Jeremy Tan 6:38.8 ​Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Minister of State Desmond Tan (who’s also our patron) were guests of honour, and they gamely took part in a 500m race along with Singapore Rowing exco members. 
​Three participants also walked away with lucky draw prizes from our sponsor Sodastream; and one luckiest of all won an indoor rower courtesy of Concept2.
​The event received coverage from The Straits Times newspaper as well as broadcaster CNA.
Official event photographer and videographer was Stefanus Ian of Run and Gun Media.
​​To see more pics, visit - and follow! - our Instagram account @rowingsingapore.
​We also conducted a post-event survey and these were the most common pieces of feedback and requests, in no particular order:
We hear you, and will strive to improve the participant experience at future SIRC editions. Thank you and see you next year!  On Aug 26, 2022, history was made when the National University of Singapore wrote to us, signalling its intention to set up an SRA-affiliated rowing club. Singapore has had rowing clubs or societies in ITE and international schools, but in a university? Never. NUS is also the alma mater of our only two Olympians: Saiyidah Aisyah (Rio 2016) and Joan Poh (Tokyo 2020). The latter was the main driving force behind the founding of NUS Boat Club or NUSBC - and is now its head coach, on top of being a full-time national rower training for this year’s Asian Games (and beyond). We speak to Joan to find out more. What’s the idea behind NUSBC?
Joan: In wanting to create a sustainable as well as high-performance pipeline to build up rowing here in Singapore, it was very instinctive to start a varsity rowing club. The relationship I had with NUS as a student, and now as an alumnus, plus the pride I feel for the school - these have all been huge factors too. Also not forgetting how NUS is strategically located in the west, just a 20-minute bicycle ride away from SRA’s base at Pandan Reservoir. I still fondly remember my undergraduate days where I would be down at Pandan rowing 12km and running 6km before heading to NUS and hitting the books. How did it become a fully formed sports club? It was not all smooth sailing because as much as we got tremendous support from the NUS, we still had to find our first member to move things along. Apart from reaching out to existing students, we also tried to get referrals from junior college teachers and polytechnic sports team coaches, but our efforts didn’t bear any fruit. Until Vihaan came along. He started rowing under Jim (one of our learn-to-row coaches) about three months ago, and became our first NUSBC member and student leader. Vihaan’s truly stepped up and he’s been connecting so well with new members. Who else is involved with NUSBC? I will be coaching with the assistance of two other national team members (Joanna Chan and Kang Yu Jia aka Panda). The remaining national team members will stand in for me when I’m competing or training overseas. I am also thankful for NUSBC being under the charge of NUS athlete advisor/sports officer Zulhilmi Karim, who has gone the extra mile in administrative efforts while also getting us a booth at the university’s Student Life Fair, to help us with recruitment. What kind of members is NUSBC looking for? Considering that many elite rowers on the international stage picked up rowing only in universities, we’re looking out for students who have done competitive sport and/or aspire to compete at a high level. This is also bearing in mind how rowers often compete till a much later age (late 30s for men and early 30s for women). All that said, we welcome anyone and everyone. Will NUSBC members train and compete in on-water rowing only? Since indoor rowing is going to be a pivotal training tool, it is likely NUSBC will be represented at the first Singapore Indoor Rowing Championships in 2024, too. (Editor’s note: more info on that soon!) How has interest in NUSBC been so far? We had 167 signups from the NUS Student Life Fair in August. Twenty-five came down for a first session at Pandan Reservoir; 12 are arranging to do so on another date. Those who had their first taste of rowing are already adding friends to the NUSBC Telegram group chat (https://t.me/+pr7_vD2PKb5kY2Vl). So I would say interest is growing! If I’m an NUS student, how do I sign up? What will my experience be like? Join the Telegram chat, or DM @joanpohxuehua on IG if you’re not on Tele. For now, we’re only meeting in-person every Sunday for the technical components of training. For the rest of the week, an easy-to-follow programme will be sent out to be done in small groups. We believe in the process of natural selection. If you persevere, we are very sure NUSBC and rowing will have something to offer you. A final message please. Rowing has introduced me to the grittiest, kindest; most ambitious, generous and self-driven yet team-playing of people. My vision is for NUSBC to foster a similar community. And remember, it does not matter where you are, it matters what you want to be.  Nearly a year since we first launched our contest to come up with Singapore Rowing's new logo, we can now finally unveil the winning entry.
It was designed by Rozaidi Mohamed, who emerged on top after an open call, multiple rounds of voting within our exco and even more rounds of revision and intense discussion among the leadership. We'll let Rozaidi describe his approach in his own words: The brand mark reflects Singapore Rowing’s aim to be the Pride of Singapore. It features a blade, the very piece of the oar that pushes each boat forward, and shaded blue as a symbol of unity. Central to the design is the lion, emblematic of Singapore and emblazoned in her red and white national colours. With every stroke, the lion on the blade rises and breaks the surface of the water with power and precision, instilling fear in the competition and pride in the team. “Pride” here refers to not just the feeling but also the rowers as a group, a collective that is stronger together - like lions.  By Koh Yu Han, Head (Events and Championships) The Singapore Rowing women's team picked up three gold medals at the 2023 Australian Masters Championships held in Sydney from Jun 1 to Jun 4. The racing distance across all events was 1,000m. This regatta was a good platform for the rowers to execute and review some race preparations and strategies, and we will compete in more international regattas moving forward - with the next one lined up in July. The team's last international race was in May 2021, and it has since undergone various coaching and training changes over the past year - with the last 3.5 months providing the most support and structure the rowers have ever received. It paid off with the women's quad (4X, pictured above) of Joanna Chan, Kang Yu Jia, Sherdyn Teng and Teo Zhi Xuan finishing first and seven seconds clear of their closest opponents, out of a field of six boats.
 “I have always been trying to support Singapore’s rowers,” says coach Goken Sakamoto, who's back in the Lion City for another coaching stint. The first time he was here - from 2012 to 2015 - Goken was closely involved in two historic milestones for Singapore rowing: Saiyidah Aisyah striking gold at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games; and our lightweight men’s four winning silver at the 2015 edition. Singapore Rowing's president Paul Supramaniam describes Goken as a key building block in the effort to uplift rowing to a level befitting the Singapore brand. "Our elite rowers have warmed to him," says Paul. "I've asked Goken in leading our national team, to instil in our rowers a sense that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and so to stress teamwork, shared perseverance, humility and to aim high." Also welcoming Goken's return to Pandan Reservoir is vice-president and head of training and development Steve Davies, saying: "He brings with him his past experience of working here, his knowledge of the local system and now also the international perspectives that he has built up over the last few years as an elite coach in Hong Kong and Japan." Read on to better understand Goken's role at Singapore Rowing today - and to find out more about the stoic Japanese trainer who's had no small impact on the lives of many local athletes. You’ve been brought back as a “consultant national coach”. Tell us what that means.
Goken: A typical "national coach" position requires you to focus on coaching the national team to reach its goals at target competitions, which were my jobs in other countries. Singapore Rowing requires me to also perform as a "pathway coach", which does outreach and coach development. So it’s a busy position! What led to you agreeing to this second stint in Singapore? I had a casual chat with Nadzrie (Hyckell, ex-national rower and member of the silver-winning LM4-) in December 2022 when he was at the Asian championships - and in the end, it just happened. Anyway, I have always been trying to support Singapore’s rowers, even when I was working in other countries. You've worked for the national rowing squads of regional powerhouses like Japan and Hong Kong, coaching their athletes to appearances and medals at the Olympics, World Championships, World Cup and Asian Games levels. What attracted you to Singapore, where our achievements - for now - have been more modest? The fact that Singapore Rowing is trying to rebuild its structure to bring rowing into the Singapore community, while aiming for better competition results, excites me to get involved. What are your impressions of the current crop of athletes? Hardworking and passionate about rowing. What’s your plan for them? The first step is to get into structured training and then to train consistently. Gradually we will need to improve the quantity and quality of training to prepare for competitions. There is the Asian Games this year, but that will be too close to expect any good results, so the primary target for most would be the 2025 SEA Games. Of course, we are planning to participate in more competitions in between. What do you think are the prospects for our rowers? I believe that with Singapore Rowing's new leadership, rowing is poised for growth and recognition as a sport that represents the Singapore brand. The current generation of rowers will pioneer this new era, and they have the potential to establish high-performance standards to inspire future generations. However, it's important to acknowledge that achieving success in high-performance sports takes time, and everyone involved should remain patient and focused on their tasks at hand. As rowing coaches often say, '"take one stroke at a time". You actually worked in coach development at the Singapore Sports Institute the last time you were here; and you have a PhD in engineering with a focus on the physiology of rowing. How does all of that influence your coaching? The experience at SSI helps me understand Singapore's sporting culture and structure. Rowing is a physically demanding sport, so understanding physiology certainly helps. My knowledge also allows me to collaborate with sports science and sports medicine experts. How are you settling down in Singapore, and what takes up your time outside of rowing? It’s always difficult being away from your family. Doing some exercise and meeting my old friends is all I’ve been able to do. Also, there are many Singaporean cuisines which I have to revisit! |
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