Kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder, wushu exponent Zeanne Law win top honours at Singapore Sports Awards

Singapore's Zeanne Law is the first wushu exponent to win the Sportswoman of the Year accolade. PHOTO: CHEAH CHENG POH
Singaporean kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder, who clinched bronze at the Paris Olympics, earned his first Sportsman of the Year gong at the 2025 Singapore Sports Awards on June 20. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
SINGAPORE – Singaporean kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder added another feather to his cap on June 20, when he was named Sportsman of the Year at the Singapore Sports Awards for the first time.
It was his first nomination for the award, having previously won Sportsboy of the Year for three consecutive years.
Following an impressive 2024 season, the 18-year-old edged out strong contenders – silat exponent Sheik Farhan Bin Sheik Alau'ddin, pool player Aloysius Yapp, badminton's Loh Kean Yew, and wushu exponent Jowen Lim – to clinch the Sportsman gong at the ceremony held at Swissotel The Stamford Singapore.
Maeder is the first sailor to win the top men's award since 1999, when Siew Shaw Her, who won gold in the men's 420 class at the 1998 Asian Games, last received the accolade.
The teenager dominated the international kitefoiling circuit in 2024, winning nearly every event, including the European and World Championships.
In August, he became Singapore's sixth and youngest Olympic medallist after clinching bronze at the Marseille Marina.
After the Olympics, Maeder continued his fine form by clinching the overall title at the Kitefoil World Series, before capping off a stellar season with victory at the Formula Kite Youth European Championships.
His achievements were further recognised in November, when he was named World Sailing's Male Young Sailor of the Year.
The Sportswoman of the Year award also had a first-time winner in Zeanne Law, who is the first wushu exponent to win the top female accolade.
The other nominees for the award were Daphne Tan (bowling), Valencia Yip (kickboxing), Teh Xiu Hong (shooting), Nurdianna Sidek (silat) and Gan Ching Hwee (swimming).
In 2024, Law won gold in the women's taijiquan and optional taijishan events at the World Taijiquan Championships in Singapore, in addition to a women's optional taijiquan gold at the Asian Wushu Championships.
With their wins on June 20, both Maeder and Law became the first athletes in two decades to claim both junior and senior honours in consecutive years.
Swimmer Mark Chay was the last male athlete to be crowned the 2001 Sportsboy and 2002 Sportsman, while sailor Joan Huang claimed the 1998 Sportsgirl and 1999 Sportswoman gongs.
Organised by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) and Sport Singapore (SportSG), the annual ceremony honours outstanding sporting achievements of those who have done well at the national and international levels.
The event, which is supported by the Tote Board, was attended by SNOC president Grace Fu and Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo.
The Straits Times senior correspondent David Lee picked up the Most Inspiring Sports Story of the Year award for his story 'Old is gold for Singapore's 70-year-old darts legend Paul Lim'.
Assistant sports editor Rohit Brijnath and journalist Deepanraj Ganesan were also nominated for the award for their stories 'Joseph Schooling took us to brilliant places we'd never been to before' and 'From despair to delight: Jeralyn Tan's journey to boccia silver at the Paralympics' respectively.
Singapore Sports Awards winners (selected)
Sportsman of the Year: Maximilian Maeder (Sailing)
Sportswoman of the Year: Zeanne Law (Wushu)
Sportsboy of the Year: Kai Minejima Lee (Indoor Skydiving)
Sportsgirl of the Year: Charlotte Ng (Wushu)
Coach of the Year: Yeo Mee Hong (Netball)
Team of the Year (event): Bowling Men's Team (2024 Asian Bowling Championships)
Team of the Year (sport): Netball team
Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing.
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

CNA

20 hours ago

• CNA

Gymnastics-Chusovitina turns 50 and flies to silver in World Challenge Cup

Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina celebrated her 50th birthday in remarkable fashion by winning silver in the vault at the Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Tashkent on Friday. Bulgarian Valentina Georgieva, 18, beat the former Olympic and world champion to claim gold while Uzbeki compatriot Shakhinabonu Yusufova took third place. Chusovitina become the Soviet all-around champion at 13 and the world champion on floor in 1991. She won gold in the team event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and silver in the vault in Beijing 16 years later when she had temporarily switched her allegiance to Germany. In 2021, Chusovitina defied the odds to compete at her eighth Olympic Games in Tokyo but following the opening day of the women's competition she bade a tearful farewell after failing to make the cut for the vault final.

CNA

a day ago

• CNA

Singapore kitefoiler Max Maeder wins Sportsman of the Year for the first time

SINGAPORE: Singapore kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder won the Sportsman of the Year title for the first time at the Singapore Sports Awards on Friday (Jun 20) night. The 18-year-old had taken home Sportsboy of the Year honours for the last three years, but earned the top prize this time in recognition of a stellar 2024 season, including a historic Olympic bronze at the Paris Olympics. The teen has also been on fire this year, retaining his title at Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta, while last month, he successfully defended his Formula Kite European Championships open title. Maeder, who is currently the world's top-ranked kitefoiler, was not present at at Swissotel the Stamford, where the awards ceremony was held, due to his ongoing season. He was instead represented by his parents, Valentin Maeder and Hwee Keng Maeder. They collected a cheque for S$10,000 (US$7,700) on his behalf. Wushu exponent Zeanne Law's feats were also recognised as she sealed her maiden Sportswoman of the Year accolade, having won Sportsgirl of the Year in 2024. Among her highlights were two golds at World Taijiquan Championships in August last year. Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, who is also Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) president, paid tribute to Maeder's achievements in her speech at the awards ceremony. "Kitefoiler Maximilian Maeder had a season to remember in 2024, winning nearly every title available and capping it off with a bronze medal at the Olympic Games," she said. Ms Fu also lauded Team Singapore's "extraordinary year", noting that 15 out of the 23-member contingent in Paris had made their Olympic debut. "From regional competitions to the grand stage of the Paris Olympic Games, our athletes stood shoulder to shoulder with the world's best - proving that Singapore has earned its place on the global sporting map," she said. On the World Aquatics Championships, which Singapore will host next for the first time next month, Ms Fu called the event a "major milestone and a proud moment for our sports community". The championships runs second only to the Olympics in terms of prestige. Organised by SNOC as well as Sport Singapore, and supported by the Tote Board, the Singapore Sports Awards recognise the most deserving individuals and teams in sports for 2024. Kai Minejima Lee (indoor skydiving) and Charlotte Ng Leting (wushu) secured the Sportsboy and Sportsgirl of the Year awards respectively, while Yeo Mee Hong (netball) was named Coach of the Year.

Straits Times

a day ago

• Straits Times

Paulino pips Nasir, Cherotich beats Chemutai at Paris Diamond League

Athletics - Diamond League - Paris - Charlety Stadium, Paris, France - June 20, 2025 Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser and Dominican Republic's Marileidy Paulino in action during the women's 400m final REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes PARIS - Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino outfought Salwa Eid Naser to win the women's 400 metres at the Paris Diamond League meet on Friday, Faith Cherotich won the steeplechase and Grace Stark set a personal best to outgun Tobi Amusan in the 100m hurdles. Dominican Republic's Paulino needed a season's best time of 48.81, a new meeting record, as the world champion came from behind to pip Bahrain's Naser, who took silver at last year's Olympics. "All I focused on was to get to through to the finish line feeling strong, although I am not feeling very well, my stomach has been playing up a bit," Paulino said. Kenyan Cherotich took bronze at the Paris Olympics behind Ugandan silver medallist Peruth Chemutai in the 3,000m steeplechase, and the pair left the rest of the field behind early in the race. This time 20-year-old Cherotich came out on top as she left her rival behind in the closing metres, with a personal best time of 8:53.37, to repeat her wins in Doha and Oslo. "It's great that I have already won three Diamond Leagues this season being the youngest in the field," Cherotich said. "The big goal are the World Championships in Tokyo and I want to win." Nigeria's world record holder and 2022 world champion Amusan had to settle for second place as American 24-year-old Stark led from the start to win the women's 100m hurdles in 12.21 seconds, knocking one tenth of a second off her personal best. "I wanted to break that 12.3 so bad, I was really pushing for it in Stockholm," Stark said. "I'm just so excited to break 12.3, I really knew I could do it this year." In the men's 400m hurdles, Olympic champion Rai Benjamin barely broke sweat in setting a meeting record 46.93, doing enough down the home straight to hold off Qatar's Abderrahman Samba, who had set the previous record back in 2018. "I just took it easy because we just had a really fast race in Stockholm. There was no need to come out and force something, especially because the season is so long," Benjamin said. MAHUCHIKH OUTJUMPED Ukrainian Olympic high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke the world record with a leap of 2.10 meters at last year's meeting, but she could only manage 1.97 this time to take second place behind Australia's Nicola Olyslagers. The men's 1,500m may not have been a Diamond League event, but the race had the home crowd on their feet as France's Azeddine Habz smashed the national record with a world leading time of 3:27.49. Habz took almost a second and a half off the previous record set in 2003, and ran the sixth fastest time ever over the distance. "It's incredible, there is no other word," Habz said. "I had come to this meeting with the goal of breaking the French record." Kenya's Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech came second with an impressive 3:27.72, breaking the world under-20 record. Another non-Diamond League race, the men's 3000m steeplechase, saw the return to the track of Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma after his heavy fall which left him unconscious at the Paris Olympics. Girma returned to the scene of his world record from 2023, and was happy to get the race, and win, under his belt. "This is a big thing for me today, especially after the Paris Olympics," Girma said. "It feels it was a long time ago, so this was very important for me. The legs not much of a problem, but I was a little scared. Now that the race is finished I feel much better." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.