No squashing her spirit
Cancer survivor pushes on to win gold at Masters Games
GEORGE TOWN: A mastectomy may have taken away the strength in her arms but not her legs, as cancer survivor Sandra Wu took home the gold in the 5,000m run at the Asia Pacific Masters Games 2018.
Competing in the 40-45 age group category, Wu won the gold in a time of 28:16.43 ahead of India’s Rachna Singh (28:18.20) and Kalpana Parmar (29:58.44).
The 43-year-old former national No. 1 squash player said she discovered she had Stage 1 breast cancer in January this year.
“I went for bilateral mastectomy in February and after the surgery, I did not have a full range of motion in my arms, thus ending my squash activities.
“It was then that I decided to take up running to keep fit and healthy.
“I also want to inspire others not to be floored by any turn of events in their life, but to plod on.
“Through running, I want to inspire others to run and stay healthy,” said Wu, who is Perakborn and now resides in Singapore.
Earlier this month, Wu ran in a 21km race and came out fourth in her age group.
She aims to excel further and is currently training for the Osaka Marathon, which will be held in November.
Wu, who is the former Singapore Squash Racquet Association technical director, is currently running her own Squash Academy in Singapore with two partners.
Wu, a professional squash player in the 1990s, represented Malaysia in the SEA Games in Manila in 1991 and in Singapore in 1993, Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and the World Teams Squash Championship in 1990 and 1992.
She won the Asian Junior Championship in 1992, 1994 and 1995 and was a key member in winning the Asian Team Championship in 1992 and 1998.
Wu began her coaching career in 2004, guiding the Malaysian World Junior Women’s team in 2005 and 2006.
She went on to coach the Singapore national team from 2007 till 2016 before becoming its technical director.