NAGOYA: Singapore's young contingent of Asian Games athletes has met "internal medal projections" for the meet and will look to close the gap to win more golds, said top sports officials on Sunday (Oct 4).

"We do know what athletes are expected to do well, and I would say most of them have met their targets," High Performance Sports Institute (HPSI) chief Low Jia Ren said at a wrap-up press conference for the Games.

"The main target, though, is not about the medal per se. At the end of the day, why do we invest in high-performance sport? It is to allow athletes to do well, so that they can inspire the nation. 

"And it is stories of the athletes, the journeys that they took, and the performance that they deliver when the crunch comes ... that's what we are gunning for."

Singapore's athletes ended the Games with two golds, courtesy of sprinter Shanti Pereira and MMA fighter Tiffany Teo, along with nine silver and seven bronze medals.

This year's Games also saw a number of historic feats, including Pereira becoming the first woman to win the 200m twice, Loh Kean Yew clinching a first badminton singles medal for Singapore, and golfer Shannon Tan securing the country's first golf medal with a bronze.

At the same time, it is the joint-lowest number of gold medals since 1998, when the contingent took home two golds, three silvers and nine bronzes. 

The nine silvers this year are the most that Singapore athletes have clinched at the meet.

Mr Low described the Games as a "tremendous" one for the athletes.

"So many historic breakthroughs, and so many good stories that we've had. Now, on the medal front, it is true that there are (fewer) medals than ...