NAGOYA – While there were several fine individual performances from Team Singapore’s athletes at the 2026 Asian Games, the Republic’s team sports have continued to draw a blank at the continental meet.

Only water polo has delivered team sport medals for Singapore at the Asiad since the inaugural 1951 edition. Since their last medal – a men’s team bronze in 1986 – no team from the Republic have stood on an Asian Games podium.

At a press conference on Oct 4 to review Team Singapore’s Aichi-Nagoya campaign, High Performance Sport Institute chief Low Jia Ren acknowledged the challenges faced, adding that the local sports authorities are looking at how to narrow the gap for team sports at future Asiads.

Having formerly captained the men’s national basketball team, the 47-year-old is aware of the differences between the nature of individual and team sports.

Noting team sports’ need for a bigger talent pool, he said: “When you are racing or shooting, this is something you can control (on your own).

“In team sports, there are opponents opposite you, there are teammates alongside you, and you need everyone in the team, whether it’s three or four in 3x3 basketball, or more in rugby sevens and water polo. Everything needs to click at the same time to win at the Asian level, and it’s difficult.”

At the Aichi-Nagoya Games, most of Singapore’s team sports did not have a good outing.

The water polo teams, who were aiming to improve on their encouraging performances at the previous Asiad and inch closer to the podium, were overtaken by more rivals instead.

The men’s team, who had contributed one gold, three silvers and three bronzes in past Games, slipped from fifth to seventh out of eight nations, while the women’s team slid from fourth out of seven countries to last out of six.

Other team sports Singapore competed in include field hockey (women’s team finished 10th out of 12), rugby sevens (women&rsqu...