Kelly Chan
Kelly Chan sits and shares a joke with friends, while waiting for the wind. Mistral World Championships 1986, Lake Silvaplana. Photo: Francesca Vincenti, Malta
Personal information
Full nameKelly Chan Kum Seng[1]
NationalitySingapore
Born(1956-12-15)15 December 1956[1]
Singapore
Died27 August 1998(1998-08-27) (aged 41)
Singapore
Height1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Weight66 kg (146 lb)[2]
Sport
CountrySingapore
SportWindsurfing
ClubEast Coast Sailing Club
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking1st (Raceboard Lightweight; March 1992)
Medal record
Men's sailing
Representing  Singapore
Southeast Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 1987 Jakarta Mistral SST

Kelly Chan Kum Seng (Chinese: 陈金星; pinyin: Chén Jīnxīng; 15 December 1956 – 27 August 1998) was a Singaporean windsurfer. He was ranked number one in the Raceboard Lightweight class by the International Boardsailing Association in 1992. Chan represented Singapore from 1982 to 1997, winning several regional championships including a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the Southeast Asian Games. He was ranked 35th in a list of Singapore's 50 Greatest Athletes of the Century by The Straits Times in 1999.[3][4]

Windsurfing career

Chan picked up windsurfing from his colleagues at a relatively late age in 1981. He did not undergo formal coaching, learning the sport from friends and through practice instead.[5][6][7] A year later, he won his first regional championship, emerging winner of the heavyweight division at the Siam World Cup.[6][8] At the 1983 Southeast Asian Games, Chan finished fourth in the International Windglider.[9]

In 1984, Chan was ranked first in the lightweight division and second overall in the inaugural Asia-Pacific Mistral Championship in Kuantan, Malaysia.[10][11][12]

Chan was selected as the first sailor to represent Singapore in 24 years at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[13] In the debuting Windglider class, he finished 24th, 24th, 21st, 31st, 24th, 31st, 18th in seven races to place 26th overall out of 38 competitors.[14][15]

At the 1985 Southeast Asian Games, Chan won a bronze medal in the King Cobra event.[16][17][18] Two years later, he won a silver medal in the Semi-Funboard event at the 1987 Southeast Asian Games.[16][19]

In 1988, Chan won the silver medal in the Division II boardsailing event at the Asian Yachting Federation Regatta in Jakarta.[20]

Chan clinched Singapore's first ever boardsailing gold at the Southeast Asia Games when he won the Sailboard Division I event at the 1989 Southeast Asian Games.[16][21][22]

In 1990, Chan was part of the Singapore team that came in second in the Super Finals of the Windsurf World Festival in Italy.[23] Later in the year, he struggled with an unfamiliar sailboard as he finished 7th, 8th, 5th, 8th, 5th, 8th in the races at the 1990 Asian Games.[24][25]

At the 1991 Southeast Asian Games, Chan placed fourth as he failed to defend his title.

1992 proved to be the defining year for Chan. At the beginning of January, he finished sixth at the Singapore Open. Later that month, he placed eighth in the Raceboard Lightweight Division at the International Boardsailing Association (IBSA) World Boardsailing Championships in Singapore; this was the first time that a Singaporean had finished top ten in a world championship.[26] A couple of weeks later, he won four races and finished second in two other to win the Lightweight Raceboard class at the Siam World Cup.[27] Chan's achievements meant that he topped IBSA Raceboard Lightweight rankings in March 1992.[2][28] In May, he won all four races at the World Windsurfing Festival Spring Cup in Mondello, Sicily to emerge champion in his category.[29]

At the 1993 Southeast Asian Games held in Singapore, Chan won a bronze medal in the Raceboard Lightweight Open event.[30][31]

In July 1994, Chan won the European Masters title in Greece.[32] Two months later, he won the Masters title at the World Boardsailing Championship in Canada.[33]

Chan participated at the 1994 Asian Games but did not make any impact. He announced his retirement after the Games, in order to allow Singapore to groom new blood.[34]

Although Chan was selected for the 1997 Southeast Asian Games, he withdrew his place as he felt he could not compete for the gold medal due to work and personal commitments affecting his training.[35][36][37]

Personal life

Chan was a regular serviceman who worked as an aircraft technician with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).[38] He rose to the rank of Second Warrant Officer.[39]

Chan married company secretary Ann Chua in 1977; the couple have two sons.[13][40][41] Elder son, Kelly Junior Chan Wye Chyn (b. June 1979), was also a national sailor and is a pilot.[13][40][42][43] Second son, Keane Chan Guan Zhong (b. 1985), is a financial analyst.[13][40][44]

Death

On 27 August 1998, Chan was returning to Pekanbaru Air Base during a military exercise in Indonesia, when he was involved in a fatal road crash.[39] He was taken to the local base hospital for immediate treatment before being evacuated via military aircraft to Singapore, where he died from his injuries at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.[39] His ashes were scattered around the Keta Beacon off the eastern coast of Singapore.[45]

A new annual windsurfing marathon was named in honour of him in the same year.[46][47]

References

  1. 1 2 "Kelly Chan – a brief profile". Singapore Monitor. 3 July 1984. p. 33.
  2. 1 2 3 Koh, Thomas (28 March 1992). "Kelly Chan is No. 1 in the world". The Straits Times. p. 35.
  3. ↑ "Here's the full list". The Straits Times. 19 December 1999. p. 52.
  4. ↑ "35 Kelly Chan". The Straits Times. 3 October 1999. p. 49.
  5. ↑ Seah, Janice (25 May 1984). "Windsurfer who gets seasick". The Straits Times. p. 47.
  6. 1 2 Siow, Peter (9 May 1984). "Kelly's the sailing choice". The Straits Times. p. 46.
  7. ↑ "First of our water lovers to make it outside the pool". Singapore Monitor. 10 June 1984. p. 51.
  8. ↑ Siow, Peter (4 December 1983). "Kelly's out to show surfing supremacy". The Straits Times. p. 39.
  9. ↑ Robert, Godfrey (27 July 1984). "Kelly's voyage under doctor's orders". The Straits Times. p. 46.
  10. ↑ Cheong, Tack Wai (19 February 1984). "Lightweight windsurfing title to Kelly Chan". Singapore Monitor. p. 57.
  11. ↑ Cheong, Tack Wai (20 February 1984). "Local team shines in Kuantan regatta". Singapore Monitor (Afternoon Ed.). p. 27.
  12. ↑ Seah, Janice (6 March 1984). "Kelly's aye for LA?". The Straits Times. p. 43.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Lim, Peter H L (2010). Hoe, Irene (ed.). Wind... Spirit... Water, Upwind and Winning: Book 1. Singapore: Magic Dragon Media. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9789810865948.
  14. ↑ Chan, Alfonso (22 May 1984). "Waiting in the wings for glory". Singapore Monitor. p. 29.
  15. ↑ Robert, Godfrey (10 August 1984). "Kelly's best, LA!". The Straits Times. p. 28.
  16. 1 2 3 "SEA Games past winners, 1977–1991" (PDF). Singapore National Olympic Council. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Lee, Wai Wun (31 May 1985). "Fun and fund drive". The Straits Times. p. 45.
  18. ↑ "Republic snatch final race". The Straits Times. 16 December 1985. p. 30.
  19. ↑ Lee, Wai Wun (19 September 1987). "Kelly sails to silver in windsurfing". The Straits Times. p. 35.
  20. ↑ Lee, Wai Wun (10 April 1988). "Silver medal for Kelly". The Straits Times. p. 20.
  21. ↑ Lee, Wai Wun (5 August 1989). "Singapore crew cruising". The Straits Times. p. 29.
  22. ↑ "S'pore's gold tally hits 32". The Straits Times. 30 August 1989. p. 1.
  23. ↑ Ho, Shirlynn (25 May 1990). "Singapore warning to Asia's best". The Straits Times. p. 42.
  24. ↑ Tay, Cheng Koon (25 September 1990). "Medal hopes rise as winds die down". The Straits Times. p. 31.
  25. ↑ Tay, Cheng Koon (30 September 1990). "Singapore foul up near finish line". The Straits Times. p. 34.
  26. ↑ "Kelly is Singapore's best finisher". The Straits Times. 19 January 1992. p. 27.
  27. ↑ Koh, Thomas (1 February 1992). "Chan owes victory to world meet". The Straits Times. p. 30.
  28. ↑ Ho-Pereira, Shirlynn (3 October 1999). "The Kelly I remember". The Straits Times. p. 49.
  29. ↑ Koh, Thomas (27 May 1992). "Kelly consolidates ranking as world No. 1 lightweight". The Straits Times. p. 34.
  30. ↑ "SEA Games past winners, 1993–2005" (PDF). Singapore National Olympic Council. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  31. ↑ Eliathamby, David (18 June 1993). "Shifting winds create havoc at sea". The Straits Times. p. 36.
  32. ↑ Koh, Thomas (1 August 1994). "Day of plain sailing for Asian Games-bound Kelly". The Straits Times. p. 31.
  33. ↑ "Chan now set his sights on Asiad medal". The Straits Times. 14 September 1994. p. 32.
  34. ↑ Ho-Pereira, Shirlynn (1 November 1994). "Chan steps down from board after 12 years". The Straits Times. p. 30.
  35. ↑ "Those who made it". The Straits Times. 20 August 1997. p. 31.
  36. ↑ Wong, Gerard (27 August 1997). "Kelly quits". The New Paper. p. 40.
  37. ↑ "Kelly Chan's absence will be damaging". The Nation. 6 September 1997. p. A11. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  38. ↑ Chan, Alfonso (21 January 1984). "Kelly Chan to lead S'pore's challenge in boardsailing Open". Singapore Monitor. p. 36.
  39. 1 2 3 "Boardsailor Kelly killed in crash". The Straits Times. 28 August 1998. p. 1.
  40. 1 2 3 "Obituary – Kelly Chan Kum Seng". The Straits Times. 29 August 1998. p. 55.
  41. ↑ "The new challenge to swimming". Singapore Monitor. 10 June 1984. p. 51.
  42. ↑ "Like father, like son". The Straits Times. 10 April 1998. p. 64.
  43. ↑ Seah, Janice (30 May 1984). "Howdy partner, says Kelly". The Straits Times. p. 43.
  44. ↑ Seah, Janice (6 January 1985). "Sport needs place in the first team". The Straits Times. p. 17.
  45. ↑ S. Murali (20 December 1998). "Sail with the wind for Kelly's sake". The Straits Times. p. 45.
  46. ↑ "Marathon named after Kelly Chan". The Straits Times. 3 October 1998. p. 71.
  47. ↑ Nadarajan, Ben (1 January 1999). "Racing to honour the late Kelly Chan". The Straits Times. p. 49.
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