Generally, distance runners in their early 20s will compete in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m for many years and then in their 30s, they switch over to the marathon when their bodies are older and they don't quite have that speed anymore. For me, I’m doing it in reverse!

It’s weird but also interesting. It’s a new challenge; it’s almost like starting on a clean slate. For me, personally, there's no expectation going into a 5,000m or 10,000m because it's not like I’ve won before and I’m trying to do it again.

My training involves running every day of the week - two days of the week would be hard track intervals, once a week would be a long run which is about 1h 45min. And the rest of the days are just easy recovery runs.

People misunderstand my outspokenness or my honesty as being arrogant, because that’s just the society we live in. In Singapore, we’re taught to just shut up and listen, or don’t talk back.

For me, I’ve always been a bit more “westernised” and a bit more willing to stand up for the right thing … As a sportsperson, you need that sense of integrity, that confidence, which can be easily misconstrued as arrogance. I’m working on standing up for the right things, but also doing so in a manner which is less abrasive in the future.

I just want to do my best. We've been working really hard here. 

I was training in the US, and I hadn't been back here for three years. (In December) I came back so I've been training here. It's been awesome. The support team has got so many staff on deck all the time. And it really feels like family and everyone, all the coaches we can talk to about everything.

I’ve sacrificed a lot. A lot of my energy, time with family, time with friends, my social life. I don’t really have much of a social life. I just go to bed really early.

There are so many things, I can’t really put it into a couple of sentences. Just waking up early, everything we eat, everything we consume. The amount of things we have to do to be a high-level swimmer is a lot.

My first goal is to definitely qualify for the Olympics and from then on out, I’ll see.

In the beginning, they found it quite weird. But after that, I told them: "Forget it, we are teammates right now. You don't need to call me coach," she said. "You can call me by my name!"

It has grown a lot compared to the past. But what can be better is for more schools in Singapore, primary schools especially, to have football as a CCA (co-curricular activity) for girls. This is where (national football project) Unleash the Roar will come in to help.

It would be keeping fit, to create more history for Singapore women’s football and of course to earn more caps and play for the country if I can.

I went to the university sports fair and signed up for a bunch of sports, maybe about five, looking to try something alongside football. Something that I wouldn't have pressure to perform well and not have any expectations for myself, and return to that childlike state of enjoying sport.

I went for maybe three sessions of cricket and then I really fell in love with the game because it's so strategic. There is actually a huge individual element and yet it is still a team sport.

It's quite funny that both sports also have 11 players and there's still a ball, so I usually just say step one is done. The transferable part (from sport to sport) depends on your role. My main roles are batting and fielding. Fielding, a lot of it feels similar because you're running after a ball. There's obviously catching and all that involved, but I felt quite at home.

My fitness thankfully was decent enough to play a full game. I think it helped that I played tennis for like eight years before so the idea of a ball bouncing wasn't completely foreign. 

I just needed to get used to the equipment, get used to how hard the ball is, getting used to the different kinds of bowling. And I watched a lot of games to make sure I was learning as much about the sport as quickly as I could.

Bringing home a medal would be amazing. Not just to put it at home and have it shine in the dark, but … because cricket is in the Asian Games this year so (maybe to) make a good case for (a nomination to compete at the Asian Games).

It will also open more doors, help more girls have the chance to play cricket. So I'm more excited about a medal for those reasons.

I really don’t think it is anything personal.

What has changed in my life (after the loss at the last Games)? Nothing. I still am glad to be staying in Singapore with the privileges that I have, I am fortunate about that. If we go to this Games, and we win, fantastic, everyone's happy.

But one week later, two days later, three days later, I'm back in the office and I have to carry on (with my life).

It’s hard to say because we only live in this reality … to say which is better is difficult because there are too many variables.

Given the circumstances, we really made the best out of it from a team perspective, where we are trying to build a healthy culture and a good pipeline of youth athletes. Hopefully that bears fruit in the near term, if not the long term.

It would be to leave the team in a better place than when I first joined.

The most misunderstood thing is that the people who play the sport are mostly older people. The sport isn’t the most aerobically demanding sport and that means that a diverse range of people, from the elderly to the disabled, can play it. But it doesn’t mean that it is just for them.

(There are) slightly more (younger players than when I first started) though I wish there would be more. When I go overseas, there are a lot more younger people who play. That’s something I wish we had in Singapore as well.

To be good at this sport, it’s not just about the physical aspect. It’s a lot of the mental aspect. There are a lot of tactics involved.

I find it fun because I like the challenge of constantly just refining my technique. The sport is a very multi-faceted one. There are a lot of things to learn.

It is not about throwing hard or faster. There’s a lot of control involved and that is challenging as well.

I definitely want to get to a level where I can be consistently competitive with some of the best countries in the world - countries like Cambodia, Thailand … Getting better results at World Championships, Asian Championships. I just want to get more consistent and confident as a player.