Benjamin Kheng leaves Joseph Education impressed together with his swimming on The Star Athlete

2 weeks ago 3 min read

They are saying you always remember how you can journey a motorbike, however does the identical apply to swimming?

In Benjamin Kheng’s case, the singer-songwriter took like a fish to water in his shock look on The Star Athlete, a brand new Mediacorp selection present that options celebrities taking over challenges in several sports activities.

Whereas the swimming section in episode three included nationwide athletes — Pang Sheng Jun and sisters Quah Ting Wen and Jing Wen — Benjamin was hardly misplaced as he was as soon as amongst their ranks too.

Although he’s greatest often known as a musician, the 32-year-old was a nationwide youth swimmer. In truth, he launched himself as Pang’s senior on The Star Athlete, and the latter admitted that he used to look as much as Benjamin.

Benjamin shared a clip from the present on his Instagram yesterday (March 15) however remained humble, writing: “Actual ones know my kind was terrible, and everybody is aware of my Mandarin is just too.

He added in Chinese language: “However I am practising onerous, keep tuned!”

On The Star Athlete, Benjamin joined Qi Yuwu’s staff as a contestant, and left opposing staff chief Lee Teng disheartened.

“You see, my coronary heart sank into the abyss,” Lee Teng stated, after seeing Benjamin swim. “He is superior, he swims butterfly fashion. It’ll be a troublesome day.”

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Not solely did Benjamin seize the eye of the celebrities within the selection present, he additionally acquired the seal of approval from Olympic gold medallist Joseph Education within the remark part as effectively.

The nationwide swimmer deemed Benjamin’s “aspect breath motion” because the primary key spotlight of the clip, earlier than making a jab at Pang’s Mandarin abilities.

Becoming a member of within the ribbing, Benjamin replied about his method: “Needed to give @pangshengjun the aspect eye.”

Benjamin began swimming when he was six and attended the Singapore Sports activities Faculty earlier than he “realised that my passions lay someplace else”. He returned to aggressive swimming after a 15-year hiatus, becoming a member of the Masters (over 25) class in 2021.

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One touch upon yesterday’s Instagram submit agreed that his kind was lower than normal, studying: “Oh no, that dive” with a cranium emoji.

Benjamin, in his defence, wrote: “It is the one one I’ve ever learnt.”

“You are too humble. You killed it,” one other remark disagreed.

Actor Joshua Tan had a unique precedence altogether, commenting: “These speedos!”

Opinions on Benjamin’s skill to talk Mandarin had been a combined bag as effectively, starting from “not unhealthy” and “fairly respectable” to calling it a “battle bus”, however the singer positively is aware of how you can poke enjoyable at himself about it.

In January, Benjamin collaborated with fellow singer-songwriter Annette Lee and launched an ode to the Singaporean Chinese language identification, titled We Are…

In it, the duo described themselves as: “We’d like hanyu pinyin to learn Chinese language characters — that kind of Chinese language.”