Jedd Tan clinched a debut gold in the men’s fighting Under 77kg category, defeating Aunjai Chanwit 16–9 in the final.
At the Navaminda Kasatriyahiraj Air Force Academy, Tan advanced from a full ippon preliminary win over Vietnam’s Van Suu, then went on to beat Thailand’s Polput Kampanart 10–4 in the quarter-finals and Indonesia’s Perfecto Artz 11–6 in the semi-finals.
In a nail-biting final against the home favourite, Tan kept a cool head and turned the vociferous cheers into motivation to see out the win.
His win also marked Team Singapore Ju-jitsu’s first medal of the 2025 SEA Games.
“The opponents were definitely tough. The first match was especially scary as I was losing in the last 10 seconds. But a miracle throw in the last few seconds saved me the match, and I progressed to the further stages,” Tan said of his opening win by full ippon.
Unlike Tan’s composed expression during the matches, internally, he was fighting through fatigue and mental strain.
“There were many moments in the matches where I was feeling tired and cramped up, as they only gave us about five minutes before the next fight. On the mental side, I was also battling the bombardment of thoughts flooding into my mind, which was tough,” he added, having competed in three fights squeezed into a 30-minute window.
But Tan thanked team physios, Zan and Silas, for their quick work that allowed him to return to the mat and ultimately take gold and the vociferous courtside support for giving him an “amazing feeling to remember”.
But the road to gold was far from smooth for Tan, who at one point had considered walking away from his SEA Games preparations altogether.
“I remember during my preparation, I would often get frustrated at undesirable situations like unexpected weight jumps or sudden injuries. There were a couple of times when I just wanted to quit preparing for the SEA Games. I was in a constantly stressed state for over a month, struggling to sleep for multiple hours in bed almost daily,” Tan explained
But he credited his faith for giving him the extra strength to push through.
“Winning the gold was not really important to me. What I treasured more was that God had pulled me through even though I was almost eliminated in the first round, with low energy, confidence and mental battles I had to face before and during fights.”
With triple-gold medallist Noah Lim’s chase for a four-peat ending with a 3-2 defeat by advantage to Marc Alexander Lim of the Philippines in the men’s ne-waza under-69kg category, Tan’s golden exploits remain Singapore Ju-jitsu’s sole gold in the competition as of Friday (Dec 12).
The Singapore Ju-jitsu Open 2023 lightweight champion also hopes his victory in Thailand can inspire others back home.
“I hope my win inspires more people to keep improving in the sport and raise the competitive level. Even with the struggles we face, like weight cuts or injuries, it’s still possible to achieve great things.”
