S pore teen Joshua Cheng wins U 14 water polo title in Australia and eyes future national team spot

SINGAPORE – Even as Singapore water polo continues to make waves in home waters, an Australian-born Singaporean player is charting his own journey Down Under.

On April 18, 14-year-old Joshua Cheng not only helped Sydney University Lions Blue retain their Australian Youth Water Polo Championships Under-14 boys’ title with an 8-7 win over the Mantas, but he was also named the Most Valuable Player of the division.

Three days later, during a short break in Singapore, he represented Raffles Institution (RI) in the National School Games in which he finished seventh in the C Division boys’ 50m butterfly heats in 29.97sec.

He did not compete in the final as he had to return to Sydney on April 23 for his Year 9 (equivalent to Secondary 2) classes.

He told The Straits Times: “I will continue to balance my water polo and swimming training in Australia and I hope to make it to the Singapore national junior team for at least one of the two sports.”

Joshua is on a path less travelled as he pursues his sporting dreams. Born in Townsville, a city in Queensland state, the sports lover picked up water polo and underwater hockey in 2021 to supplement his swimming training. He also represented his school and district in cross-country running.

Having a sporty parent helps, as his father, Singaporean surgeon Cheng Ching-Siang, plays water polo and had also won several local and regional triathlon races in the early 2000s.

Cheng, a single parent, said: “When I moved to Cairns, I started training seriously in triathlon again, qualifying for the 2022 Age-Group Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Concurrently, I started playing water polo again to encourage Joshua to play.

“One has to swim fast to play, hence my swimming background helped. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, I had lots of