A Game Of Two Halves Ep 31: Mental toughness matters for Liverpool in EPL and Shanti Pereira ahead of 2019 SEA Games 

8:09 mins

Synopsis: A Game of Two Halves is The Straits Times' weekly sports podcast that is out every Tuesday.

Nicole Chia hosts assistant sports editor Rohit Brijnath in this episode as they talk about why potential champions always dig deep and display mental toughness in the final stages.

Have Liverpool shown that so far as the pressure increases on them as leaders at the top of the English Premier League? 

With just a few games left, is it tougher for the chasing Manchester City in second spot?

They also discuss the mental toughness of a stronger and faster Shanti Pereira. After her injury woes last year, she has bounced back to rewrite her own 100m national athletics record in her first official 100m race of the year at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha.

She clocked 11.58 seconds in the heats to rank eighth overall and qualify for the semi-finals. The record is pending ratification by Singapore Athletics.

With the 2019 South-east Asia Games looming at the end of the year, Shanti's 11.58sec effort currently ranks her top in the women's 100m in the region this year, with Kristina Knott of the Philippines posting 11.64sec last month and Malaysian Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli clocking 11.65sec in February.

Even for a world-class tennis player like Rafael Nadal, mental toughness matters more than ever as he ages and heads into the clay court season with the French Open held in late May and early June.

Produced by: Nicole Chia

Edited by: Adam Azlee

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