Tahir Ansari was Team Singapore's first athlete in action at the 2026 Asian Games, competing in the fencing seeding round of the modern pentathlon competition on Sep 16. Photo: SNOC/ Lim Weixiang
Tahir Ansari, a performing artist by trade, is in the process of the biggest performance of his nascent sporting career to date: Representing Singapore in modern pentathlon at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games.
The 34-year-old, whose full-time job entails touring Australia with a percussion theatre group, was Team Singapore’s first athlete in action at the 2026 Asian Games. On Sep 16, he finished 35th in the fencing seeding round with six victories and 29 defeats at the Anjo Sports Park.
Modern pentathlon comprises fencing, obstacle racing, swimming and laser run, during which competitors have to run and shoot in a set sequence. In the fencing event, athletes fence using an electric epee. Each bout lasts one minute, or until one hit or touch is scored. At the Asian Games, the modern pentathlon action resumes with the semi-finals on Sep 17 and 18. Athletes will compete in the remaining disciplines.
For Tahir, who was first introduced to the sport just two and a half years ago, the rituals preceding a stage performance have also worked well as pre-competition habits.
“I didn’t feel much nerves prior to the competition, but I just like to close my eyes and meditate, and visualise how I want to perform. It’s a way of reaffirming what I already know,” he said.
Describing the athlete introduction segment before the start of the fencing rounds, where athletes are lined up and called on in order of their country, Tahir added: “When they call on you, you stand up and bow to the audience. I felt like it was a performance, like I was a character in a story.
“Maybe that helped to calm myself today because I just think I’m a character in a play, and I’m the underdog that’s going to do well today.”
His journey from starting obstacle racing in his mid-20s to making his Asian Games debut at age 34 is a story arc he had never imagined, and one that is still developing.
Tahir, whose bachelor’s degree is in musical theatre, had picked up obstacle racing “for fun” after university. He enjoyed it so much that he started attending training camps in a bid to get better at it.
Modern pentathlon made its way to his radar in 2024, when he visited a booth run by the Singapore Modern Pentathlon Association (SIMPA) on the sidelines of a Spartan Race event. His interest piqued, Tahir joined a Laser Run event shortly after and soon started taking the sport more seriously. A year later, SIMPA president Cassandra Choh asked him to consider aiming for Asian Games qualification. “That was a big goal to hit, I was so new to the sport … but I was like, you know what? There’s nothing to lose. Just go for it,” said Tahir.
The challenges he faced throughout his journey were “mostly technical”, he explained, having never had fencing or swimming lessons before. “I’m a very bad swimmer, so coming to the sport has forced me to rework a lot of bad habits and also work on technique. It’s still a long journey for me to improve my swimming,” he added.
Honing his mental fortitude became an essential part of Tahir’s competition strategy.
“For fencing, I was just starting and suddenly going for competitions with all these high-level athletes. I couldn’t bring in this energy of “I’ve only been training for six months”. I needed to go in there and kind of delude myself into thinking I’m at the top of the game,” he said. “So it was just coming in with a mindset of full self-confidence in my abilities and to be mentally dialled in as much as I can. Because I know what I lack and I need to make up for it in other aspects.”
He credits his coach Igor Celli, a “very personable and funny guy”, for the latter’s role in reframing his mindset in between bouts. Explaining that fencing can sometimes be more draining on an athlete’s mind than body due to the sheer number of bouts and quick turnaround required, Tahir said: “In fencing, suddenly losing five, six bouts in a row can affect your performance, so it’s good to have a coach there to remind you and get you into a good mental frame to continue pushing through.”
Tahir is driven not only by the satisfaction of overcoming these challenges, but also by his desire to help grow the sport in Singapore.
Paying tribute to the local modern pentathlon community, he said: “This sport brings me a lot of joy. The motivation is partly that I want to push myself, but I also happened to stumble upon a group of people that are very passionate about the sport and really want to help grow the sport. The energy is infectious in a way that I also want to help promote the sport in Singapore.”
Tahir is fired up for his return to action on Sep 18. He will have to conquer a 70m-long obstacle course with eight obstacles, swim 100m in a 25m pool, and alternate between running 600m laps and hitting an electronic target five times with a laser pistol.
“I’m looking forward to just putting my best work from all the training I’ve done, and the best version of myself out there,” he added. “Whatever the results, I know if I’ve put it all out there, I’ll be satisfied with my performance.”
The 20th Asian Games are held in Japan from 19 September to 5 October 2026. For the latest Team Singapore coverage and news, follow Team Singapore on their social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) or visit the official Team Singapore website.