Paralympics: Boccia player Nurul charts game and life with her mind

August 28, 2012

channelnewsasia.com | August 23, 2012 | By Leong Wai Kit

SINGAPORE: 1984 is a special year for Nurulasyiqah Mohd Taha. It was the year she was born, as well as that of the Paralympic sport she’ll be representing Singapore in, at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The ball-tossing game of Boccia from Greece was introduced 28 years ago as a Paralympic sport specifically designed for athletes with a disability affecting locomotor functions.

The aim of the game is to toss a collection of balls as close as possible to a white ball known as the jack.

Nurul qualified for the Paralympics last December, becoming the first para-athlete to represent Singapore in that sport.

Born with spinal muscular atrophy type 2 (SMA II), Nurul’s condition causes nerve cell loss in her spinal cord which in turn limits muscle movement.

So instead of tossing, players in Nurul’s BC3 category use assistive devices to launch the balls.

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$24m Centre for Bioimaging Sciences opens

December 6, 2010

$24m Centre for Bioimaging Sciences opens

TODAYonline | December 7, 2010 | By Alvina Soh

Scientists are hoping to make a breakthrough in dengue research with the opening of a new $24 million Centre for Bioimaging Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The centrepiece of the new centre is the $5 million high-powered cryo transmission electron microscope for life science research, the first to be installed in Singapore.

The 3.7m-tall microscope allows researchers to study biological samples in their natural state, providing a more accurate observation. The high-tech equipment will be important in studying the dengue virus, said the centre’s director, Professor Paul Matsudaira.

Other key research areas include plant biology and neurodegenerative diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy.

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