In 1997, he took his first gold medal in the 1997 Southeast Asian Games, before earning more titles in the 2000 Southeast Asian Championship and the 2002 Commonwealth Championship. A fever just a week before departure to Busan for the 2002 Asian Games nearly cost him a medal chance, but he proceeded anyway and came back with a gold medal in the welterweight category (75 kg), earning one of Singapore's first gold medals in the sport alongside Abdul Halim bin Haron.