Sophia Pang

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Sophia Pang
Born1972 (age 5051)
Alma mater Nanyang Business School
OccupationAdventurer
Known forFirst woman from Singapore to reach South Pole

Sophia Pang (born 1972) is a Singaporean adventurer. She is the first woman from Singapore to reach the South Pole.

Biography

Pang graduated from Nanyang Business School in 1994. [1] Before Pang left on her Antarctic expedition, she used to teach classes as a freelance fitness instructor. [2]

In August 2008, she found an online application for women to represent their country in Antarctica and she decided to apply. [3] She eventually beat out 70 other applicants to take the spot to travel to the South Pole. [3] She joined a team, that was later funded by Kaspersky Lab, called the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, and which included women from New Zealand, Jamaica, India, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Ghana and Brunei. [4] [5] Pang was the person who secured the Kaspersky sponsorship for the team by contacting their Singapore distributor. [4]

Pang underwent a five-month training program to get ready for the trip. [1] The expedition left on 22 November 2009 from Messner Start, which is around 900 kilometers from the pole. [6] [1] Pang and her team reached the South Pole at around 10 am, Singapore Time, on 30 December 2009. [7]

Pang was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame in 2014. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Sophia Pang". Singapore Women's Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  2. Chong, April (28 January 2010). "Fresh from Her South Pole Expedition, Mother-of-Three Sophia Pang Has Dreams of Conquering the North Pole, Too, One Day" . The Straits Times. Retrieved 11 November 2017 via LexisNexis.
  3. 1 2 Teo, Wan Gek (7 June 2009). "Mum of Three Sets Her Sights on South Pole" . The Straits Times. Retrieved 11 November 2017 via LexisNexis.
  4. 1 2 Chua, Grace (21 September 2009). "South Pole Team Clears Funding Hurdle" . The Straits Times. Retrieved 11 November 2017 via LexisNexis.
  5. "Pakistan: Eight intrepid women to set out on Antarctic expedition" . Daily the Pak Banker. 3 October 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2017 via LexisNexis.
  6. "First Cypriot to reach the South Pole" Archived 2010-01-02 at the Wayback Machine , Cyprus Mail, January 1, 2010
  7. Chua, Grace (31 December 2009). "First S'pore woman to reach South Pole".