The 20-year-old, who set a personal best in the men’s 50 metres breaststroke S7 event on Sunday (May 5), plans to use this weekend’s event as crucial preparation for the World Para Swimming Championships in September.

Soong reduced his best of 37.90sec to 37.64 in the SPH Foundation National Inclusive Swimming Championships 2019 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre that will host the World Series action tomorrow and over the weekend.

"It's a small milestone in a longer journey to Tokyo 2020 and the World Series,” he told the Straits Times.

 “I would not take my timings today as a good indicator of where I am as it's just another meet in the longer race to Tokyo."

Paralympic bronze medallist Theresa Goh is also looking forward to the Singapore leg of the World Series, the first and only Asian stop.

Singapore’s Paralympic champion Yip Pin Xiu will also be using the event as preparation for the World Championships.

Yip, who won the national women's 100m backstroke S2 event in 2min 27.77sec, will be aiming for glory in the 50m and 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle races.

New Zealand’s most decorated Paralympian Sophie Pascoe will compete in her third event of the year after claiming multiple golds at the Melbourne World Series and the ASA Age Group Championships in Auckland.

Rio 2016 champion Liu Benying will lead the seven-strong Chinese team which also includes Paralympic medallists Wang Jingang and Deng Yue.

Another Paralympic champion who will be in attendance in Singapore will be Hong Kong’s Tang Wai Lok.

Japan is set to field a team of 19 swimmers, headlined by Keiichi Kimura and Keichi Nakajima.

South Korea will also be hopeful of landing gold through two-time Paralympic champion Jo Giseong, who will swim the men’s 50m and 100m freestyle, and 50m breaststroke.

USA’s multiple-Paralympic champion Jessica Long and Canadian Rio 2016 silver medallist Tess Routliffe will be two other big names participating.

More than 160 swimmers from 25 countries are expected to compete.