He represented Singapore in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia in his first international competition, and came in at 7th position.
[2] In 1956, he won silver medal at a 4 nation-meet (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China) with a weight of 655.5 lbs.
[2] In 1958, Tan reached the 4th position at the 3rd Asian Games held in Tokyo, Japan.
[3] Two months later, he achieved the gold medal at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in the featherweight category after hoisting 685 lbs.
He won a bronze medal in the featherweight division and retired permanently from weightlifting.