Challenging our elite athletes to be sporting heroes for future generations

1. Talk about exposure we give to our spexScholars. Public speaking and emceeing are obviously part of that as well. So can we just join me to thank these two (emcees Quah Zheng Wen and Joey Yeo)? There's always a second career waiting for you.
   

Enhanced support to our elite athletes

2. A very good evening to all of you. It gives me great pleasure to be here at the spexScholarship Award Ceremony, surrounded by the best of Singapore's sportsmen and sportswomen. Let me start by congratulating all our spexScholars. You are here because you have proven yourself through many competitions here and abroad, and that you are on track with your training and developmental plans. Your NSAs and coaches have also played their part in your development.

3. This Spex Award is in its the third year as part of our Spex Programme, a structured developmental programme for our elite sportsmen. It is part of a $60m five-year programme to support our athletes who are keen to reach the pinnacle of sports excellence and have shown the physical and emotional ability to do so. The Singapore Sports Institute, in consultation with stakeholders including SNOC and SNPC, works closely with your NSAs and coaches to provide you with enhanced and customised support. Through regular feedback and close tracking of progress, we support you in your training regime, through exposure to overseas competitions, as well as with advanced sports medicine and sports science services. You will be supported financially to train full time, while receiving support in your studies and career development.

4. In short, we do what we can to support you as you pursue your sporting aspiration. We share your hopes of attaining success at the Asian, World, and even Olympic levels. At the same time, we hope that you will give it your best to push the boundary of your sport, and be a good role model to the many aspiring athletes who are following your footsteps.
   

Achievements of past awardees

5. I am encouraged to see our current batch of spexScholars doing well in their respective sports. Last year, our spexScholars contributed to half the haul of Golds we won at the SEA Games. They also accounted for almost a third of the Gold medals we won at the ASEAN Para Games (APG). Several of them have become household names. Swimmer Yip Pin Xiu, who is here with us today, is a world record-holder in the 50-metres Backstroke and The Straits Times' Athlete of the Year for 2015. Please congratulate her again. Her teammate Theresa Goh did Singapore proud by clinching five Golds and one Bronze at the APG, finishing the Games as Singapore's most bemedalled athlete. Silat exponent Muhammad Nur Alfian Bin Juma'en clinched his SEA Games Gold medal after defeating the world champion from Vietnam. Canoeist Stephenie Chen won Singapore's first ever women's singles kayaking medal at the Asian Canoe Sprint Championships. Bowler Shayna Ng, is the first Singaporean to win a gold medal in the World Bowling Championships. And swimmer Joseph Schooling took the SEA Games by storm to clinch nine Gold medals and Singapore's first ever medal at the FINA World Championships. Please give all our athletes a big round of applause. We are so proud of their achievements. Just last weekend, someone pointed out to me a banner from a swim school that said they can help their students to be the “next Joseph Schooling”. So you see, our spexScholars have indeed come a long way, and are emerging as Singapore's sporting heroes to many. To our new batch of spexScholars – I hope that you will become the sporting heroes for our next generation, and no pressure leh!
   

17 new spexScholars, 72 in total

6. Tonight, we welcome 17 new scholarship recipients, bringing the total number of spexScholars to 72. Of these 72 spexScholars, 14 have qualified for the upcoming Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, while others are on track to qualify.

7. We are also supporting athletes in two more sports – athletics and rowing. Sprinter Shanti Pereira, who has become a household name by winning the women's 200-metres event at the SEA Games, is one of the new recipients for this year. Rower Saiyidah Aisyah, who is now training hard in Sydney, will also be getting the spexScholarship to support her in her quest for the Rio Olympics. The 72 spexScholars represent 16 sports. We can expect them to make an even bigger impact in the sporting arena in time, and inspire more Singaporeans with their performances. Yes, including the little one there, who's aspiring to be the next spexScholar.

8. We have swimmer Quah Zheng Wen (our emcee) with us. He has come on board in August last year, but will officially receive his spexScholarship this evening, together with his siblings Jing Wen and Ting Wen who are also receiving their scholarships today.

9. Please join me in putting our hands together once again for all our spexScholars! You have worked hard and demonstrated unwavering determination, demanding nothing but the best performance from yourselves. As spexScholars, other aspiring athletes will be looking to you as their role models. I hope that you will remember to give back, by encouraging and inspiring others, and help develop your respective sports. In case you have missed it, I have repeated this thing about 'role models' three times in my speech, just to stress and emphasise to you the importance we see in role models in the development of sports. We need heroes, we need sporting heroes, and I think you will be sporting heroes for us as we inspire the next generation and many generations of sporting athletes who will come after you.
   

Comprehensive support for High Performance Sports

10. The spexScholarship is one part of a broader system of support – the High Performance Sports System. This includes spexGrants for our athletes' training, coaching and equipment needs. In addition, the Singapore Sports Institute provides a comprehensive suite of services, including career and education support, through partnerships with companies and institutes of higher learning. This holistic system of support is available to all our Team Singapore athletes.

11. Just as we have provided additional support to Team Singapore athletes who were preparing for the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games under the Final Push Programme, the Race to Rio programme will support other Team Singapore athletes in their preparations for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. I hope these initiatives will help our athletes do their best and do Singapore proud.

12. The Government is not alone in supporting you. I would like to acknowledge roles played by the NSAs, coaches, your family, as well as corporate Singapore, plus your friends and fans for their contributions and dedication throughout your sporting journey.

13. I would like to congratulate all of you once again, for being awarded this year's spexScholarships. I hope it will give you the peace of mind to focus and train full-time. Stay on course, do your best, make us proud. And always remember, One Team Singapore is solidly behind you.

14. Congratulations and thank you.