Giving our best in the face of obstacles

Mr Dominic Nathan

Managing Editor, The Straits Times, 

Mr Lee Meng Tat

Chief Executive Officer, F&N Ltd

Distinguished guests,

Athletes, coaches, officials,

Friends and families 

1. Good afternoon. I am delighted to join you for the Straits Times Athlete of the Year and Young Athlete of the Year 2018 Awards.

Our athletes have done us proud through their hard work, dedication and resilience

2. Let me begin by congratulating all the nominees for this year's Athlete of the Year – Muhammad Jaris Goh, Martina Veloso, Yu Mengyu, Toh Wei Soong and Joseph Schooling; and Young Athlete of the Year nominees Sean See, Kampton Kam, John Alicante Embile, Putri Nur Syaliza and the table tennis team from ACS Barker Road.

3. All of you have had exceptional sporting achievements and displayed exemplary conduct in sports in the past year. You have won medals, set new records, overcome obstacles and triumphed over setbacks. Above all, you have demonstrated great sportsmanship and dedication to your sport and all the values sport represents.”

4. 2018 was a busy year for sporting Singapore. Our Team Singapore athletes participated in five Major Games among many other competitions. Your performances not only showed the world what Singapore could achieve, but have also rallied Singaporeans from all walks of life to celebrate as a nation.

5. Regardless of who wins the Athlete of the Year or Young Athlete of the Year award, all nominees have set a high benchmark for others to emulate. I hope this recognition will encourage you to continue striving towards higher peaks in your sporting career.

Giving our best in the face of obstacles 

6. As we celebrate our athletes today, we are reminded that sport teaches us to give our best in spite of the obstacles that we face. Our nominees exemplify qualities such as focus, determination and resilience.

7. Take for example, Young Athlete of the Year nominee, high jumper Kampton Kam, who has shown remarkable focus and determination for a 17 year-old. Kampton cites his love for the sport and the sense of accomplishment after every jump as factors that keep him going, despite setbacks. He also believes that you just have to keep on persevering and never lose hope.

8. 2018 was an eventful year for Kampton.Out of seven competitions, he participated in four of them with an injury. His determination paid off when he brought home the Gold in the high jump event at the ASEAN School Games held in Malaysia in July last year, breaking Singapore's national under-18 and under-20 records in the process.

9. Shooter Martina Veloso also inspires many of us with her steely determination. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, when her opponent equalled Martina's score on the very last shot, Martina calmly shot a 10.3 to clinch Singapore's first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.Martina eventually earned herself the title of being Singapore's top athlete at the Games with a second Gold in the Women's 10m Air Rifle event, setting a new Games record in the process. Martina currently has her sights on the SEA Games 2019 in the Philippines, and is also working on securing a spot at the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I wish her all the very best. 

Importance of a strong sports ecosystem 

10. We want our athletes to excel at upcoming Major Games - the SEA Games, the ASEAN Para Games, Tokyo Olympics and Tokyo Paralympics.To this end, we have been continually strengthening our High Performance Sports system to better support our aspiring athletes. To encourage selected Team Singapore athletes to take on a full training load to start their preparations early for these Games, SportSG is rolling out extended campaign support of $3M up to two years in advance, for athletes who display potential to excel at these Games and a podium finish.

11. Athletes targeting qualification at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics can also look forward to training stints in Kochi leading up to the Games, to help them to progressively familiarise and acclimatise to the competition environment.

12. Swimmer Teong Tzen Wei is currently benefitting from the extended campaign support, and has set his sights on bringing home a medal at the upcoming SEA Games. With support from the Singapore Sports Institute's biomechanics team, Tzen Wei is able to immediately review his technique with his coach to improve his stroke. He receives swim race analyses prior to competitions, which helps him develop specific training targets to improve his performance.

13. In addition, we will see a fresh batch of athletes receiving the prestigious spexScholarships next month. The emergence of new spexScholars, which go through a rigorous selection process, is part of the renewal process of our high performance sports system.

Conclusion

14. Finally, I would like to thank the Straits Times and its sponsors for recognising the achievements of Team Singapore athletes of all abilities. Because of you, we get to celebrate the achievements of our athletes and give them the recognition that they deserve. Through your reporting, you inspire Singaporeans with the stories of our athletes, and the human spirit of grit, hard work, relentless pursuit of excellence, passion and courage that they embody. Thank you for bringing them to life. Thank you for bringing them to the rest of Singapore.