Improving Performance of Singapore's National Athletes

Mr Nicholas Fang asked the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports whether more can be done to help our national athletes improve on the performances seen at this year's London Olympic Games ahead of the opening of the Singapore Sports Hub in 2014 and the integration of the Singapore Sports Institute into that facility.

Mr Chan Chun Sing: National Sports Associations (NSAs) identify, train and develop our national athletes. The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) complements and enhances the NSAs' training and development programme with grants, athlete support services, and sports medicine and sports science services. In addition, the OIympic Pathway Programme (OPP) was set up to give the best possible training, competition opportunities and support to help a select group of athletes prepare for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Learning from other best practises of leading sporting nations, and building on the existing system and experience, SSC has set up the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) as a centralised institution to provide cutting-edge support to our athletes. SSI will take over high performance athlete development from OPP after the London Olympic Games.

The Institute will be located at the Sports Hub to take advantage of its worldclass facilities for the benefit of our athletes. It will partner the NSAs to tailor more seamless and holistic support systems to nurture our athletes through a life-cycle development pathway. The Institute will house expertise in sports medicine and sports science, high performance sports management, and athlete and coach development.

As SSI gains experience, it will continue to improve on the high performance support structure for our athletes. It will also collaborate with other leading sports institutes and other research institutions so as to keep up to date with the latest methodologies and technologies.

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