Supporting Athletes Competing in Sports Not Represented by National Sports Associations

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether support is provided to athletes who compete in international sporting events where that sport does not have a National Sports Association; and (b) if so, what are the various forms of support available to these athletes.

Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai: Athletes may receive support to compete in international sporting events whether or not their sport is supported by a National Sports Association (NSA). Sport Singapore (SportSG) provides high-performance grants to NSAs 1 that in turn will allocate these grants to support the training and development of their athletes. Athletes may also receive funding directly from SportSG through programmes such as the Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship). The spexScholarship was also recently extended to athletes competing in sports that do not feature in the Major Games, such as Indoor Skydiving. SportSG may also provide access to training facilities for athletes.

Athletes who do not receive such support may also apply to the Temasek Foundation Inspire Fund (TFIF), jointly administered by the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) and SportSG, for funding support to represent Singapore at international competitions. This includes airfare, accommodation, registration fees, visa fees (if any) and travel insurance. Since January 2021, almost 50 applications have been approved under the TFIF, such as for athletes in Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and Ultimate Frisbee.

Note(s) to Question No(s) 53:

1 Only NSAs that are registered charities that demonstrate the required governance threshold to receive public funding are considered for the various Sport Singapore support schemes and grants. This includes having a sound multi-year sport plan that is geared towards achieving goals that are aligned to the sporting objectives of Singapore.