SINGAPORE ROWERS AND NATIONAL ATHLETES

SINGAPORE ROWERS AND NATIONAL ATHLETES:

(Review of safety rules and insurance coverage): 14.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports in light of the Dragon Boat accident in Cambodia (a) whether the Ministry will review the safety rules for Singapore rowers when participating in international events and, in particular, ensure that it is compulsory for all rowers to have basic competency in swimming; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider mandating that National Sports Associations (i) avoid participating in events where international safety standards are not complied with; and (ii) provide compulsory insurance coverage for our athletes participating in international events.

15.

Mrs Jessie Phua asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports in light of the recent Dragon Boat incident, whether as a general rule the Singapore Sports Council mandates compulsory insurance coverage for all national athletes and, if not, what steps are being taken to address this.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mr Teo Ser Luck) (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Mr Speaker, Sir, with your permission, I would like to take Mrs Jessie Phua's and Dr Lim Wee Kiak's questions together as they both relate to the same issues.

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Mr Speaker: Yes.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: The sports fraternity suffered a great loss in the recent Dragon Boat incident in Cambodia. Let me now address the specific issues raised by Dr Lim and Mrs Phua.

First, insurance coverage for our athletes. Currently, all national athletes who are "carded", ie, they are recognised to have the potential to excel at the Major Games, would be insured under the Singapore Sports Council (SSC)'s Sports Excellence Medical Insurance Coverage (spexMEDIC) scheme. The SSC has been in discussions with the National Sports Associations (NSAs) to extend this insurance scheme to the non-carded athletes as well. SSC encourages the NSAs to take up their own insurance for the athletes to supplement what is covered by this medical scheme.

The second issue raised by Dr Lim is whether we should make it compulsory for all rowers to have basic competency in swimming. The Singapore Dragon Boat Association currently has safety guidelines for its sports, whether for social or competitive rowing, training as well as organising of events. These guidelines include making it mandatory for all competitive rowers to be able to swim at least 50 metres.

Dr Lim has also asked whether my Ministry would mandate that NSAs avoid participating in events where international safety standards are not complied with. Our NSAs are affiliated with their respective International Sports Federations. So, when we participate in international events, it is subject to the rules and regulations of these international federations. Consequently, our NSAs would have to comply with these safety standards. As these standards can be fairly technical and sport-specific, it is not possible for MCYS and SSC to have the domain knowledge to prescribe to the

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NSAs as to which competitions to stay away from. Instead, the NSAs, coaches and athletes must be equipped with safety awareness and risk management capabilities so that they can better assess and respond to local competition conditions.

As we cope with the loss of five outstanding sportsmen in this dragon boat incident in Cambodia, we have a responsibility to establish the facts of the incident and ensure that the necessary steps are taken care of. The Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) will enforce the use of life vests in all future competitions. Also, the Singapore Sports Council has formed a Panel of Inquiry in December 2007 to review the incident and make the necessary recommendations on the safety measures that should be in place for athletes participating in future competitions overseas.

This Panel of Inquiry aims to complete its work within two months. It would complement the work undertaken by the Sports Safety Committee chaired earlier by Dr Benedict Tan, which released its report in September last year. The objective is to enhance our sports safety framework and procedures not just for the rowers, but for all sports and for all Singaporean athletes participating in local and overseas competitions. We will announce any policy changes by the first quarter of 2008.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his reply.

All sports have their inherent risks, but I am sure the Parliamentary Secretary and Members of this House would agree with me that safety is paramount. Safety standards adopted should be uniform, whether the sporting event is conducted locally or overseas. I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary what kind of risk appraisal system will the Ministry be

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putting in place to ensure that our sportsmen and sportswomen can compete safely in regional and international events in the future.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: As I mentioned, the work is still in progress. The scope of work for the panel of inquiry that we have just set up will actually be targeted at two major objectives:

(1) Find out what happened during the accident and why it happened;

(2) Figure out what measures need to be implemented to prevent this incident from happening again. And it is not just for dragon boat events but throughout all sports.

But all stakeholders must take responsibility for the safety of their athletes and the teams participating overseas. So NSAs are encouraged to work with SSC to follow all the safety guidelines of all the international federations. They should not adopt double standards. If they adopt strict safety measures in Singapore, we expect the teams or the athletes to adopt similar safety measures when they are overseas.

Going forward, we have a few plans, and one of them would be the SSC intends to introduce to NSAs a more comprehensive risk-assessment framework, and they will have their training on this framework in the very near term. For the major games, SSC and SNOC will work closely together. The SNOC governs the selection of all the major games, and NSAs are expected to use the SSC's major games management plan, a checklist of items they need to take note of when they participate in an overseas competition. I think all the coaches, athletes, administrators of NSAs and officials must take note that when they participate in an overseas competition, they have a responsibility. They cannot

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try to win at all costs, especially at the expense of the safety of the athletes and the teams. That is what they should take note of, and that applies to all sports, associations and organisers of the competitions.

Mrs Jessie Phua (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his update on the insurance coverage for athletes. I have two supplementary questions.

(1) Does the coverage extend beyond international events? Would it cover training and tournaments in Singapore? and

(2) Given the benefit of scale of economies, would the Singapore Sports Council consider being the main coordinator to negotiate for a comprehensive and attractive insurance package for all NSAs?

Mr Teo Ser Luck: I thank Mrs Phua for her questions. The two questions are related. First is that we want the insurance coverage to be a blanket cover when athletes participate in competitions, whether it is locally or overseas. So there is a need for SSC to discuss with NSAs to see what is the best way to actually negotiate with the insurance companies on how to get it covered. This will definitely be part of the risk assessment framework recommendation that the Panel of Inquiry will come up with later on. We need to study further how we can get that extended to all athletes, carded and non-carded, and for local and overseas competitions. We will give the Member an update later when the report is ready.

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