SPORTS (Blueprint)

Mr Noris Ong Chin Guan asked the Minister for Community Development and Sports, in the light of growing expectation and impatience with the situation where we excel in many areas such as economic performance and total defence but have not been able to deliver in the sporting arena, whether his Ministry has an overall blueprint to breed and cultivate Singaporean champions in international sporting meets, such as the Olympics.

The Minister for Community Development and Sports (Mr Abdullah Tarmug): Sir, our national table tennis player, Jing Jun Hong, reached the last four in women's table tennis at the recent Sydney Olympics. This is no small feat, considering that she was competing against the top players in the world.

In the 1998 Asian Games, we garnered a total of 14 medals. At the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei, Singapore won altogether 96 medals. So I think it will be unfair to say that our national athletes have not been able to deliver.

However, Mr Ong is right that there is growing public expectation for Singapore to pay more attention to sports. As already announced, I am chairing a Committee on Sporting Singapore to take stock of the current sports scene in Singapore, and study how we can further develop and enhance our achievements in sports.