Largest spexScholars and spexPotential Athlete Cohorts Unveiled to Enhance Singapore’s Sporting Ambitions

[Centre] Mr David Neo, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Senior Minister of State for Education with the 2026 cohorts of spexScholars, spexPotential athletes, and spexEducation Undergraduate Scholars.

Singapore, 29 April 2026 – A record number of 247 athletes across both Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship) and Sport Excellence Potential (spexPotential) programmes will receive enhanced support, building deeper bench strength for podium successes at Major Games across regional, Asian and world levels. Five athletes were also awarded the Sport Excellence Education (spexEducation) Undergraduate Scholarship – a new initiative launched in 2025 to support the academic aspirations of high performance athletes.

Close to 300 guests attended this evening’s Investiture at Singapore Sports School, including Team Singapore athletes, their families, representatives from National Sport Associations (NSAs), and corporate partners.

Building the athlete cohort to fuel podium ambitions

spexScholarship

22 new athletes, including nine spexPotential athletes from the 2025 cohort, will be inducted into the spexScholarship programme this year, bringing the total number of spexScholars to 107 athletes across 30 sports – the largest cohort to date.

Notable inductees include:

●          Paralympian Theresa Goh, who transitioned from swimming to shooting para sport and won gold on her first ASEAN Para Games outing;

●          Alpine skier Faiz Basha, Singapore’s first representative in a snow event at the Winter Olympics who finished 35^th in the men's slalom; and

●          Calvin Quek, who won Singapore’s first men’s 400m hurdles SEA Games gold in 60 years.

Kindly refer to Annex A for the full list of spexScholars.

spexPotential

The spexPotential programme welcomed 87 new athletes to form its largest-ever cohort of 140 athletes across 31 sports. Sports such as athletics, archery, canoeing, combat sports (e.g. silat, wushu, taekwondo), gymnastics, and table tennis saw increased representation.

Among this year’s new spexPotential athletes are:

●          Siti Khadijah, a silat-turned-wushu-athlete who won Singapore’s first-ever women’s sanda medal at the SEA Games after only a few months of training;

●          Nicholas Khaw, who won gold alongside spexScholar Diyanah Aqidah in the mixed recognised poomsae pair event; and

●          Chloe Lai, who impressed at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash alongside spexPotential athlete Loy Ming Ying to become the first Singaporean women’s pair to reach the quarter-finals in the tournament.

Kindly refer to Annex B for the full list of spexPotential athletes.

Mr Kon Yin Tong, Chairman of the spexScholarship and spexEducation Undergraduate Scholarship Selection Committees and Chairman of SportSG, said, “Behind each of these athletes is a story of dedication, discipline, and aspiration. It is encouraging to see more spexPotential athletes progressing to spexScholarship this year, as this shows that more athletes are willing to commit to their sporting journey and believe that sport can be a viable career pathway. At the same time, this also demonstrates the effectiveness of the spex programmes in nurturing athletes with potential. With the formation of SpexSG providing strong integrated support, I am confident our athletes are poised to reach new heights on the world stage.”

Both the spexScholarship and spexPotential programmes form part of the comprehensive suite of spex schemes designed to support athletes in achieving their full potential on the sporting stage. The spexScholarship programme is the pinnacle level of enhanced support that prepares athletes to excel at the Asian and World levels, while the spexPotential programme prepares athletes to achieve gold medal success at the South East Asian (SEA) Games and ASEAN Para Games, with the long-term aim of transitioning them to Asian success and beyond. Athletes under both schemes receive financial and programmatic support, which includes a monthly stipend, support for local and overseas training and competitions, coaching and sport science and medicine support.

Strengthening holistic athlete support in the leadup to 2029

Sport Singapore (SportSG) has strengthened its high performance sport ecosystem through the establishment of Sport Excellence Singapore (SpexSG) on 1 April 2026, integrating the High Performance Sport Institute, Singapore Sports School and Unleash the Roar! to provide athletes with more coordinated, personalised support throughout their sporting journey. This integration enables more targeted sport science support aligned with each athlete's performance trajectory and Major Games preparation. Beyond sport, athletes will also benefit from support in areas such as education, career development, family planning, financial literacy, and personal growth.

Building on this foundation, Guest-Of-Honour Mr David Neo, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Senior Minister of State for Education, outlined Singapore’s vision and ambitions for the 2029 home Games at the Investiture. This includes enhancing support for a broader base of athletes with demonstrated potential, strengthening NSA capabilities, and growing HPSI's specialist workforce - all in a collective effort to put forward Singapore’s strongest campaign on home ground.

Mr Toh Boon Yi, Chief Executive Officer of SpexSG and Deputy CEO of SportSG, said, “The integration of our high performance agencies under SpexSG represents a significant milestone for Singapore’s high performance sport ecosystem. By bringing together our expertise in sport science, education, and athlete development under one unified structure, we will provide more seamless and personalised support that adapts to each athlete's unique journey. This holistic approach, backed by strong partnership with our stakeholders, will empower athletes to maximise their potential and stay at the top of their game longer.”

Supporting education alongside sporting excellence

As part of this comprehensive support framework, five athletes were awarded the spexEducation Undergraduate Scholarship this year - four on the Dual Career track, which supports concurrent studies and sport, and one on the New Career Track, which enables pursuing studies post-retirement.

To date, 16 athletes have received the spexEducation Undergraduate Scholarship, which saw its first batch of recipients in 2025. Supported by the President’s Challenge, the scholarship empowers our national athletes in balancing academic goals with sporting excellence, empowering them to pursue both with confidence. (Kindly refer to Annex C for the full list of spexEducation Undergraduate Scholars).

With the formation of SpexSG, Singapore Sports School will serve as the dedicated education concierge for all Team Singapore student-athletes, providing university advisory services, support for overseas-based student-athletes, and boarding and facilities support, among others.

Beyond spexScholarship, spexPotential, and spexEducation, SpexSG also offers a comprehensive suite of support through various spex initiatives such as spexBusiness Network, spexCareer, spexGLOW (Grant for Loss of Wages) and spexTAG (Training Assistant Grant), ensuring athletes have viable pathways throughout their sporting careers and beyond. More information on Singapore’s High Performance Sport system can be found in the High Performance Sport handbook.