Sport Singapore Unveils Inaugural Cohort of 48 spexPotential Athletes

• 103 spexScholars across 26 sports inducted into the programme this year, marking a steady increase since the inaugural batch of 61 spexScholars.

• 48 inaugural spexPotential athletes part of new programme to strengthen the youth-to-senior athlete transition and nurture promising athletes early for sustained sporting success.

Singapore, 2 April 2024 – The Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship) and the new Sport Excellence Potential (spexPotential) programmes offered by Sport Singapore (SportSG) provide an enhanced level of support for athletes within Singapore’s High Performance Sports (HPS) system. Today, the spexScholarship programme adds 103 new spexScholars^[1] across 26 sports. Additionally, the new spexPotential programme inducts its inaugural batch of 48 athletes across 22 sports.

spexScholarship – a key pillar of Singapore’s HPS system

The spexScholarship has been a key pillar of Singapore’s HPS system, offering financial and programmatic support for athletes within our HPS system since its inception in 2013.

Its comprehensive suite of support includes a monthly stipend; support for local and overseas training and competitions; sports equipment; access to a sports science team in areas such as such as biomechanics, physiology, physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, and sports nutrition; a curated coaching programme which helps athletes with diet, sleep, recovery and preparation and other aspects required to get them competing at peak condition.

Over the years, it has grown our base of sporting talent while enabling more athletes to achieve breakthrough successes at the elite level.

For instance, national sprint queen Shanti Pereira, who returned to the programme in 2022 has seen steady improvement in her performances — going from podium finishes at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games-level to breaking records and topping the podium at the Asian Championships and Asian Games. National para swimmer Toh Wei Soong who joined the programme in 2018 has also grown into a key medal hopeful at the Asian level and beyond, most recently bagging four medals at the Asian Para Games last year en route to becoming Team Singapore’s most bemedalled athlete at the continental showpiece.

SpexScholars comprised just 10% of Team Singapore's contingent at the 2023 SEA Games but contributed 52% of our medal tally. Similarly, they comprised 14% of our contingent at the 2022 Asian Games but contributed 62% of our medal tally.  At the ASEAN Para Games 2023, spexScholars made up 28% of the contingent but contributed to 41% of our medals while they made up 23% of our 2022 Asian Para Games contingent and clinched 63% of our medals.

To help more athletes achieve their potential, we have 103 spexScholars across 26 sports in the programme this year, marking a steady increase since the inaugural batch of 61 spexScholars in 2013.

Inaugural batch of spexPotential athletes

First announced in August 2023, the spexPotential programme aims to strengthen the support during youth-to-senior athlete transition and develop promising athletes to achieve sustainable high-performance outcomes. It bridges the gap in our athletes’ journey towards the spexScholarship by preparing them for sporting excellence at SEA Games level, so that more can aspire to higher levels of sport excellence beyond that – at Asian and World levels.

By identifying young athletes with strong potential to succeed at the SEA Games level and beyond, we can grow our base of high-performance athletes and support them earlier in their journey.

SpexPotential athletes will also receive support to prepare them for sporting excellence at the Major Games, including financial and programmatic support. They will receive a monthly stipend, as well as financial support to cover the costs of coaching, training and competition, as well as equipment. These are on top of education, career and personal development support.

The programme, which aims to prepare athletes for gold medal success at the SEA Games level and beyond, welcomed its inaugural cohort of 48 athletes across 22 sports today.

Holistic Support for National Athletes

Beyond spexScholarship and spexPotential, SportSG also provides our athletes with a comprehensive suite of support. Apart from supporting their training needs, SportSG facilitates their sporting journey throughout their education and employment through various spex initiatives such as spexBusiness, spexEducation, spexGLOW (Grant for Loss of Wages) and spexTAG (Training Assistant Grant). 

Mr Alan Goh, Chief Executive Officer of SportSG, said, “Singapore’s High Performance Sports (HPS) system nurtures our local athletes at different stages of their development pathways, with the aim of helping them to realise their fullest potential and represent Team Singapore. This new spexPotential programme provides our young, budding athletes with both the support to kickstart their careers and the opportunities to succeed in their journey.”

He added, “The programme will also help to establish better youth-to-senior athlete transitions, develop successors to our older Team Singapore athletes when they retire, and allow our sporting successes to be sustainable. SportSG will continue to partner our National Sport Associations (NSAs) in athlete pathways development, and we look forward to having more high performing athletes join the spexPotential programme in the coming years. Congratulations to our very first batch of spexPotential athletes!”

Mr Kon Yin Tong, Chairman of the spexScholarship Selection Committee and Chairman of SportSG, said, “My heartfelt congratulations to all the recipients. There are a couple of major competitions this year, including the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. We trust that the holistic and personalised support provided under the spexScholarship, which takes care of their training needs, will give the athletes a boost in their preparations for these competitions. As we begin a new milestone with the introduction of spexPotential this year, we hope that more promising talents will perceive sports as a viable career option and strive for sustained sporting excellence on the world sporting stage.”

[1] This includes 10 athletes across nine sports, who are receiving the scholarship for the first time.