Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Seven new athletes in Singapore have been added to the Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship) programme, Sport Singapore (SportSG) announced on Thursday (Nov. 3).

They are:

Shanti Pereira (Athletics)

26-year-old Singaporean track and field athlete Shanti Pereira set a new national record in the 100m and 200m heats at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

On top of this, she represented Singapore in the 2022 World Athletics Championship.

She had also attained a gold medal and a silver medal at the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi.

Terry Hee and Jessica Tan Wei Han (Badminton - Mixed Doubles)

Husband and wife Terry Hee, 27, and Tan Wei Han, 29, won a gold medal for Singapore in the Badminton - Mixed Doubles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The pair also started off the year with their first Super 500 title in the 2022 India Open.

Jin Yu Jia and Crystal Wong (Badminton - Women Doubles)

Shuttlers Jin Yu Jia, 25, and Crystal Wong, 23, made it to the Badminton - Women Doubles quarter finals of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

They also represented Singapore at the 2022 BWF World Championship.

Cheung Kemei (Fencing)

At only 17 years old, Team Singapore's foil fencer Cheung Kemei is one of the youngest spexScholars in the 2022 cohort.

She has represented Singapore at the 2022 Asian Fencing Championships, earning a spot in the top 15 under the Women's Individual category.

Fernel Tan (Shooting)

Fernel Tan, 19, has attained a bronze and silver medal for Singapore at the 2021 SEA Games.

She also bagged gold and silver at the 2022 ISSF Grand Prix in Jakarta.

What is spexScholarship?

The spexScholarship identifies, nurtures and optimises the performance of Singaporean athletes within the high performance sport pathway, SportSG said.

It also supports the athletes' sporting aspirations.

The scholarship includes both financial and programmatic support to prepare the athletes to excel at the major Games.

Existing spexScholars include badminton ace Loh Kean Yew and national swimmer Quah Ting Wen.

First time they did a second round of assessment

Earlier this year, 17 athletes were already selected to join the scholarship programme.

According to SportSG, this is the first time it has conducted a second round of assessment of spexScholars within the same year.

"This assessment considered the dynamic international competition calendars such as major sport championships, with fresh data arising from recent competitions that allow the organisation to update an athlete’s performance trajectory," SportSG said.

In addition to the newly announced seven athletes, there are now 77 spexScholars across 23 sports in Singapore.

Among the spexScholars who joined prior to 2022, four athletes including— Contessa Loh (Archery), Reuben Rainer Lee (Athletics), Marc Brian Louis (Athletics) and Quah Ting Wen (Swimming)— had their contracts renewed from the previous cycle.

The remaining 49 athletes' contracts are not yet due for renewal.

SportSG also said that three athletes– Goh Choon Huat (Cycling), Tessa Neo (Shooting) and Feng Tianwei (Table Tennis)— had completed their scholarship on Sep. 30, 2022.

The athletes "are deserving"

In a Facebook post on Nov. 3, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong congratulated the seven athletes who were newly added to the spexScholarship programme.

Elaborating on why a second round of assessment of spexScholars was done this year, Tong said that the seven athletes selected "are deserving".

He added:

"With fresh data, updated from recent competitions, we are able to make a more accurate assessment, tracking their performance and development trajectory. In turn, we can better support deserving Team Singapore athletes as they prepare for competitions such as the Asian Games in Hangzhou 2023, and Olympics in Paris 2024."