Singapore will support promising athletes, even in new and less common sports: Minister Edwin Tong

SINGAPORE —Singapore will support athletes who show promise, regardless of whether they are in a mainstream or less common sport, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong. 
He was speaking with CNA nearly a week after Singaporean teenager Maximilian Maeder clinched a bronze medal in kitefoiling at the recently-concluded Olympic Games in Paris. 
“We’ve got a couple of new emerging sports that have become very popular with Singaporeans, and our job in the government is really to be where Singaporeans go. If we’ve got a great athlete who is in a niche sport, we will support that athlete,” Mr Tong told CNA’s Singapore Tonight on Wednesday (Aug 14). 
“I think it’s important to look at it not so much as whether it’s a niche sport, but whether Singaporeans pursue it and do well in it, and we support them.”
He noted, however, that funding is “not limitless” but “we make the best we can and we put the funds into places which allow us to unearth potential”. 
“Overall, it’s not so much just funding, but also the mindset, the culture of wanting to be in sports, and to excel and to find a pathway to success through sports,” said Mr Tong, citing the Sport Excellence Scholarship as an example of support for promising sportspersons, even if the athlete is in a sport that is not included in major competitions.
He acknowledged that no two sports are the same, and athletes develop differently. 
“What’s important for us is to have a wide pool of athletes, as many as possible, playing in sports, have a clear pathway for high performance, and also have many entry points into high performance sports,” he noted. 
“That way we can maximise the potential and have as many Singaporeans represent Singapore at as high a level as possible.”
During the interview with CNA, Mr Tong also shared how he first learnt of Maeder’s talent through his law school classmate, who is the teenager’s aunt.
“Somewhat fortuitously, Max’s aunt and I go back quite a long way,” he said. 
“One day, she got in touch with me and said (her) nephew is in kitefoiling. And I said, ‘Kite, what?’”
Maeder’s aunt told Mr Tong about the youngster’s talent, and shared more that prompted him to take notice. 
“That got me thinking and I said, ‘Let’s meet with Max and his mum’,” said Mr Tong, recalling the first meeting with Maeder in 2021.
“I did, and he blew me away. He was 14 years old when we first met.”
He then rallied both the public and private sectors to support the teenager, and provide the environment for him to succeed. 
“That journey that (Max) has now gone on — supported by the government, by the public, by the private sector — is what we need to bring our athletes forward and to realise their aspirations,” he said. 
Mr Tong said Team Singapore athletes fared well at the Paris Games, citing various memorable moments. 
“I think (shuttler Yeo) Jia Min was a standout moment. We all felt so much for her. I was there watching her in person, and the moment that last shot went marginally out, I think we all felt it deep in our hearts,” he said, referring to her narrow round of 16 loss.
“(Swimmer Gan) Ching Hwee did wonderfully well with two national records, two personal best, and she was just one spot shy of the 1,500m (freestyle) finals.”
He also praised kayaker Stephenie Chen for making the Olympic final, and shuttler Loh Kean Yew, who fought hard against eventual men’s singles champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. 
On Wednesday, crowds of Singaporeans braved the rain and turned out in force to cheer on the Olympic athletes on a bus parade through the city. 
Mr Tong believes sports can help to unite a nation. 
“I think you saw for yourself what it meant to Singaporeans today to welcome back our Olympians, both Max as well as the many others,” he said in the interview. 
“I think Singaporeans appreciate the grit, the determination, and see the Olympics as a platform to measure ourselves against the world’s best. I thought they did well, and I think Singaporeans showed their appreciation for it.”
Mr Tong said key lessons gleaned from the Paris Olympics will be applied to the next competition. 
“So that’s all in the short term, and that’s ongoing. But in the mid to longer term, I think we need to look at systemic changes,” said Mr Tong, referring to various considerations, from tapping sports science more to help athletes directly and ensuring that sport administration is in tip-top condition. 
“These are all steps that are ongoing, and we’ll have some plans for these shortly.”
Maeder, who was also on the programme, said while winning the bronze medal in Paris has sunk in, there are new experiences that he is still taking in after the outpouring of support. 
But the 17-year-old does not think the increased public interest is an additional weight to carry. 
“I find it a great thing. I find it as a sign that I have the opportunity to share everything with more people, and knowing that more people stand behind me in a sense,” he said. 
“For me so far, I have only felt the fact that I give myself the pressure. Perhaps that is affected by what other people say, but it is coming from myself specifically. So it is something that I’m familiar with, and something that competitors deal with all the time.”
While disappointed at bronze, having gone into the Olympics as back-to-back world champion and a favourite for gold, Maeder believes the result was a good lesson for the future.
“Just to give a little bit more perspective, the reason why, at least I assume, it didn’t go as great as expected was because I didn’t stick to a set procedure and plan that we had because of everything that was going on,” he said. 
“The strategy of incremental improvements, what we have laid in place and how it’s going, isn’t going to change drastically from what we’ve had. It’s a very, very stark reminder to stick to what you’ve worked on, believe in what you’ve worked on, and execute it as best you can.”
Maeder, the oldest of three boys, has not been afraid to show his competitiveness when he started kitefoiling. 
“I happened to chance upon it and I liked it. I liked the feeling and it evolved into loving to improve at something,” he said.
“Then it changed to bringing other people along in the journey and competing and all of that. But in the end, I stuck with kitefoiling because I liked it, and then it moved on into something more developed and deeper.”
His younger brother Karl, too, is a competitive kitefoiler, but competes for Switzerland.
“He couldn’t choose. He only had one passport, so that’s why he went for Switzerland,” said Maeder.  
“But I went for Singapore because if you really think about it, if you had to have Singapore chicken rice for the rest of your life, or Swiss cheese fondue, the choice seemed pretty obvious to me. 
“I was born here. I felt Singaporean and I picked it before I knew what it all meant and went with it.” CNA
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