Dropped Olympians rue loss

Dropped Olympians rue loss

She made history in London last year by becoming Singapore's first Olympic gymnast.

But that was not enough for Lim Heem Wei to be counted among the Republic's finest athletes when the inaugural list of Sports Excellence Scholarship recipients was unveiled on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old was left "surprised and disappointed" by her omission from the scheme, which offers financial and educational support, assistance in career preparation, as well as help in personal and life skills development.

"This means I have to personally look for alternative means to finance my training and overseas competitions," she told The Straits Times on Wednesday.

Lim was not the only notable absentee from the list of 66 full and 26 potential scholars, though.

With a total of 218 nominations, other Olympians to miss out included badminton players Derek Wong, Gu Juan, Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei, as well as hurdler Dipna Lim-Prasad.

The selection committee did, however, hand full scholarships to seven gymnasts.

Also getting the nod were four shuttlers - three full and one potential.

While he declined to reveal details about the individual assessments, Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) executive director Fabian Lim noted that "all applications were assessed thoroughly".

"The three main selection criteria for the spexScholarship are training commitment, performance potential and attitude of the athlete," he stressed.

"We encourage all athletes who were unsuccessful this time round to continue to train hard and to apply for the second round of nominations for the spexScholarship in April 2014."

He added that those who missed the cut will continue to be supported through the spexGrant system, in which top-tier athletes receive up to $7,200 in training assistance and $30,000 in career and training grants each year.

In contrast, a $40 million kitty offers spexScholarship recipients a median annual stipend of between $24,000 and $90,000, with additional funding for coaching and competitions.

It comes as no surprise, then, that shuttler Wong has set his sights on making the list at the second time of asking.

"I've been focusing more on training ever since the Olympics so it's understandable that I was not picked," said the 24-year-old, who Wednesday reached the second round of the Indonesia Open.

"I'll be going for more tournaments from now, so hopefully I will be able to get enough good results to qualify for the scholarship."

Singapore Badminton Association interim chief Chew Keet Hou, meanwhile, pledged to work with SSI officials to help athletes like Wong meet the selection criteria.

fabiusc@sph.com.sg


Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.