Sailing tops list with more than $3m

SAILING will receive a grant of more than $3 million from the Singapore Sports Council next month.

It is the only sport in the SSC's 'more than $3 million' category for the second year running,

Badminton is also alone in the second category of sports that receive between $2 million and $3million.

Five sports - bowling, football, shooting, swimming and table tennis - will each get between $1.5 million and $2 million.

Despite its million-dollar funding, SingaporeSailing president Low Teo Ping is not exactly jumping for joy.

He said yesterday: 'We always need more than what the SSC gives. We believe sailing has yielded the best return on its investment. We can do more if they give us more.'

According to him, the amount is about 40 per cent of the annual budget that it submitted to the council.

He said: 'We understand that the pie is finite. We just have to look at alternate sources and sponsors. But it does distract us from our core activities.'

Sailing garnered five of Singapore's eight gold medals at the Asian Games last December.

However, the sport will be given extra funding under Project 0812 for its 13 elite sailors, who will be gunning for the 2008 Olympics.

Project 0812 has a separate $7million budget for 22 athletes from four national sports association (NSAs) - sailing, shooting, swimming and table tennis.

Yesterday, the SSC announced that 58 NSAs will share this year's pie of $31.9 million, an increase of $800,000.

Nineteen associations will receive more funding, with gymnastics the biggest 'winner' with a $400,000 raise.

Naturally, Singapore Gymnastics, which received about $300,000 last year, is pleased with its $700,000 grant.

Said Henry Tan, its vice-president for excellence: 'This is very good news. The South-east Asia Games is our main target this year.

'We will use the extra funds to send the women's artistic gymnastics team to more international competitions. Previously, we competed in only regional events.'

Lined up for the gymnasts this year are the Australian National Championships in May, the World Cup in July and the World Championships in September.

Silat will get $1.1 million, which is slightly more than last year.

Said Singapore Silat Federation chief executive director Sheik Alauddin: 'It'll never be enough for everything, but we can still run our programmes.

'We just have to be more careful with our budget. We have to work with sponsors and other organisations.'

But nine associations took a cut, with chess, golf, karate and sepak takraw dropping more than $50,000 each.

The Singapore Sepak Takraw Federation will receive $250,000, a cut of about $75,000.

Said president Abdul Halim Kader: 'We have to continue to raise funds through our Hari Raya bazaar and fun fairs.'

Altogether, the 58 NSAs requested $86 million. They had asked for $104 million last year.

For many NSAs, it was a case of getting much less than what they had requested. The allocation of funds is based on their programmes, which fall into three categories - high performance, high participation and industry development. They are evaluated based on the following criteria:

alignment with Singapore's objective to become a top-10 sporting nation in Asia by 2010

projected returns

value for money

quality

Meanwhile, SSC chief executive officer Oon Jin Teik called for NSAs to generate their own funds. He said: 'Funds will always be limited. NSAs have to find ways to stretch their dollar, market themselves and look for sponsors.'

A good example would be the Football Association of Singapore. Its grant will increase from between $1 million and $1.5 million to between $1.5 million and $2 million. But the amount forms a small portion of its annual budget of between $12 million and $15 million.

It raises the rest through its 14 sponsors and partners, which include Singapore Pools, NTUC Income and Yeo's.

yishen@sph.com.sg