Indoor skydiver Kyra Poh among 17 new athletes selected for Sports Excellence Scholarship programme

SINGAPORE: Indoor skydiver Kyra Poh is among 17 new athletes from eight sports included in The Sport Excellence Scholarship (spexScholarship) programme for its 2022 cohort.

This brings the total number of spexScholars to 76 athletes across 24 sports, said Sport Singapore (SportSG) in a media release on Tuesday (May 31).

This is the first time the programme will support an athlete who competes in a sport that is not included in major competitions such as the Olympics, Asian, Commonwealth and Southeast Asian Games.

Forty-seven spexScholars participated at the recent SEA Games, with 43 of them bringing home at least one medal and 22 of them winning at least one gold medal.

"I am particularly glad that we have extended the spexScholarship to Kyra Poh, an indoor skydiving athlete who has excelled at the world level in a sport that does not feature in the major Games," said Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law.

Mr Tong hoped "that this will encourage a more diverse group of athletes to strive for sporting excellence in the coming years".

“Indoor skydiving is still considered a niche sport in the region hence I am incredibly grateful to be a recipient of the spexScholarship, which will provide more holistic support for me as an athlete," said Poh. 

The indoor skydiver added that she hopes "to continue doing Singapore proud in competitions, raise awareness of the sport, and be prepared should indoor skydiving become an Olympic sport one day".

Fellow scholarship recipient Team Singapore fencer Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman said that the programme will give her "the extra boost" she needs "in terms of funding and support to train and compete at the highest levels".

A total of 49 nominations were received by the Singapore Sport Institute (SSI), of which 17 were selected to join the programme this year, SportSG said.

Among the rest of the 59 spexScholars in this year's cohort, SportSG said 34 of them had their contracts renewed from the previous cycle while the remaining 25 athletes' contracts are not yet due for renewal. 

More athletes from team sports will also be presented with the scholarship this year. 

"Following the impressive results by the women’s bowling team, the 2022 cohort will also see the inclusion of the men’s bowling team, along with the men’s and women’s table tennis teams," said SportSG.

With several major games happening this year, spexScholarship selection committee chairman Mr Kon Yin Tong said that he hopes that the increased level of support will motivate the athletes to "train hard, meet their performance goals and targets, and bring pride to the nation as one Team Singapore".

"At the same time, we will also continue to monitor the performances of our other athletes, including several debutants who have achieved outstanding results at the SEA Games, to see how we can better support their sporting aspirations," added Mr Kon, who is also chairman of SportSG.