Foreign Sports Talent Scheme

The Foreign Sports Talent Scheme is a scheme used by sports officials and organisations in Singapore to scout, identity and facilitate the migration of non-Singaporeans deemed to possess sports talent to play in Singapore colours in sporting events. Introduced in 1993 [citation|author=Leonard Lim|title=Is the foreign talent scheme working?|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_214932.html|newspaper=The Straits Times|date=2008-03-09.] by the Singapore Table Tennis Association, [citation|author=Peh Shing Huei|title=The man behind the medal|url=http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/Sweat/Story/STIStory_269012.html|newspaper=The Sunday Times|date=2008-08-19.] it also aimed to boost local sporting standards by importing sporting expertise. A similar scheme, the Singapore Foreign Talent Scheme, was introduced in 2000 but was limited to scouting talent for the Singapore national football team. [citation|title=Review of FAS' Foreign Sports Talent (FST) Scheme: Singapore, 30 August 2006|url=http://www.fas.org.sg/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=2237|publisher=Football Association of Singapore|date=2006-08-31|accessdate=2008-08-19.]

In March 2008, it was announced in the Parliament of Singapore that 54 athletes had benefited from the programme and received Singapore citizenship, of which 37 were still in active training.

Debate

The achievement of Singapore's women's table tennis team in winning a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the country's first Olympic medal since 1960, reignited debate over the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. Some critics said that the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) has relied too much on it, as the team comprised three China-born players, Feng Tianwei, Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu. On 19 August 2008, a correspondent to "The Straits Times" wrote that he was not proud of the way Singapore had won its medal through a team of imported foreign-born players, one of whom was granted Singapore citizenship at the beginning of 2008. He continued:

A day earlier, STTA president Lee Bee Wah had said: "It doesn't mean that we should look at them [foreign-born table tennis players] differently because they're not born and brought up in Singapore. The important thing is that they have embraced Singapore and want to be a part of it. And they wanted so badly to win a medal for our country. We should not be harping on where they are born. I hope mindsets change." [citation|author=Tan Yo-Hinn|title=A silver-lining for sports: Sports chiefs hope Olympic medal will change locals' attitudes towards foreign talent|url=http://www.todayonline.com/articles/271490.asp|newspaper=Today|date=2008-08-18|page=30. See also citation|title=Olympics success is all about the talent issue [editorial] |newspaper=The Straits Times|date=2008-08-18|page=A17.] In addition, during his Mandarin National Day Rally speech on 17 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said:

Athletes

Athletics

*Dong Enxin (returned to native country)
*Du Xianhui (returned to native country)
*Zhang Guirong

Badminton

*Fu Mingtian
*Gu Juan
*Hendra Wijaya
*Hendri Supatra
*Jiang Yanmei
*Li Li (quit national team)
*Li Yujia
*Liu Fan
*Ronald Susilo
*Xiao Luxi (returned to native country)
*Xing Aiying
*Yao Lei
*Zhang Beiwen

Basketball

*Li Lin (left Singapore)
*Li Ling (in national netball team)
*Yao Xiuxiu (left Singapore)
*Zhang Shu (left Singapore)
*Zhao Jing
*Zhou Lei

Chess

*Wu Shaobin

Football

*Agu Casmir
*Daniel Bennett
*Egmar Goncalves (returned to native country)citation|author=Tan Hui Yee|title=The priceless power of the dream|newspaper=The Straits Times|date=2008-08-26|page=A26.]
*Itimi Dickson
*Mirko Grabovac
*Mustafic Fahrudin
*Precious Emuejeraye
*Shi Jiayi

The information above was obtained from citation|title=Review of FAS' Foreign Sports Talent (FST) Scheme: Singapore, 30 August 2006|url=http://www.fas.org.sg/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=2237|publisher=Football Association of Singapore|date=2006-08-31|accessdate=2008-08-19.

Hockey

*Chen Huiling
*Li Ying (not active, living in Singapore)
*Ma Xiaomeng
*Niu Lei
*Qi Hui
*Zhang Jun

Water polo

*Luo Nan

Table tennis

*Cai Xiaoli
*Duan Yongjun (retired)
*Feng Tianwei
*Gao Ning
*Jing Junhong (retired – moved to Singapore prior to introduction of FST, but citizenship was fast-tracked)
*Li Jiawei
*Sun Beibei
*Wang Yuegu
*Xu Yan (returned to native country)
*Yang Zi
*Yu Mengyu
*Zhang Taiyong (retired)
*Zhang Xueling (returned to native country)

Notes