| 1. |
Good evening and a warm welcome to all of you
to the Singapore Sports Awards 2006.
I am also delighted to welcome our Guests-of-Honour Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Mrs Lee.
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| 2. |
We are honoured that the Prime Minister is able to join us
this evening.
Prime Minister Lee has been a staunch follower and supporter
of Sports Excellence.
Many of you will recall Prime Minister’s sage words
of advice for Li Jia Wei after her third/fourth placing match
at the Athens Olympic Games 2004.
Jia Wei was a bit down of course when Prime Minister spoke
to her.
“There’s no reason to be sad.
We are proud of you”, Prime Minister said.
“Yes, you’ve not got the top prize, but we will
keep on trying. Sports isn’t just medals.
It’s doing our best, trying, trying again, overcoming
setbacks, depending on each other, being part of Team Singapore.”
By the way Jia Wei is here with us tonight winning her fifth
consecutive Sportswoman Award.
Besides her achievements at the SEA Games, Jia Wei won the
ITTF Pro Tour Slovenia and USA titles.
More importantly she came in fourth in the Asian Championship
2005 where the world’s leading players from China, Hong
Kong, and Korea participated, to hold on to her world number
four ranking.
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| 3. |
It is fair to say that all Singapore athletes, officials and
administrators have taken Prime Minister’s words to heart.
As a sports community, and indeed as a country, we can look
back at 2005 and take immense pride in our sporting achievements
regionally and internationally.
At the 23rd South East Asian Games our tally of gold medals
surpassed even the most confident expectations.
With 42 gold medals to our credit, we exceeded our previous
overseas best performance of 38 gold medals recorded in Bangkok
some thirty years ago.
Singling out specific athletes is not easy, given that almost
half of the 367 athletes at the SEA Games brought home a medal
from the Philippines.
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| 4. |
I know I am not alone in this deep sense of pride I have over
the dogged performances of our athletes at the SEA Games. Watching
young gymnast Nicole Tay go on to win the floor exercise competition
despite earlier falling three times during her balance beam
routine, Prime Minister said, “That’s the kind of
spirit you want”. |
| 5. |
Also showing the same resilience, the Team of the Year (Team
Sport) the National Waterpolo Team recorded its twenty first
consecutive gold medal at the 2005 SEA Games.
No matter how tough the training, no matter how tough the
competition, our waterpolo boys have once again displayed
the conviction and spirit to overcome their opponents.
Like the National Waterpolo Team, James Wong won his eighth
consecutive discus gold medal, and Sportman of the Year Goh
Qiu Bin his third consecutive wushu gold medal in Manila.
Qiu Bin also bagged the silver medal at the 6th International
Wushu Championship in Beijing.
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| 6. |
If we look at longevity, we cannot leave out Joscelin Yeo
too. Since her nine gold medals at the SEA Games 1993 she has
been our most consistent performer at the regional meet. Despite
the competition getting tougher with athletes specializing in
single events Joscelin continued to bag seven gold medals at
the SEA Games 1995, and six gold medals at the 1999, 2003 and
2005 SEA Games.
At Manila not only was she the most be-medaled athlete, she
also broke two SEA Games records and created a mark by being
the first woman to go below a minute for the 100m butterfly
in the SEA Games.
All in all, she has won forty SEA Games gold medals, beating
the mark of 39 held previously by another great swimmer Patricia
Chan.
For Joscelin’s achievements she will be presented with
a Special Award tonight. |
| 7. |
Today, our award winners are making great strides and winning
not only at the SEA Games but also beyond, in bigger continental
and international meets.
Sportsgirl Zhang Jingna at the Commonwealth Shooting Federation
Championship in Melbourne.
Team (Event) of the Year the National Bowling Women’s
Trios Team at the World Championship in Denmark.
Junior Team (Event) of the Year the National Fencing Women’s
Foil team at the Asian Fencing Championship in Sabah.
And Sportswoman of the Year Li Jia Wei at the Asian Table
Tennis Championship in Korea and many ITTF Pro Tour meets.
Even Coach of the Year Zhang Yong Qiang made waves by bringing
his young sailors to gold winning performances at the Youth
World Sailing Championship in Busan.
Congratulations to all the award winners tonight. |
| 8. |
Year 2005 will also be remembered for Singapore’s hosting
of the 117th IOC Session.
Working as a Team we impressed the International Olympic
Committee and the world with our passion and commitment to
produce what was arguably the best ever IOC Session.
The IOC Session and its fringe activities the Olympic Museum
Exhibition, The Stamps and Olympics Exhibition and the Olympic
Day Run involved not just the SNOC, SSC, MCYS and the various
ministries, but also volunteers, retail staff at the shopping
centres, service staff at the airport and hotels, taxi drivers
and the ordinary Singaporean man-in-the-street who all wanted
to contribute to the best IOC Session ever.
This reinforces the point that sports can bring and pull
people together.
It was this spirit that we carried with us to the SEA Games,
the international Championships and the 117th IOC Session.
And it is this spirit that we will take with us to the Asian
Games in Doha in December this year.
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| 9. |
It leaves me now to thank the Singapore Sports Award Organizing
Committee from SNOC, SSC and the sponsors Singapore Totalisator
Board/Singapore Pools Pte Ltd, Singapore Airlines Ltd, Asia
Pacific Breweries and NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd. |
| 10. |
Congratulations once again to the award winners, and I wish
everyone an enjoyable evening. |
Thank You.
