SINGAPORE — The road to Rio has been a long and gruelling one for national rower Saiyidah Aisyah Mohamed Rafa’ee (picture), who saw all of her savings wiped out during her qualification campaign. The 28-year-old had to resort to crowdfunding in February to raise money for her training stint in Australia, with the effort reaping a total of S$12,500.

But Aisyah’s financial woes have now ended, with fast food chain 4 Fingers Crispy Chicken coming on board with a S$6,000 cash sponsorship. The three-month deal will see Aisyah receive S$2,000 every month from now till the August Olympics. In addition, 4 Fingers will also direct S$2 from every sale of their “X.B.F.F burger” to Aisyah’s training funds. They hope to sell at least 2,400 X.B.F.F burgers over the next three months, which will reap an additional S$4,000 in sponsorship.

Steen Puggaard, CEO of 4 Fingers, said the company identified with the dedication and spirit that the rower had shown to qualify for Rio.

“Rowing is not a mainstream sport in Singapore. It is small and it is very underfunded. In spite of this, Aisyah has fought some very unfavourable odds and never given up on her dream,” said Puggaard, who is an avid rower.

“In supporting Aisyah, we saw a way for our small company to make a difference to someone with big dreams who truly deserves it.”

Aisyah’s 10-month-long qualifying campaign finally reaped rewards at the Asia and Oceania Olympic qualification regatta in South Korea, where she won the B Final race to finish seventh overall in the women’s 2,000m single sculls and become the first Singaporean rower to qualify for the Olympics.

She is also eligible for funds from Sport Singapore under the Race to Rio financial assistance programme, on top of a monthly payout that she has been receiving since April under the spexScholarship scheme.

Aisyah, who left Singapore for a month-long training camp in London last night, expressed relief, and gratitude, to 4 Fingers for their “unconditional” support.

“This (sponsorship) will ease the financial burden that I accumulated from the past when I was still trying to qualify for the Olympics,” said the rower, who quit her job as a student development officer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic to train full-time.

“With this deal, it gives me an opportunity to replenish my savings, and it will also help to cover any miscellaneous expenses I may incur over the next few months. This provides me with the ease of mind to fully focus on training.”

The support from 4 Fingers is also set to deliver an extra boost for Aisyah as she targets a top-24 finish in the women’s 2,000m single sculls in Brazil.

“I want to improve my ranking among my Asian competitors, so the goal that I’ve set is to make it to the D Final,” added Aisyah. “This is where all the Asian competitors will usually place in, and will be used to determine the top 19 to 24 rowers.”