SINGAPORE — Having proven themselves at the regional level, Singapore’s athletes must now aim higher and try to make their mark internationally, said Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong.

Last night, close to 500 Singapore athletes and officials attended a party at the Istana to celebrate the Republic’s showing at last month’s SEA Games, where President Tony Tan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were the event’s guests of honour.

Hosts Singapore won a record 84 gold medals at the SEA Games to finish second overall behind Thailand out of 11 countries.

While that was a vast improvement from the 34-gold haul from the 2013 Games in Myanmar, and it also bettered Singapore’s previous best of 50 gold medals at the SEA Games, Mr Wong reiterated that the momentum must be maintained.

“A lot of what we have achieved is because we have invested and built up our (high-performance) system over the years,” he said in a speech.

“Many of you have benefited from this system, because it has enabled you to train with better support, better sport science and better equipment. But we don’t just want to succeed at the SEA Games level.

“We want to ensure that more of our athletes can go on to excel at not just future SEA Games, but also on a bigger stage such as the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. Most importantly, the SEA Games has shown that with the right belief and hard work, we can achieve extraordinary things as one Team Singapore.”

Mr Wong also said Sport Singapore and the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) would continue to work with all National Sports Associations to “further strengthen the current high-performance system”.

Nominated Member of Parliament Benedict Tan is scheduled to ask Mr Wong in Parliament today on how the government plans to build on the momentum gained from Singapore’s successful staging of the 28th SEA Games.

“I feel strongly that we should take stock and make note of where we’ve done well at the Games, while also identifying our weaknesses,” said Tan, who is also president of the Singapore Sailing Federation.

“We should also widen the net of athletes competing in the SEA Games, while also continue engaging the volunteers that were trained during this Games to create a successful sporting ecosystem.

“We also need to ensure that our athletes’ preparations for major games are as complete as this SEA Games because the sporting world is getting more competitive.” NOAH TAN