SINGAPORE — Sport Singapore, the national governing body for sports, and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) are reviewing the High Performance Sports (HPS) system to see how it can be further improved to ensure Singapore’s continued sporting success on the regional and international level.

This was announced yesterday at a media briefing at the Singapore Sports Hub following a 15-month period of historic and unprecedented successes achieved by Team Singapore at the South-east Asian (SEA) Games, the Asean Para Games (APG) and the Rio Olympics and Paralympics.

At last year’s SEA Games which was held here, Team Singapore won 84 golds, its highest ever, while the contingent’s 259 medals shattered the previous record haul of 164 set at the 1983 Games, which was also hosted here.

Singapore also finished second in the overall standings for the first time since the 1975 South-east Asian Peninsular Games.

Likewise, at the APG, Singapore set two new milestones by winning 24 golds, and a total of 63 medals.

Team Singapore also achieved unprecedented success at the Rio Olympics in August and the Paralympic Games in September.

National swimmer Joseph Schooling delivered the country’s first-ever Olympics gold medal with his 100m butterfly triumph, while team-mate Quah Zheng Wen reached the semi-finals of the men’s 100m and 200m butterfly.

At the Paralympics, Yip Pin Xiu not only recorded Singapore’s best result at the Games by winning the 50m and 100m S2 backstroke, but also set a new world mark in the 50m backstroke.

All these achievements have not only created a momentum in Singapore sports but have also filled national athletes with new belief that they can be world-class in their respective sports, said SportSG chief executive officer Lim Teck Yin yesterday.

“In terms of aspirations, I have sensed that the bar has shifted. There is a lot more belief in the system,” he said. “We are looking to continuously improve, enhance and check the effectiveness of what we are doing and the ROI (return on investment) that we get.

“The MCCY has directed SportSG and the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) to conduct a more thorough review, and think about Tokyo 2020 Olympics too, and the next round of spexScholarships.”

Lim added that HPS areas for review and improvement include identifying athletes who have a strong desire to succeed, learning from successful overseas training and developmental systems, and continuing to bring in quality coaching and sports science personnel.

There are 1,500 carded national athletes in the HPS. Of that number, 72 are spex (sports excellence) Scholars who are funded by a S$40 million warchest from 2013 to 2018, and also receive support in their education, careers, and personal development.

But Lim said the number will be further refined so that more support can be provided to athletes who aspire to be world-class.

“We need to continuously refine (that base of athletes) ... We also need to identify the athletes who have that very strong innate desire,” he said.

“It is that ambition, that clarity about wanting to be competitive on the world stage and not be wishy-washy about that and giving excuses about failure,” said Lim.

“We can mentor that, but it also needs to come from within the athletes themselves. So we need to identify who these champions are, and nurture them.”

Citing Schooling as an example, he said: “His ambition, desire, and clarity that he wants this (gold) medal, that he is good enough to get, is something that must be nurtured in our 72 spexScholars.”

Both Lim and Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu said that the HPS review will also look at creating or finding the right environments for elite athletes to train and flourish in.

Lim noted that the University of Texas in Austin — Schooling’s training base — featured an “assembly of the best butterfliers in the world”. He also observed how rower Saiyidah Aisyah rose to become one of Asia’s top three rowers by training with top rowers in Australia.

“Swimming is a case study here, because (former national head coach) Sergio Lopez, brought a network of competitive swimmers to our shores to train, and the Singapore Swimming Association are going to build on that,” said Lim.

“If the environment is not available here, then we have to consider where to base (the athletes). That is not unique to us. The world’s best athletes train around the world, so we must know what we can do here, somewhere else and why.”

Meanwhile, SportSG and MCCY have targeted next year’s SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur as another opportunity to set new sporting standards for Singapore. They are aiming for Team Singapore to achieve their best SEA Games away result. To date, Singapore’s best result at an away Games is 43 golds at the 2007 edition.

“Typically, in an away Games, Team Singapore has achieved much, but not (to the extent) of rallying the imagination (of Singaporeans) that we hope to see,” said Lim.

“We made some breakthroughs in 2015, and the 2017 Games is not too far now.

“Malaysia has chosen 38 sports and 403 events, and they have excluded sports that we are traditionally strong in. But that is our challenge. Let’s go out there and achieve our best away performance.”