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FOREIGN athletes are here to stay: They help put Singapore on the world map through their sporting achievements.
Mr Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, cited two China-born athletes - swimmer Tao Li and table tennis player Gao Ning - who won four and three gold medals respectively at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand.
Foreign sports talents like them contributed 34.9 per cent of Singapore's 43 gold medals at the event, even though they made up only 7.6 per cent of the 423-strong contingent, he noted.
He was responding to concerns raised in Parliament by Nominated MP Jessie Phua and Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) over the foreign talent scheme.
Ms Phua, who is president of the Singapore Bowling Federation, recalled that out of 97 foreign sports talents, 54 had been granted citizenship. But only 37 of these citizens are still in active training.
Noting the high drop-out rate, Ms Phua said: 'It is certainly not a case of a few bad apples. There are some real issues to be addressed.'
Mr Seah noted that some national sports associations (NSAs), such as bowling and sailing, have successfully groomed local talents to world-class standards, while others like badminton and table tennis have justified their reliance on foreign talents.
He asked if any assessment had been done on the cost-effectiveness of the foreign talent scheme, which was initiated in 1998, and if the results were satisfactory.
In response, Mr Teo said the foreign athletes, who comprise 5.6 per cent of the total number of carded athletes here, receive 23.8 per cent of the total direct athlete support grants given out by the Singapore Sports Council.
This is because most of them are in the higher carding categories and current policy is 'to focus limited resources on top athletes', said Mr Teo.
The carding system determines the amount of funding that athletes get from the sports council. He tried to allay concerns of over-reliance on the foreign talent scheme.
'(It) is part of the system in order to do well internationally. But we're not prepared for any NSA or even Singapore to be a trading hub of foreign athletes.'
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