Readers want 2.4km run and standing broad jump axed from IPPT: Poll

Sequence pictures showing an NSman doing the standing broad jump, one of the exercise in the IPPT. Out with the 2.4km run and the standing broad jump. These are the top two stations that servicemen want axed from the Individual Physical Proficie
Sequence pictures showing an NSman doing the standing broad jump, one of the exercise in the IPPT. Out with the 2.4km run and the standing broad jump. These are the top two stations that servicemen want axed from the Individual Physical Proficiency Test, or IPPT. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

Out with the 2.4km run and the standing broad jump. These are the top two stations that servicemen want axed from the Individual Physical Proficiency Test, or IPPT.

About four in ten (41 per cent) who voted in a poll by the straitstimes.com picked the 2.4km run as the station they want removed from the test, a photo finish with the standing broad jump (38 per cent).

Chin-ups finished some distance behind, garnering only about 16 per cent of the votes. More than 10,000 voters had taken part in the poll as of Tuesday morning. The poll was put up on Monday.

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) said yesterday that it is finalising changes to simplify the IPPT and will likely include scrapping some test stations.

The aim is to make the IPPT "simpler to administer and simpler to train for," said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen.

Dr Ng, however, did not disclose the changes, adding that they will be announced by army chief Perry Lim "within the next few months".

Today's IPPT has five stations: the chin-up, standing broad-jump, 4x10 shuttle, sit-up and 2.4km run.

The Straits Times reported last October that likely IPPT changes could include axing the standing broad jump and adding push-ups as a test.

<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/8156065/">What IPPT test stations would you like to see removed?</a>

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