I was surprised to learn that the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) closed its Centre of Excellence some years back ("Pain behind the glory"; Aug 21).

The programme was meant to nurture and train budding talent to reach their highest potential in their sports.

As the governing body of swimming, the SSA's ending of the programme seems contrary to its mission of promoting and supporting the ambitions of our young people with the potential to represent the nation in the sport.

Now that the association has received an injection of $200,000 from the $1 million award that the Singapore National Olympic Council gave to Joseph Schooling for his win ("What will Schooling do with his $1m award?"; Aug 26), it should reinstate the Centre of Excellence programme.

It would be expected that, inspired by Schooling's success, more young people would be encouraged to concentrate on their swimming potential.

A Centre of Excellence would certainly help give them a leg-up.

George Pasqual