20 para-athletes selected for NextGen Para Talent Programme

SINGAPORE – Amelia Tan’s dream was to be a chef, but that ended when she was 23, after she was diagnosed with Bietti crystalline dystrophy, a rare eye disease that slowly claimed her sight.

The disease causes progressive vision loss and typically starts with night blindness and shrinking peripheral vision – it worsens over time and there is no cure.

It took her between “three and five years” to come to terms with the diagnosis.

In that time, she turned to sport, trying her hand at dragon boating, bowling, soundball, kayaking and football.

Cycling was the one that stuck, even though the 31-year-old had assumed she would have to give it up once she went blind.

Instead, she found freedom in it.

“The thing I like most about cycling is the freedom; you can feel the wind in your hair,” she said.

“Initially, I didn’t think the visually impaired could cycle. So when I first heard of tandem cycling, I was like, ‘Oh wow! I can finally cycle again.’”

On Sept 1, the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) announced its inaugural cohort for its NextGen Para Talent programme, with Tan the oldest among the 20 aspiring para-athletes unveiled in an event at the OCBC Arena.

Tan, who works as an administrative executive, took up tandem cycling in 2023 after being introduced to the sport by former national para-cyclist Steve Tee.

Within two years, she and her pilot Sarah Tan won bronze at the 2025 Asian Para Cycling Championships.

They made their ASEAN Para Games (APG) debut in 2026, finishing fourth in the women’s tandem B individual time trial.

Through the NextGen programme, Tan will receive support with her nutrition and equipment as she prepares for future competitions.

Launched in April, the four-year pilot programme – in partnership with Temasek Foundation – targets athletes who have not been identified by national support schemes such as the Sport Excellence Scholarship, which provides enhanced support for elite athletes.

The 20 athletes in the inaugural batch, who are aged between 10 and 31, are from para-athletics, boccia, para-cycling, para-swimming, para-table tennis and para-tenpin bowling.

They were picked based on their sporting potential, commitment and readiness to progress further in their sport.

Each athlete will get an individualised training plan co-developed with their coaches. NextGen also provides structured coaching, monthly sessions with the national team and national coaches, as well as access to strength and conditioning and physiotherapy services.

They will get opportunities to compete locally and internationally, plus a transport allowance and extra support will be provided for those needing specialised transport.

The Xu Family Charity Foundation, a fund administered by the Community Foundation of Singapore, has pledged $300,000 over three years as the programme’s first community co-funder.

NextGen aims to support around 80 young para-athletes over the next four years, and the programme will also contribute to Singapore’s medal push when it hosts the APG in 2029.

Another athlete on the programme is Elliot Goh, who has spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disorder that causes certain muscles to become weak and waste away.

The 15-year-old swimmer said: “I feel this programme provides me with the necessary training, such as strength and conditioning, to better myself.

“Without this, the resources that can be provided to enrich my training are quite limited.

“It’s important to take tiny steps first, and I hope to represent Singapore one day. My next goal will be to compete at the APG here.”

NextGen is aligned with Singapore’s Disability Sports Masterplan 2030, which aims to lift sports participation among people with disabilities to 70 per cent by 2030, from 46 per cent in 2023, noted the SDSC.

The programme also aims to facilitate Direct School Admission pathways for young para-athletes, putting them on more equal footing with able-bodied peers pursuing sport-academic routes.

SDSC president Teo-Koh Sock Miang said: “For us, it’s important because para-athletes in Singapore really are a very small community.

“We want to identify, nurture, and then we want to develop these young athletes so that they will be the next generation of para-athletes that will represent Singapore on the world stage at any competition, and therefore bring pride to Singapore.

“What SDSC did was – we recognise that the entry level into the support system is very hard. You have the SpexScholarship and SpexPotential, but we recognise there’s this gap for younger athletes coming in and with no support, and the NextGen is to address this gap for them to work towards the scholarships.”