SINGAPORE - A new Yip Pin Xiu scholarship was launched on Tuesday (Dec 6) by the Singapore Management University (SMU).

The bond-free scholarship will be offered to SMU undergraduates who enrol next August, in particular athletes who have excelled in the international level or those who have potential to win a medal at major Games like the SEA Games and Asian Games.

Up to two scholarships will be offered per year and it will be SMU's first full sports scholarship.

Yip, 24, won two gold medals at the recent Rio Paralympics in the S2 competition in swimming, both coming in world record times. She was born with muscular dystrophy, a condition whereby a person's muscles degenerate as one ages.

She is a final-year social sciences undergraduate at SMU and will be starting her final semester after taking a leave of absence last December. She said: "I am honoured... that SMU has given me the opportunity to train and compete at the highest level while still studying at the same time. I hope this scholarship will give others the chance and motivation to pursue sporting excellence."

Addressing 300 student leaders from junior colleges, polytechnics and SMU at the SMU's Leadership Symposium, Yip shared how she had to balance her studies and time in the pool.

She said: "I grew up having to train and study at the same time, having to train 12 times a week. It came to this point when I realise that you have to multi-task to manage your time well.

"I really didn't see myself as a leader, I saw myself as a swimmer and as an athlete. But I guess with greater achievements come greater responsibility."