Aim is to be a world-class nation for aquatics: Lee

SINGAPORE — To develop Singapore into one of the top Asian nations in swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming — and to make their presence felt at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

That is the bold aim set out by Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) chief Lee Kok Choy following the national sports association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday, where he was re-elected unopposed as SSA president for another two-year term.

Unlike the previous election two years ago, which was fiercely contested between Lee’s team and the team led by Singapore Bowling president Jessie Phua, there was minimal drama this time round, with most of the same executive committee members being re-elected again.

Two new faces in Lee’s exco are Tan Yew Khuan (treasurer) and Bervyn Lee (assistant secretary-general of swimming). They replaced Sylvia Peh and Ang Peng Wee, who stepped down from their roles after serving the maximum eight years in office.

However, both Samuel Wong and Jerome Lau failed to retain their positions as waterpolo vice-president and assistant secretary-general, respectively — the only two positions that were contested — with former national players Samson Tan and Wilson Ang coming out on top.

Samson garnered 18 out of the 30 votes cast to become the new vice-president for waterpolo, while Ang secured a walkover victory following Lau’s withdrawal from the assistant secretary-general contest.

While admitting that the results for the waterpolo elections were not ideal, Lee remained bullish in the new team’s ability to raise the level of the sport in Singapore to a world-class level.

“Our intention is to continue our long-term journey to become a world-class aquatics nation in terms of excellence in competition, development of capabilities, and vibrancy of mass participation,” said the 64-year-old.

“For all our aquatic disciplines, we aim to be top four in Asia as well as make a strong push towards the 2020 Olympic Games and beyond.

“We are, however, disappointed that Samuel and Jerome won’t be able to continue their hard work for water polo, and we’re going to have to take a couple of steps back before moving forward as a team.

“Nonetheless, the foundation of the SSA is the strongest it has ever been with world-class coaches, development experts and the management team, and our diverse but complementary skill-sets will significantly set the direction of aquatic sports in Singapore.”

The SSA has enjoyed a fruitful two years under Lee’s team. Their athletes dominated the pool at last year’s South-east Asian Games, winning a total of 54 medals across all disciplines, including 26 golds.

A key task facing Lee and his team will be to find a new swimming head coach to replace the outgoing Sergio Lopez, who will leave his post at the end of the Olympics.

Current national assistant coach Gary Tan has been touted to take over the role, but Lee remained coy on this when asked.

“We are still evaluating the position of national coach and we will update everyone in due course as we reach a conclusion,” he said. “There are many factors that we have to consider and it’s not the time or place for me at the moment to disclose further information.

“However, while the position of head coach is important, I believe our holistic system, with support from sports science and roster of high-level quality competitions, has put our swimmers in a very good place after Rio 2016.

“We are continuing to work closely with the athletes to continue their quality training regimes and preparations for the various competitions post Rio.”