STTA to nurture young talent

FRESH from receiving over $1 million of donations at the Singapore Table Tennis Association's (STTA) inaugural fund-raising dinner on Monday, its president Lee Bee Wah said that more would be done to raise the sport's profile.

The money was raised with the objectives of nurturing young talents and supporting retired national athletes through a scholarship fund.

After surpassing the initial target of $500,000, Ms Lee told The Straits Times yesterday that she hoped to expedite her plans to develop local youth talent.

This means that pupils of PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergartens will soon be able to enjoy the sport for free.

Each kindergarten will have a table tennis table with an adjustable height, and each child will have his own bat.

Already, two coaches have been employed to conduct the hourly once-a-week sessions at six Nee Soon South kindergartens, where the pilot programme is being conducted.

Talented children will be encouraged to further hone their skills at any of the STTA's four regional centres at Toa Payoh, Bishan, Clementi and Tampines.

There are plans to have another regional centre in the north.

'This is a pleasant dilemma to have,' said Ms Lee, who received another $15,000 in donations after the dinner.

'With more money we can have more programmes. The PCF programme is just one of many.'

Her endeavours have not gone unnoticed.

On Monday night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: 'After the Games, unfortunately, there were some problems in the STTA which surfaced and came out publicly and acrimoniously.

'It was unfortunate, but I'm glad that the STTA has now resolved the issue and the organisation is now united under the leadership of Engineer Lee Bee Wah.

'She gave a fighting speech just now, ready to do battle. So I think it is now time to move forward and put these problems completely behind us.'

Ms Lee had earlier delivered a rousing speech, urging everyone to look towards the future and to reach greater heights.

LIN XINYI