Best Prepared Team Singapore Contingent At The Beijing 2008 Olympic And Paralympic Games

Singapore, 10 July 2008 - Singapore will be fielding its best-prepared athletes at the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games with contingents of 25 and six athletes respectively. Both the Games will be held in Beijing, China.

At the joint flag presentation ceremony held at Plaza Singapure this evening, Guest-of-Honour, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Defence and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), presented the flags officially to the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games contingents. Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Ministry of Transport (MOT) was also at the event.

Former Olympian, Dr Tan Eng Liang, Vice-President of the Singapore National Olympic Council and Chairman of the Special Training and Assistance Committee, will lead the Beijing 2008 Olympic contingent as Chef-De-Mission. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held from 8 to 24 August 2008 with events taking place in Beijing, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao and Hong Kong.

Similarly, the Beijing 2008 Paralympic contingent will be lead by Chef-de-Mission Frankie Thanapal Sinniah, PBM. The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will be held from 6 to 17 September 2008.

Team Singapore Olympic Games Contingent

This year’s contingent is the largest since its representation at the Melbourne Games in 1956. Commenting on this, Dr Tan said, “Not only are we sending the largest Olympic contingent in 52 years, this is also the best-prepared team going into the Olympic games. We came so close to bringing home a medal in 2004, so expectations on Team Singapore this year will be high. Many of our athletes have improved tremendously in the last few years and I am confident Team Singapore will give their very best at the Games.”

Singapore’s top paddler, Li Jiawei, will be the official flag bearer at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on 8 August 2008.

Team Singapore will be competing in six sports at the Olympic Games - athletics, badminton, table tennis, sailing, shooting and swimming. 24 out of the contingent of 25 athletes qualified on their own merit with swimmer, Tao Li being the first Singaporean to meet the ‘A’ qualifying mark for the Olympic Games. The Singapore ladies table tennis team, Lee Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu, is the second seed in the competition.

Team Singapore Paralympic Games Contingent

At the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, Team Singapore will be competing in four sports - swimming, sailing, equestrian and athletics. All six of the athletes have qualified for the Paralympic Games based on their own merit with swimmer, Theresa Goh and Yip Pin Xiu heading to the Games with two world records under their belts.

Sailor, Desiree Lim will be the flag bearer for the Team Singapore contingent at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Chef-de-Mission for the contingent, Mr Frankie Thanapal Sinniah, PBM, former national athlete, former President of Singapore Disability Sports Council and present Chairman of Sailability Singapore says, “This year’s Paralympic Games holds great promise for the team. Our athletes have shown the world what they are capable of through their stellar performances in recent times and with record holders amongst our team this is a great opportunity for them to fulfill their potential and dreams in the sporting world’s most prestigious event. The athletes are fully prepared for the task ahead of them and will do their best with the motivation from the support of all Singaporeans.”

Singapore’s Support For Team Singapore

The first Olympic well-wishing campaign has gathered over 20,000 well wishes since its launch on 8 June 2008. Together with corporate partners such as McDonald’s Restaurants Pte Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Pte Ltd, Team Visa, Samsung Asia Pte Ltd, Mediacorp Radio Capital 95.8FM, and CapitaLand Retail Limited, the well-wishing campaign aims to rally Singaporeans behind the athletes as they get ready for the world’s biggest sporting stage.

At the flag presentation ceremony, both Minister Teo Chee Hean and Mr Teo Ser Luck also penned their well wishes to show their support for Team Singapore.

Singaporeans can get behind Team Singapore by sending their well-wishes and words of encouragement via sms to 77877. From now till 24 August 2008, five lucky supporters will stand to win limited edition Samsung SGH-F480 phones, MacDonald’s vouchers, Johnson & Johnson hampers, Team Singapore merchandise and special Beijing Olympics memorabilia each week.

Those who are interested in keeping abreast of Team Singapore’s performance at the Games can sign up for a free SMS alert service through the Team Singapore website from 23 July 2008.

The official send-off for Team Singapore contingent is on 2 August 2008. For more details on Team Singapore at the Beijing 2008 Olympic & Paralympic Games, please visit www.teamsingapore.sg.