SINGAPORE: Former Singapore national athletes Ronald Susilo (badminton) and Lenny Lim (bowling) launched the ‘Tchoukball 100 Days Fundraising Challenge’ on Feb 9 to raise SGD $150,000 for the Tchoukball Association of Singapore (TBAS) after the duo became aware of the association’s financial situation. It is mainly self-funded as it is not a national sports association and does not receive funding from Sport Singapore.
Earlier in the year, the relatively unknown sport in Singapore became an overnight sensation when the Singapore women’s tchoukball team became world number one for the first time, climbing over Chinese Taipei in the International Tchoukball Federation’s world ranking. The move to the top spot was possible after their win against Chinese Taipei in the 9th Asia Pacific Tchoukball Championships in August last year.
Since the achievements, several local media outlets have been interviewing the Singapore tchoukball team. That is when it was discovered that the association is not only managed by a group of passionate volunteers but is also self-funded as it does not receive any additional funds from the authority, unlike the other national sports associations.
That is when the two former national athletes decided to step forward and do their part for the tchoukball community. Susilo represented Singapore at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester where he won the silver medal in the mixed team event. He also played in two Olympics for Singapore, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. Lenny, a former bowler, has represented Singapore at both local and international competitions.
“This morning, I received a call from an ex-national bowler and I managed to meet him along with another ex-national athlete from badminton this evening. To my surprise, they told me that they are initiating a crowdfunding campaign and rallying other fellow athletes and the public to support Tchoukball Singapore,” posted Delane Lim, TBAS president on his social media page.
Delane added that Susilo and Lenny have been following updates and achievements of the national tchoukball teams, in particular, the women’s team; “As former national athletes, they expressed that they know how tough it is to perform at the highest level, what more when funding is limited and one has to bear some of the expenses themselves.”
In 2017, the Workers’ Party Pritam Singh had asked then Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu how the ministry exercisesoversight on the use of monies by official sporting bodies; what criteria the Ministry uses to determine fair use of such monies; and how the Ministry prevents and rectifies misallocation of such funds by official sporting bodies.
In response, Minister Fu said that among the many sports organisations in Singapore, Sport Singapore currently recognises 63 established sports bodies as National Sports Associations (NSAs). To be recognised as an NSA of a particular sport, the organisation has to demonstrate that it enjoys the support and mandate of the sport’s local fraternity, and is in good financial health with varied sources of revenue, among other criteria.
“SportSG currently provides funding to 45 out of the 63 NSAs. To qualify for SportSG funding, an NSA has to be registered as a society and a charity, as well as meet SportSG’s requirements. Accordingly, it has to maintain high standards of governance and comply with the Societies Act, the Charities Act and its regulations, the Code of Governance for Charities and Institutions of a Public Character, as well as SportSG’s financial regulations and other guidelines. In addition, NSAs have to develop multi-year plans with key deliverables aligned with SportSG’s objectives,” added Minister Fu.