SINGAPORE — Their perseverance has finally been rewarded as the Tchoukball Association of Singapore (TBAS) application as a National Sports Association (NSA) has been successfully accepted by Sports Singapore, as shared by TBAS’ president Delane Lim on Mar 28.
“Yes, no more confusion. Tchoukball Association of Singapore is a National Sports Association. Today, we can confidently tell you that Tchoukball Association of Singapore is recognised as an NSA. Thanks Sport Singapore for the acknowledgement,” said a joyful Lim announcing the news on his social media.
This positive development came a week after the Tchoukball community received a $78,300 funding boost from various well-wishers and donors including former national athletes, bowler Lenny Lim and badminton Olympian Ronald Susilo. Both Lenny and Susilo had previously set-up a crowdfunding campaign through Ray of Hope to raise awareness of tchoukball. Other Team Singapore athletes like badminton player Loh Kean Yew and Olympic champion Joseph Schooling have pledged their support to the ongoing campaign.
Their push for NSA status was made known at the association’s inaugural celebratory dinner at Siglap South Community Centre on Mar 20, where Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law was the guest of honour.
While there is currently no funding provided just yet to TBAs by Sport Singapore, Lim added that he is still grateful for this clarity on his association’s new status.
“As announced in my speech (during the inaugural celebratory dinner), our next step is to move TBAS from a registered society to registered charity so that we can leverage on the possible resources such as tapping on One Team Singapore Fund where our donors can match their contribution, dollar for dollar,” explained Lim on his Facebook posting.
During the dinner on Mar 20, Minister Tong said that although TBAS does not have much resources to work with in the past years, he acknowledged the dedication and passion of their athletes and volunteers, and assured them that moving forward there will be more support provided to them.
“Despite limited resources, TBAS has shown strong perseverance, consistently exceeding expectations with the support of its dedicated community. I am very glad to see strong community support for them, from all sectors. At the government level, we have also been supporting Tchoukball Singapore, and we will continue to do so.
The Singapore Sports Institute will provide gym facilities and sports science to our tchoukball athletes, and SportSG will offer its support when we host the World Youth Tchoukball Championships and the Southeast Asia Tchoukball Championships this July. This year will be a significant year for tchoukball, with Singapore hosting both championships. Wishing our Tchoukball athletes all the best in their upcoming competitions!” posted Minister Tong on his Facebook page after the celebratory dinner with TBAS at Siglap South Community Centre.
It will be a busy year ahead for TBAS as they are expected to host the World Youth Tchoukball Championships and the South East Asia Tchoukball Championships from 13 to 16 July 2023 and 17 to 18 July 2023 respectively, while the national team will be heading to Prague in August for the Tchoukball World.