The benchmark is Olympic medal standards, not Olympic qualifying.

Below is an article taken from today. All i can comment is these pple arte lucky.. in fact blessed to do their BMT at 2013 when they are almost 30.. doing the SOC & IPPT.. Thank Heavens for sacrificial pple like these. But then again. They might be downgraded to Pes C or Pes E due to certain sporting injuries (When they can participate in a sport but not in Total Defence.) so it might work out still.. Then again, who knows.

All the Best, Sailors..



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EVEN NS CAN WAIT FOR OLYMPIC GOLD
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Tan Yo-Hinn
yohinn@mediacorp.com.sg

National Service can wait, studies will be put on hold and careers on the
backburner. Instead, 22 athletes will train full-time with just one
objective in mind: An Olympic medal.

The plan - called Project 0812 to indicate Singapore's ambitions for the
Games in 2008 and 2012 - was revealed to an amazed gathering yesterday.
Never before has Singapore pursued Olympic dreams with such single-minded
fervour.

Three of the athletes identified as part of the project - sailors Teo Wee
Chin, Terence Koh and Maximilian Soh - are due to start National Service.
This could be deferred as Singapore's sporting gurus want them to spend
the next 18 months - leading up to the Beijing Olympics - on non-stop
training and nearly 20 overseas stints.

"The relevant ministries are working together to sort the deferment issue
out, and it should be positive," said Mr Ng Ser Miang, Project 0812 head
and vice-president of the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC).
Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, the SNOC chief, was also present at the
press conference to flag off this historic initiative.

Money will not be an issue. The Singapore Totalisator Board and the
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) are pumping $7
million into the dream. The idea is to ensure that the athletes who have
the potential to win a medal at Beijing 2008 or London 2012 should get the
finest support possible. Neither time nor resources should stand in the
way.

The athletes are willing to make their share of sacrifices too. Eleven of
them will put their studies on hold until the Beijing Olympics end.

Ten of them are sailors - including Roy Tay who is at Deakins University,
Koh Seng Leong from Singapore Management University, Benjamin Tan who was
planning to enter the Nanyang Technological University and their
colleagues, Chung Pei Ming, Toh Liying, Loh Man Yi, Xu Yuanzhen, Deborah
Ong, Colin Cheng and Victoria Chan.

Shooter Vanessa Yong is in the same boat.

"All the athletes will train full-time from now until the 2008 Olympic
Games," said Mr Ng.

At 40, shooter Lee Wung Yew is the oldest of the 22 athletes selected for
the project. And the two-time Sportsman of the Year (1989, 1997) is set to
spend all of March training under renowned Italian coach Marcello Dradi in
Bologna.

Today understands that an arrangement is being worked out by the MCYS and
Ministry of Education to enable Lee, a physical education teacher at
Innova Junior College, to go on paid-leave totalling nearly $60,000 over
the next 18 months leading up to the Beijing Olympics next year.

Said Lee: "If all goes to plan, it will allow me to feel at ease and not
worry about anything else and just focus fully on my shooting."

The other seven athletes identified for the project are already full-time
sportspersons.

Defence Minister Teo said that the idea was to build on the success that
Singapore had achieved at the Asian and Commonwealth Games and take sports
to the next level. "That's what this project is about," he said.

Sailor Teo, 19, who is hoping to get his NS stint deferred told Today:
"I'm delighted and honoured as not everyone has this opportunity to be
part of Project 0812."

Among those missing out is swimmer Tao Li, the Asian Games gold medallist.
"The benchmark is Olympic medal standards, not Olympic qualifying
standards," said Mr Teo.