Fifty-seven Singaporean youth sailors will get the chance to secure a place at the SEA Games, when the Fish & Co. Youth Sailing Championships takes place from Mar 18 to 21.
The competition serves as a qualifier for the SEA Games and the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships, which will be held in December in Malaysia.Into its fourth year, the Fish & Co. Youth Sailing Championships will feature over 400 sailors from 11 countries. Singapore's young sailors will use the competition to vie for a place in the 32-man team that will take part in the SEA Games.
Much is expected of the sailors, who topped the competition with 12 medals at the last SEA Games in 2013. They also bagged seven medals at last year's Asian Games.
But the Singapore Sailing Federation is not setting a medal target for this year's Games.
Mr Tan Wearn Haw, CEO of the Singapore Sailing Federation, explained: "For us, it is really about creating a legacy, beyond medals. What can we do as a sport, as a federation, as a community to inspire the next generation through sport. For us, that is way more important than medals.”
One way the federation aims to do that is through the "Sailability" programme, which allows disabled people to pick up the sport. Jointly run by the Singapore Disability Sports Council and the Singapore Sailing Federation, the seven-week course started in 2001, but this year, the focus is on youths.
Currently, there are 12 disabled youths in the programme. The current course ends on Mar 21. Fish & Co. is also coming on board as sponsors for the first time.
Mr Hoo Hoe Keat, managing director of Fish & Co. Restaurants, said: "We decided to spread the sailing message to more youths. One group of youths that we felt has been left out is the disabled. And that is the reason why we decided that in conjunction with SG50, to partner with the Singapore Sailing Federation and Singapore Disability Sports Council to spearhead this 'Sailability' programme.