Singapore's Most Bemedaled Olympian Joins SportSG

Singapore’s Most Bemedaled Olympian Joins SportSG

• Feng Tianwei will work on the development of sport pathways for children and youth
• She will pursue a 2-year Master’s degree in sports industry management overseas concurrently

TeamSG athletes welcome Feng Tianwei to SportSG. (Photo Credit: SportSG)

(From top left in clockwise direction) Fariza Begum (Floorball athlete), Lim Teck Yin (SportSG CEO), Feng Tianwei (Table Tennis athlete), Shakir Juanda (Former Silat athlete), Vanessa Neo (Former badminton athlete), Su Chun Wei (Chief of Singapore Sport Institute, SportSG), Aleksandar Duric (Former football athlete), Lim Tong Hai (Former football athlete), Razali Saad (Former football athlete)

Sport Singapore (SportSG) today welcomed Singapore’s most bemedaled Olympian and top paddler, Feng Tianwei, to the organisation. She will be joining the Sport Development Group (SDG), working on the development of sport pathways for children and youths, particularly in table tennis.

For the next two years, Feng will work part-time, committing approximately 8 to 10 hours a week, as she will be pursuing a master’s degree in sport industry management concurrently, at the Physical Education Teaching and Research Department of Peking University. Her studies will also equip her for a wider scope of career opportunities in SportSG in the years ahead.

Mr Lim Teck Yin, CEO of SportSG, said, “SportSG is always on the lookout for talent with strong sport-DNA to join us. Our Team Singapore current and retiring athletes are obviously part of that talent pool that we can tap on and we are pleased to welcome Tianwei to SportSG, to inspire and design the future of sport. Tianwei’s interest to deepen her knowledge on Asia’s burgeoning sport industry augurs well with SportSG’s interests in catalysing and growing industry capability here as Singapore continues to position itself as a premier regional sport hub.”

Feng, who will be leaving for Beijing by end-September 2022, said, “Like other high-performance athletes, I have come to a point to transit beyond my playing days. I am very pleased with what I have done for Singapore so far and, it is now time for me to give back to Singapore in a different way. I love sport and I do want to understand and learn more about the sport ecosystem beyond being an athlete. I believe that pursuing further studies, on top of my experience as an athlete, will give me a better understanding of the region’s sport industry, and there will be more I can offer and contribute to the local sporting fraternity thereafter. During my time there, I will be working closely with my SportSG colleagues to advance Singapore’s youth sport development landscape, to allow more young Singaporeans to experience the sport and hone their skills. I will continue to train, albeit at a lower intensity to maintain my fitness, so that if I am given the opportunity, I will continue to represent Singapore.”

Under the Sport Excellence (or spex) framework, there are different schemes to support athletes at different phases of their lives, which include preparing them for their post-sporting career. Multiple pathways are available for athletes who are looking to transit to full-time work or retiring from active competition. Some former athletes who have pursued sport-related pathways in their post-competition career include former national paddler Wang Yuegu who started her own table tennis academy; former national swimmer Gary Tan who became the national swimming head coach; former gymnast Lim Heem Wei who is now a Coach at Singapore Gymnastics; and Paralympian Theresa Goh who is currently a Pathway and Performance Executive at Singapore Disability Sports Council.

Several former national athletes have joined SportSG, for example ex-footballers Lim Tong Hai, Aleksandar Duric and Razali Saad, ex-pencak silat athlete and two-times world champion Muhammad Shakir Juanda and ex-shuttler Vanessa Neo. There are also current athletes within the organisation, such as pentathlete Shermaine Tung and floorball athlete Fariza Begum.

Other initiatives under the spex framework include spexEducation, which enables student-athletes to balance demands of sports and education by providing support to them in areas such as educational counselling, school admissions and alternative academic arrangements; spexBusiness, which assists active or retiring athletes connect with spexBusiness network partners companies to offer employment, internships, apprenticeships, and extend flexible working arrangements to accommodate sporting commitments; and Athlete Life, which looks at integrating sports performance with the social, personal and professional development of the athlete.