Six young athletes
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SINGAPORE, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Scholarships were
awarded to six young athletes from different NOCs here on Friday as
part of the legacy of the first-ever Youth Olympic
Games.
The scholarships, presented by
Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew as part of
the country's commitment to the Olympic Movement, aim to encourage
the pursuit of excellence and the forging of friendships among
young generations. Six fully-funded scholarships to
the Singapore Sports School were given to athlete-students from
Botswana, Guyana, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Thailand.
Some 30 National Olympic Committees (NOC)
submitted a total of 54 applications for the scholarships between
early this year before the short-listed candidates were invited
to Singapore
for interviews in May and June,
and recipients were informed of their selection in July.
"Singapore is a small open and cosmopolitan city with no
natural resources. The key determinant of our future is our people
- in particular, our young people," said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan,
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, who funded
the scholarships with operational support from the
Singapore Sports School, the Singapore National Olympic Council, the
Olympic Solidarity and the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising
Committee.
"This is why we invest so heavily in
education, transmitting values that have stood the test of time,
enabling our young people to reach across cultural boundaries and
equipping them to seize opportunities in a rapidly changing world.
These scholarships represent our commitment to share these
opportunities with top talented students from the Olympic
Movement," he added.
"Singaporean youth will benefit from a more
diverse classroom environment and increased opportunities to learn
from their new international schoolmates, reinforcing the Olympic
values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect."
The inaugural Youth Olympic
Games, featuring young athletes aged between 14 and 18, will be
held in Singapore
from Aug. 14 to 26. The
quadrennial sports gala for the youth will receive some 5,000
athletes and officials from the 204 NOCs, along with estimated
1,900 media representatives, 20,000 local and international
volunteers and 320,000 spectators.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sports/2010-08/13/c_13444210.htm
Revealed... where the money goes....