Loh Kean Yew agrees with Joseph Schooling ‘that National Service and sports can co-exist’

Badminton champion Loh Kean Yew weighed in on Singapore’s top athletes and the National Service requirement, in response to swimmer Joseph Schooling’s call for a national dialogue on the issue. 

In a May 21 Instagram post where he posted a photo of himself standing side by side with the swimmer, Loh, 24, wrote, “I agree with what Joseph said and I think that National Service and sports can co-exist. Ultimately, we are all defending the same flag and want to do Singapore proud. 🇸🇬”

At the SEA Games in Hanoi on May 18, Schooling, 26, underlined the need to manage the expectations of Singapore’s athletes who are undergoing NS.

He enlisted last January.

The swimmer, who had won two golds and a bronze at this year’s games, told the media,

“National service is something that everyone needs to do. None of us are shying away from that. But we also need to manage expectations, the reality of it.

At the end of the day, I’m gonna step up there and do my best no matter if I’m in the shape I am or not. 

But as the people watching on TV, they have a lot of expectations. We as athletes we want to match those expectations. So it’s all about how we can both grow together and how sporting achievements can coincide. 

And I think we’re on the right track – we just need to sit down, ask some tough questions. It’s going to be rough, but I think we’re going to come out on the right side at the end of the day.”

Schooling commented on Loh’s post with the following:

Loh’s IG post has since gone viral, with over 36,000 likes.

On his part, Loh, who took the silver in the men’s singles in Hanoi, did his NS stint from 2016 to 2018 and is ranked corporal first class (CFC). 

Even during his service, the athlete kept up his training and not only competed for the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association (SAFSA) but for Singapore itself at the 2017 SEA Games and the Commonwealth Games the following year.

In 2018, SAFSA gave Loh the best sportsman award.

In response to Schooling’s call for a national dialogue, Dr Su Chun Wei, who heads Singapore Sports Institute, was quoted in a May 22 CNA report as saying, “The Singapore high performance system takes into account our Team Singapore athletes’ life stage – of course NS is one of them.

Our support philosophy is that we take NS into account and very much want to be able to support that integrated in (a) training plan, support plan.

So we want to be able to give them the best opportunity to excel under all circumstances.”

Furthermore, a spokesman for the Ministry for Culture, Community, and Youth (MCCY) told The Straits Times that the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) makes provisions “to support the training and preparation of our national athletes, taking into account the specific circumstances of the athlete, his sport, and subject to the Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) operational needs”. /TISG

SEA Games: Glory to Shanti Pereira and yes to Joseph Schooling’s national dialogue on sports and NS