Singapore Olympic Foundation-Peter Lim Scholarship marks 15 years withover $12.61 million awarded to young athletes

Singapore, 1 August 2025 – The Singapore Olympic Foundation (SOF)-Peter Lim Scholarship marked its 15-year milestone today, with more than $12.61 million awarded to young athletes over the years. Among them were 24 Olympians, including Singapore’s first Olympic gold medallist, swimmer Joseph Schooling, and Asian Games champion, sprinter Shanti Pereira.

The Scholarship started in 2010 when entrepreneur and philanthropist Mr Peter Lim donated $10 million to the SOF, with the first batch of awards given in 2011. He wanted to ensure that no promising young athlete would have their sporting dreams curtailed by finances. The gift is the single largest donation towards sports development in Singapore. In 2019, he pledged an additional $10 million to continue the Scholarship till 2030.

At the 15th edition of the annual awards ceremony held today at Temasek Convention Centre, 346 student-athletes received a total of $1.05 million in cash scholarships. Former Olympic and world swimming champion Chad le Clos presented some of the awards, delighting the star-struck young athletes.

Also present were Mr Teo Chee Hean, Patron of the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC); Ms Grace Fu, President of SNOC and Minister for Sustainability and the Environment; Mr Ng Ser Miang, Chairman of SOF; and Mr Kiat Lim, the son of Mr Peter Lim.

This year, 346 student-athletes from 106 schools across 39 sports qualified for the awards. The 2025 cohort also includes 99 aspiring athletes in the high-performance Under-18 category — among them, Kyra Seow Kai Hui, the first Modern Pentathlon athlete to receive the award, and Caitlyn Anne Tan, who competed in artistic swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

Quotes

Mr Teo Chee Hean said: “I would like to thank Mr Peter Lim and the Singapore Olympic Foundation’s partners and stakeholders for their strong and unwavering support to our young athletes. In particular, Mr Lim’s generosity has helped to develop our sporting talents, and has played a significant part in the many successes that have made Singapore proud. I encourage others in the community to step forward to support our athletes and sports development in Singapore.”

Mr Kiat Lim said: “The Singapore Olympic Foundation-Peter Lim Scholarship represents a continuation of my family values, that is, using our privilege to uplift others. As someone who has been involved in this journey from early on, the Scholarship has shaped how I see giving, not as a one-time act, but as a sustained commitment to recognising diverse forms of potential, especially in youths who may flourish better outside conventional paths. Carrying this forward is something I intend to do and is close to my heart.”

Mr Troy Tian Storm (Golf), 16, a recipient in the Under-18 High Performance category said: “I’m incredibly grateful to receive the SOF–Peter Lim Scholarship for the second time. Competing internationally and improving my world amateur ranking has been both challenging and rewarding — last year, I went from 3,391 to 234 in the world. Balancing schoolwork and golf requires a lot of discipline, but this scholarship has helped ease the pressure and allowed me to stay focused on my goals. It’s more than just financial support — it’s a vote of confidence in my dream to pursue Division 1 golf in the U.S. and one day become a professional golfer. I hope I can show other young athletes that with hard work, integrity, and the right support, it’s possible to dream big and succeed.”

–End–

Enclosures:

• Annex A – About the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship
• Annex B – List of high performance under-18 category recipients
• Annex C – Speech by Mr Teo Chee Hean
• Annex D – Speech by Mr Ng Ser Miang

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About the Singapore Olympic Foundation–Peter Lim Scholarship

The Singapore Olympic Foundation-Peter Lim Scholarship was established on 29 June 2010. The Scholarship aims to help promising young athletes to achieve their goals in sports excellence and support outstanding young athletes from financially challenged backgrounds. Previous beneficiaries of the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship include Joseph Schooling (swimming), Shayna Ng (bowling), Martina Lindsay Veloso (shooting), Veronica Shanti Pereira (athletics) and Adam Swandi (football).

Olympians and international sport stars who have attended the ceremonies as special guests: Peter Kenyon, former chief executive of Manchester United Football Club and Chelsea Football Club (2011), Mr Mark Foster, former swimming Olympian and world champion (2012), Ms Danka Barteková, Olympian shooting bronze medallist (2013), Ms Logan Tom, Olympic volleyball medallist and Valencia Football Club footballers (2016), Mr Abhinav Bindra (2017), Mr Koji Murofushi and Mr Joseph Schooling (2018), Mrs Libby Trickett (2019), Mr Loh Kean Yew (2023) and Mr Anthony Ervin (2024).