User:Justanothersgwikieditor/FSTS

The Foreign Sports Talent Scheme is a scheme used by sports officials and organisations in Singapore to scout and facilitate the migration of non-Singaporeans deemed to possess sports talent to play in Singapore colours in sporting events. Introduced in 1993 by the Singapore Table Tennis Association, it also aimed to boost local sporting standards by importing sporting expertise.

In March 2008, it was announced in the Parliament of Singapore that 54 athletes had benefited from the programme and received Singapore citizenship, of which 37 were still in active training.

Debate
The achievement of Singapore's women's table tennis team in winning a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the country's first Olympic medal since 1960, reignited debate over the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. Some critics said that the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) has relied too much on it, as the team comprised three China-born players, Feng Tianwei, Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu. On 19 August 2008, a correspondent to The Straits Times wrote that he was not proud of the way Singapore had won its medal through a team of imported foreign-born players, one of whom was granted Singapore citizenship at the beginning of 2008. He continued:

"When I think of Wang Yuegu, Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei, I can think of only foreigners brought in by Singapore to win medals and are paid handsomely for it – Singapore's pragmatic way of problem solving. My challenge to the Singapore Table Tennis Association and other national sports associations: Do you have the plan and – more importantly, courage – to send an all-native Singaporean team, for the London Olympics in 2012?"

A day earlier, STTA president Lee Bee Wah had said: "It doesn't mean that we should look at them [foreign-born table tennis players] differently because they're not born and brought up in Singapore. The important thing is that they have embraced Singapore and want to be a part of it. And they wanted so badly to win a medal for our country. We should not be harping on where they are born. I hope mindsets change." In addition, during his Mandarin National Day Rally speech on 17 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said:

"In the Olympics contingent, there are 25 members, half of whom are new Singaporeans. Why do we need them? Make a single calculation. The Chinese have 1.3 billion people. Singapore has a population of four million ... If we want to win glory for Singapore and do well not only in sports but in many other areas, we cannot merely depend on the local-born. We need to attract talent from all over ... Look at the Beijing Olympics. Tao Li, the swimmer, she's done very well. The women's table-tennis team ... they have won an Olympic medal. We welcome foreigners so they can strengthen our team, and we can reduce our constraints. So let us welcome and let us encourage them."

Athletic
Singapore Athletic Association's (SAA) President, Loh Lin Kok, brought in shot put specialists Du Xianhui, Zhang Guirong and Dong Enxin from China under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in 1998. Dong became a Singapore citizen in May 2001 while Du and Zhang became Singapore citizen in October 2003.

Another shot putter, Luan Wei, and hammer thrower, E Xiaoxu, were brought to Singapore in 1999.

Du and Zhang went back to China after training and salary disagreements ; Luan and E Xiaoxu were involved in court cases with the SAA over unfair dismissal;  while Dong had disappointed in performance

Loh admitted in an interview that the scheme had failed miserably for the SAA but will not abandon the scheme.

Athletes
 * Zhang Guirong
 * Dong Enxin (returned to native country)
 * Du Xianhui (returned to native country)
 * Luan Wei
 * E Xiaoxu

Badminton

 * Fu Mingtian
 * Gu Juan
 * Hendra Wijaya
 * Hendri Supatra
 * Jiang Yanmei
 * Li Yujia
 * Liu Fan
 * Ronald Susilo
 * Xing Aiying
 * Yao Lei
 * Zhang Beiwen
 * Li Li (quit national team)
 * Xiao Luxi (returned to native country)

Basketball

 * Li Ling (in national netball team)
 * Zhao Jing
 * Zhou Lei
 * Li Lin (left Singapore)
 * Yao Xiuxiu (left Singapore)
 * Zhang Shu (left Singapore)

Chess

 * Wu Shaobin

Football
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) adopted the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in 2000 but was limited to scouting talent for the Singapore national football team to boost Singaporean football. Its goal is to attract foreign players in Singapore to change nationality and thus play for Singapore. The scheme is described as the second key pillar of the FAS football excellence plans.

Launched in the year 2000, its objective was to complement the FAS Youth Development programme by identifying the playing positions in the national team that were lacking, especially from its youth development output and to fill these gaps with FSTs. The first FSTs were inducted in Jan 2002.

In 2002, the national team welcomed Croatian-born Mirko Grabovac, Brazilian-born Egmar Goncalves and English defender Daniel Bennett to strengthen the national team. The Nigerian-born pair of Agu Casmir and Itimi Dickson received their Singapore citizenship in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The FAS, with the help of the clubs, has identified several other talented U-21 foreign players under this scheme. Their performances are being closely monitored in the S.League.

From 2007, the FAS accepted changes to the scheme which requires new foreign sports talents to play in the S.League for a minimum of two seasons after being granted Singapore citizenship.

When the FAS first launched the FST scheme in 2000, the intention was to offer citizenship to about 2 to 3 foreign players a year. However, due to the stringent selection process and early success to the youth development programme, to-date, only nine foreign-born players have been granted Singapore citizenship. All of them have played in the S.League to contribute to the local football scene and also played for the national team.


 * Agu Casmir
 * Daniel Bennett
 * Itimi Dickson
 * Mirko Grabovac
 * Mustafic Fahrudin
 * Precious Emuejeraye
 * Shi Jiayi
 * Egmar Goncalves (returned to native country)

Hockey

 * Chen Huiling
 * Ma Xiaomeng
 * Niu Lei
 * Qi Hui
 * Zhang Jun
 * Li Ying (not active, living in Singapore)

Water polo

 * Luo Nan

Table tennis

 * Cai Xiaoli
 * Feng Tianwei
 * Gao Ning
 * Li Jiawei
 * Sun Beibei
 * Wang Yuegu
 * Yang Zi
 * Yu Mengyu
 * Duan Yongjun (retired)
 * Jing Junhong (retired – moved to Singapore prior to introduction of FST, but citizenship was fast-tracked)
 * Xu Yan (returned to native country)
 * Zhang Taiyong (retired)
 * Zhang Xueling (returned to native country)