Sports foreign talent scheme: Four have given up citizenship

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/sports-foreign-talent-scheme-four-have-given-citizenship

EGMAR GONE-CALVES

Four out of 64 athletes recruited from overseas to represent the Republic in sports have renounced their Singapore citizenship since the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme began in 1996, said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong yesterday.

The four are two footballers “who felt there were more playing opportunities in their place of birth”, a marathoner who “decided to settle back in her native country after retirement” and a basketballer who “felt she could not adapt to the Singapore lifestyle”, said Mr Wong, who was responding to a parliamentary question from Nominated Member of Parliament Eugene K B Tan.

The departures of footballers Mr Egmar Goncalves, from Brazil, and Mr Mirko Grabovac, from Croatia, after their international careers ended were widely reported in 2007 and 2008. Mr Goncalves had failed to agree on terms with his S-League club, and Mr Grabovac found it hard to earn enough to live here comfortably with his wife and children.

Sources told TODAY that the other two former national athletes are Ms Yvonne Danson from Britain, who clinched SEA Games medals and represented Singapore in the Olympics, and Ms Li Lin, who was among six full-time China-born players brought in by the Basketball Association of Singapore in 2000.

Mr Wong said he understood concern among some Singaporeans about the scheme but pointed to success stories like that of footballer Aleksandar Duric. Born in Bosnia and an Australian citizen before arriving in Singapore, Mr Duric retired from international football in December but still plays in the S-League.

The Singapore Sports Council will continue to work with National Sports Associations to improve integration and assimilation programmes for these athletes, he said.