The Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) and Haw Par Corporation are proud to present the Singapore Disability Sports Awards (SDSA) 2020. The awards aim to recognise achievements and contributions made by individuals or groups to the development of disability sports.
We are pleased to announce that we have received 49 nominations across the 9 award categories. Congratulations to all nominees.
Please download the full list of nominees for SDSA 2020 from here.
Please find the award categories below:
We are planning for the event to be held on 7 August 2020. More information about the event will be announced at a later date. If you have any queries, please contact Mr Lim Wei Hao at corpcomm@sdsc.org.sg.
The Singapore Disability Sports Awards (SDSA) was brought back in 2019, after the last Sports Awards had been held more than a decade ago in 2008. The only other time that the achievements of the para sports community were recognised was in 2014, when SDSC had given out a set of Outstanding and Meritorious Achievement awards as part of its 40th anniversary.
With the commitment made in 2019 to continue holding the SDSA every year, SDSC remains committed to celebrating the achievements of the wider para sports community. This will allow us to recognise the efforts of the support system of coaches, volunteers and partners, and provide an opportunity to celebrate moments from the past year. In doing so, we hope the stories will inspire greater awareness for para sports and inspire other persons with disabilities (PWDs) to be open to the idea of participating in sports.
View the full list of winners from SDSA 2019 below:
| Sportsman of the Year | Muhammad Diroy Bin Noordin | Making his international debut at the 2016 China Open Athletics Championships, Diroy surprised himself by earning his first international medal – a gold nonetheless. Since then, he went on to represent Singapore at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games where he finished a respectable 9 th place in shot put. In 2018, Diroy excelled at the Nottwil World Para Athletics Grand Prix, achieving a silver and a bronze at the Men's Javelin Multiclass and Men’s Shot Put Multiclass events respectively. He placed 4th in the F40 Men's Shot Put and 7th in the F40/F41 Men's Javelin events at the 2018 Asian Para Games. Most recently, Diroy won a Silver in Men's Shot Put F40/41, at the Tunis World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2019. |
| Sportswoman of the Year | Yip Pin Xiu | The 2018 Asian Para Games was a memorable outing for Yip Pin Xiu, when she swam up her class (S2) in the S1-4 combined class event and beat higher class swimmers to bag a gold in the women’s 50m backstroke event, and then bronzes in the women’s 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle events. These were the first Asian medals for Pin Xiu, despite her history in the sport, as she previously either had no events offered at the Asian Para Games or had a hard time swimming up against higher class swimmers who had more muscle functions. Her efforts did not go unnoticed at various World Para Swimming Series outings in 2018 and she was presented with the World Para Series Best Female Athlete S/SB 1-3 Award for High Support Needs Athlete. 2018 also was a significant year for the 27-year-old who became the youngest Nominated Member of Parliament to give a voice to sports and youth. Her Parliamentary speech on inclusion and integration sparked a number of national sports organisations in rethinking their approaches. Pin Xiu was most recently a recipient of the Goh Chok Tong Enable Award (UBS Achievement) for her various sports and community achievements. |
| Team of the Year | Boccia BC3 Pairs Athletes: 1) Lim Yu Fei, Faye 2) Nurulasyiqah Binte Mohammad Taha 3) Toh Sze Ning Athlete Competition Partners: 1) Chew Zi Qun 2) Lim Boon Ghee 3) Nur Azizah Binti Ahmad Rumzi | The Boccia team had a tough year in 2018, when they placed 11 th and 7 th respectively in the BISFed 2018 World Boccia Championships and BISFed 2018 Montreal Boccia World Open. However, they pulled through to eventually take the silver at the Asian Para Games in October, surpassing their own expectations. In December, they placed fourth at the BISFED Dubai Boccia World Open, and in March 2019, they took silver at the BISFED Guangzhou Boccia Regional Open. |
| Sportsboy of the Year | Toh Wei Soong | While transverse myelitis might have affected his lower nervous system, it did not stop Wei Soong from swimming competitively and achieving milestones in his swimming career. From clinching his first medal in an international event during the 2013 Asian Youth Para Games, Wei Soong has continued to perform superbly. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he attained a bronze during the S7 50m freestyle event, earning the Republic’s second Commonwealth swimming medal after Joseph Schooling. (The Commonwealth Games is the only major game that offers events for athletes with and without disabilities.) He also emerged triumphant at the 2018 Asian Para Games, attaining gold at the S7 50m and 100m freestyle events. His achievements in the sporting arena have also earned him recognition. In 2019, Wei Soong was nominated for The Straits’ Times Athlete of the Year Award, and a recipient of the inaugural Goh Chok Tong Enable Award (UBS Promise). He is an ambassador for Toyota’s Start Your Impossible campaign, and an advocate for the preservation of Farrer Park. Wei Soong has given numerous talks to help students, educators as well as administrators of universities to understand the importance of inclusion. |
| Sportsgirl of the Year | Maisarah Binte Mohamed Hassan | Maisarah qualified for her first major game – the Asean Para Games - in 2017. She then went on to represent Singapore at the Asian Youth Para Games 2017 where she placed 4 th for both Women’s T36 100m and 200m events. Maisarah continued to persevere and her efforts paid off in 2018, when she earned her first international medals – two silvers – at the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) World Games, which is held every four years gathering the best athletes with cerebral palsy. |
| Community Impact Award (Events & Initiatives) | Amputee Support Group | The Amputee Support Group (ASG) is a group set up by a group of passionate physiotherapists and amputee patients to promote peer support. The group first participated in sports after an ASG member, Lieu Teck Hua, an avid climber, shared his love for climbing with the group. ASG members participated enthusiastically, with more than 10 members taking part in the first climbing event. The youngest was 24 years old while the oldest participant was 80! ASG was heartened by their courage and saw first-hand the importance of sports in boosting their members’ physical and emotional well-being. ASG members now not only regularly participate in climbing, but also aspires to add a new sport every year. Notable achievements from ASG’s efforts include the transformation of members from patients to individuals who believe in their abilities. Muhammad Aidil Bin Khalip, 31 years old, is an above-knee amputee who was introduced to wheelchair badminton through ASG’s adaptive badminton event. In 2019, Aidil would be joining the badminton event in Pesta Sukan. Hairon Bin Yus, a 60-year-old above-knee amputee with brachial plexus injury, also participates actively in a diverse range of sports through ASG’s initiatives, including climbing, archery, yoga, table tennis, badminton and lawn bowls. |
| Community Impact Award (Volunteering) | Choh Ssu Yee Wendy | Wendy has volunteered for the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) for 15 years. As an educational psychologist and National Eligibility Officer for the International Federation for athletes with intellectual impairments, Wendy’s expertise has been especially helpful to SDSC. She provides advice on supporting athletes with intellectual impairments, and helps to conduct assessments and eligibility tests to classify them for local and international competitions. More significantly, Wendy developed an Intellectual Classification System that is concise and cost-effective. This classification system was used and continues to be used in competitions for easy classification, not only locally but internationally. Such competitions include the 2015 and 2017 ASEAN Para Games, 2018 Asian Games, and 2018 World Bowling Games. Wendy continues to volunteer her professional services to budding athletes with intellectual impairment in Singapore today. |
| Coach (Developmental) | Hansen Bay (Goalball) | Hansen was first involved in Goalball, a team sport for the visually impaired, when he got his able-bodied athletes to play the sport to expose them to team development. He subsequently became a Goalball coach for the national Goalball team in 2015. Having had experience with both able-bodied sports and disability sports communities, Hansen noticed that the latter often faced psychological challenges that were based on misconceived perceptions. He thus worked towards correcting these perceptions with various doctors and administrators, to help athletes with visual impairment overcome these challenges. Because of his passion for the sector, Hansen became trained as an International Paralympic Committee educator, where he shares his expertise and experiences with other coaches in Singapore and regionally. He continues to coach goalball teams, and plan various initiatives such as training exchanges and unified trainings to help the teams excel. He also led the goalball community to grow their passion and organize themselves to form the Goalball Association (Singapore) in 2018. Under his encouragement and guidance, attendance in goalball has been good and a women’s goalball team has been selected for the 2020 Asean Para Games. |
| Coach (High Performance) | Alex Ang Yock Seng (Swimming) | Protégé of Coach Ang Peng Siong, Coach Alex Ang has played an indispensable role in Toh Wei Soong’s swimming career, offering him constant guidance and support during training and at competitions. He led Wei Soong to triumphant victory at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, earning the Republic’s second swimming medal from the prestigious games, after Joseph Schooling. In the 2018 Asian Para Games, he continued to help Wei Soong clinch two golds in the 50m and 100m Freestyle S7 events. |
| Lifetime Achievement Award | Frankie Thanapal Sinniah, PBM, BBM | Throughout his life, Frankie made many significant contributions to disability sports, so much so that many people still fondly remember Frankie as the face of disability sports in Singapore. Frankie’s many contributions include many firsts. As an athlete himself, way back in 1975, Frankie won two gold medals and a bronze in the first FESPIC (Far East & South Pacific Games for Disabled) Games held in Oita, Japan. Together with Robert Tan, the two are honoured in the Singapore Guinness Book of Records as the first Singaporeans to win an international sporting event for the disabled. Frankie was also one of the first members of SDSC, eventually becoming SDSC’s president in 2004. He volunteered for SDSC in various capacities to help it grow its capabilities, such as sports development, sports excellence, community sports and fundraising. He was a well-respected pioneer who spearheaded many initiatives in Singapore and regionally, and pulled many others to believe in this cause for equality. Because of his efforts, neighbouring countries such as Philippines and Malaysia were able to receive free boats to train their community in para sailing. For his efforts, Frankie was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2001, and the Public Service Star in 2010. Frankie was also Singapore’s Chef de Mission to a number of major games, including Athens 2004 Paralympics where Theresa Goh debuted, the Beijing 2008 Paralympics where Pin Xiu and Laurentia medalled for Singapore, and the London 2012 Paralympics. Frankie continued to volunteer for SDSC throughout his life until the day he passed away in 2012, aged 61. He was then the Secretary General of the Singapore National Paralympic Council. The Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to Frankie Thanapal Sinniah posthumously. |
View our photo album from SDSA 2019 here.
