Debated in Parliament on 4 Feb 2026.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth since inception (a) how many applications for spexGLOW (Grant for Loss of Wages) have been (i) made and (ii) rejected respectively; (b) what are the reasons for these rejections; and (c) how many athletes under spexGLOW have gone on to medal at major games.
TeamSG athletes who aspire to train full-time and have performed well at major competitions or demonstrate the potential to do so are awarded Sport Singapore's (SportSG's) spexScholarship or nurtured under the spexPotential programme and given monthly stipends to support their living expenses.
There are also TeamSG athletes under SportSG's spexCarding programme pursuing non-sporting full-time careers and may wish to take no-pay leave before major competitions to train full-time. We support them through the spex Grant for Loss of Wages (spexGLOW) scheme.
SportSG works closely with athletes and their respective National Sports Associations on their training and competition plans. spexGLOW operates through this collaborative planning process to identify athletes who wish to take no-pay leave to train and compete before each competition campaign, assess their eligibility and needs and determine the support required. This approach ensures that all qualifying athletes who require support and apply receive spexGLOW assistance.
Since 2018, we have supported 216 applications for the spexGLOW programme. At the recent 2025 SEA Games, 39 athletes who received spexGLOW support won medals. Notable medallists include Calvin Quek, who won Singapore's first SEA Games gold in 60 years in the 400-metre hurdles, and Siti Khadijah, who won bronze to become Singapore's first woman's wushu sanda medallist. Members of the silver medal-winning netball team also benefitted from the spexGLOW support.
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