SMU launches bond-free scholarship named after swimmer Yip Pin Xiu, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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SMU launches bond-free scholarship named after swimmer Yip Pin Xiu

This article is more than 12 months old

The Singapore Management University (SMU) yesterday launched a scholarship named after Paralympian Yip Pin Xiu.

The bond-free scholarship will be offered to SMU undergraduates who enrol next August, in particular athletes who have excelled at the international level or those who have potential to win a medal at major events such as the SEA Games or Asian Games.

It will be SMU's first full sports scholarship, and up to two scholarships will be offered a year.

Yip, 24, won two gold medals at the recent Rio Paralympics in the S2 swimming competition, both in world record times. She was born with muscular dystrophy, a condition in which a person's muscles degenerate with age.

The final-year social sciences undergraduate at SMU will be starting her final semester after taking leave of absence last December.

She said: "I am honoured... SMU has given me the opportunity to train and compete at the highest level while studying at the same time. I hope this scholarship will give others the chance and motivation to pursue sporting excellence."

Addressing 300 student leaders from junior colleges, polytechnics and SMU at the SMU's Leadership Symposium, she said she had to balance her studies and time in the pool.

"I grew up having to train and study at the same time... It came to this point when I realised that you have to multi-task to manage your time well.

"I really didn't see myself as a leader, I saw myself as a swimmer and as an athlete. But I guess with greater achievements come greater responsibility."

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