Mark Chay Elected As New President of Singapore Swimming Association

Photo credit: Veronica Phua. From left to right: Dominic Soh, Chan U-Nice, Ow Yong Weng Leong, Ng Cheng Xun, Wendy Lim, Mark Chay, Kenneth Goh, Steve Chew, Yeo Kai Eng and Leonard Yeo.

JUNE 29, SINGAPORE – Nominated member of parliament and former national swimmer, Mark Chay has been elected unopposed as the new President of Singapore Swimming Association, succeeding Lee Kok Choy who has served his fourth and final term following the association’s Annual General Meeting held today at the black box auditorium in the presence of more than 30 affiliated clubs.  

Other notable members who are stepping down from their positions are Joscelin Yeo who had also served her fourth and final term as Vice-President swimming and Dr Bervyn Lee who had served three terms in the Executive Committee (ExCo), first as Assistant Secretary General (swimming) and the next 2 terms as Secretary General.

Under Lee’s watch, Singapore Aquatics achieved unprecedented success in the pool which includes the best ever medal haul in 2015 SEA Games with 26 gold medals and our 1^st Olympic gold medal in 2016. SSA was also a winner of the charity transparency award and charity governance awards. 

Lee, who had served the past 4 terms as President of SSA and a total of 16 years including Vice-President (diving) and Secretary General, said, “I am very grateful to my fellow ExCo members over the years, SSA staff, SSA affiliates, coaches, athletes, officials, volunteers,  sponsors,  Sport Singapore, Singapore National Olympic Council and Singapore Sports School for their support. Through everybody’s dedication and collaboration towards a common goal, we have strengthened Singapore’s capabilities in aquatic sports and provided performance outcomes that we can be proud of.  I am confident that the new ExCo can grow Singapore aquatics further.” 

Chay, will lead a team of ten, all of whom were also elected unopposed and consist of three members who were re-elected and six new members.

Current committee members Dominic Soh, Wendy Lim and Steve Chew, who are the Vice-Presidents for water polo, diving and artistic swimming respectively, returned for another two year term.  New faces include former national swimmers Kenneth Goh, Ng Cheng Xun and Chan U-Nice, former national water polo player Leonard Yeo, Ernst and Young partner Yeo Kai Eng and OCBC Vice-President Ow Yong Weng Leong.

On taking on the role as SSA’s President, Chay shared, “On behalf of the newly elected ExCo, we are humbled by the opportunity to serve the aquatics community. I would like to express my gratitude to the 2020-2022 ExCo members for their valuable contributions especially Kok Choy. His leadership has made a significant impact and enabled Singapore Aquatics to enjoy unprecedented success at major games and to cope with the challenges of the pandemic.”

He added, “The plan for the new team is to build on the good work that has been done. Success to me would be to increase the number of people in aquatic sports participating in structured programmes, and enabling our clubs to flourish. We look forward to work with the aquatics community, the SSA secretariat and coaches, MCCY, SportSG and SNOC to continue the success Singapore has enjoyed in the pool and beyond.”

SINGAPORE SWIMMING ASSOCIATION EXCO FOR 2022-2024
President: Mark Chay
Secretary General: Kenneth Goh
Treasurer: Yeo Kai Eng
Vice-President (Partnerships): Ow Yong Weng Leong
Vice-President (Swimming): Ng Cheng Xun
Vice-President (Water Polo): Dominic Soh
Vice-President (Diving): Wendy Lim
Vice-President (Artistic Swimming): Steve Chew
Assistant Secretary General (Swimming): Chan U-Nice
Assistant Secretary General (Water Polo): Leonard Yeo