By Tamica Garnett
Jevina Sampson who was nominated for the Singapore Youth Olympic Scholarship has been accepted for the prestigious scholarship offered by the Organizing Committee of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) scheduled to begin today in Singapore.
This was confirmed yesterday by Dian Gladstone,the mother of the 11-year-old.
Gladstone said late last month she was informed of her daughter’s scholarship acceptance offer.
Sampson, along with five other budding sports youngsters from around the world, is being awarded a scholarship to attend the Singapore Sports School.
The other scholarship awardees are swimmers Ebineng Seabe Beryl from Botswana, Phiangkhwan Pawapotako from Thailand, table tennis players Angeline An Qi from Malaysia and Nieto Herrea Janina Sofia from Peru, and Ang Wan Qi from Singapore.
The Organizing Commit-tee of the YOG had earlier this year announced its decision to extend six scholarships to six budding athletes between the ages of 13 – 15 who specialise in one of the five summer sport categories.
The scholarship is a legacy of the inaugural YOG, being held from today until August 26 and the committee has pledged to make it an integral part of the projected quadrennial YOG, with six scholarships expected to be dished out every time.
With one of the scholarships intended for an athlete from the host country, in the encouragement of diversity, invitations were dispersed across the globe to 205 National Olympic Committees to submit potential awardees to fill the remaining five positions.
Earlier this year through the GOA, Sampson was selected by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) to be Guyana’s nominee for the SYOS.
She, subsequently, was among nine budding sports individuals from a total list of 54 applicants who were short-listed by the organising committee to attend a SYOS Selection Programme, which was held from June 14 – 18 at the Singapore Sports School.
The 11-year-old had attended the interview with her mother and those short-listed underwent academic and athletics assessments to determine who will be granted the scholarships to attend the school.
Those awarded will be presented with their scholarships in a presentation ceremony that will be held today. However, due to flight arrangements Sampson will not be present at the ceremony and her award will instead be received by Vice President of the GOA, Dr. Karen Pilgrim.
Dr. Pilgrim is currently in Singapore filling the position of the Chef-de-Mission of the Guyana team which departed Monday for Singapore.
The team includes four participants and two other officials.
Sampson will instead travel to Singapore tomorrow with her mother who was invited to stay for the implementation aspect of the YOG.
According to Gladstone, the two will spend one week finalising the details of Sampson’s entry to the school. Gladstone disclosed that the pair is expected to return on August 22.
Following her return from the selection interview in June, Gladstone, in an interview with Stabroek Sport, had disclosed that the officials she met in Singapore had conveyed to her that the possibility existed for her to stay in the country with her daughter for the period of her scholarship.
She also stated that they had expressed their willingness to assist her in finding a job, and may provide accommodation for her on campus to stay alongside her child.
The six will be in receipt of a fully-subsidised academic and sports education at the Singapore Sports School for between four and six years. The scholarship will take effect from January 2011 at which point the six awardees are expected to begin their curriculum at the school.
According to their website the Singapore Sports School is a specialized independent school providing a conducive academic and training environment for teenagers aspiring to be sports athletes. The school officially opened on April 2, 2004 and accommodates over 400 sports athletes and boasts a sea of record breakers in the sports arena.
In an e-mail sent from the committee it was disclosed that the scholarships will be funded by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, with operational support from the Singapore Sports School, the Singapore National Olympic Council, the Olympic Solidarity and the SYOG Organizing Committee.
The under-13 national champion, in an interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday, expressed her excitement about finally being confirmed as the scholarship awardee.
Sham Johnny, one of the coaches of Running Brave, the athletic club to which Sampson is affiliated, speaking with Stabroek Sport said that the club was more than overwhelmed with this award that young Sampson has secured.
Johnny said that for the next few months that Sampson will be in Guyana, he and the other coaches will be preparing her physically and just as much mentally for this new journey in her life.
“Basically we will be preparing her mentally, we will be training her physically but we want to prepare her mentally so that she can be properly prepared. However, I think she has a broad-based idea of what to expect.
“I do believe that I and the other coaches have thoroughly tutored her, and so she is prepared and ready for this, and I know that she will put her best foot forward,” Johnny declared.
