The scholarship was established in 2010 after the SOF partnered with businessman Peter Lim, who had provided them with S$10 million (£4.9 million/$6.9 million/€6.4 million) to get the initiative running.

It aims to support promising young athletes from financially challenged backgrounds, with the hope that the scholarship will enable them to achieve their sporting goals.

Athletes under the age of 18, who are considered to have deserved a place on the scheme, are also supported.

Those sportsmen and women must already be on a high-performance pathway in the country and train with either the national senior or junior teams.

To date, over S$3.8 million (£1.9 million/$2.6 million/€2.4 million) has been awarded to 1,500 aspiring athletes in Singapore, as the SOF attempt to assist their burgeoning careers.

Among the previous recipients of the scholarship are Quah Zheng Wen and Joseph Schooling, who earned seven and nine swimming gold medals, respectively, at the Singapore 2015 Southeast Asian Games.

Both athletes have subsequently booked their places in Singapore’s team for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Shanti Pereira, Wong Wei Long, Kimberly Lim and Vera Tan are also among the 41-athletes who, following support from the scholarship, earned medals in front of their home crowd at the 28th edition of the Southeast Asian Games.

Athletes are invited to apply for the scholarship until January 29, via the SOF website, which can be found here.