IT IS a little over a month since Singapore were named as hosts of the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

Right now, the biggest task for the organising committee, which will be named in two weeks, is to ensure Singapore’s facilities get up to scratch, come game time.

Speaking to reporters yesterday at a dinner reception organised by the Chinese Embassy for the 2008 Olympic Games, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said: “The team have just returned from Lausanne where they’ve been consulting the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to make sure that what we’re organising meets fully their expectations and specifications so work has already begun.

“There’s a lot more work that will have to be done at this phase, first to make sure that all the facilities are going to be ready, shipshape, well ahead of time,” he said. “You know that that we
don’t have that much lead time, in fact, we only have two and a half years to make sure that the facilities are ready, right now, it’s our top priority and we will ensure that that is so.”

Yesterday, Balakrishnan announced the appointment of Ng Ser Miang as Chairman of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) Board, which is made up of 22 members from the public, private and people sector.

Ng, an executive board member of the IOC, said the board will be responsible for setting policies and strategies for the Youth Olympics.

With sports facilities right now the top priority, he said: “We’re working very closely with the IOC and International Sports Federations to obtain feedback on the requirements for the different facilities. Facilities are one of our main priorities … the work we need to do will depend on the
requirements that are given to us.”

The other pressing task for the SYOGOC Board is to recruit the right people for the organising committee.

The organising committee will be aided by the SYOGOC Board, a four-member panel of advisors — Minister for Defence and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council, Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Finance and Minister for Education Tharman Shanmugaratnam,
Minister Balakrishnan, and MCYS Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck — and an Inter-Ministry Committee. Five committees in sports, culture and education, community outreach, youth engagement and business and marketing will also be set up to provide support to the organising committee.

National sailor Koh Seng Leong is on the SYOGOC board.

The 24-year-old, who recently earned Singapore a spot at the Beijing Olympics in the laser standard class, is the youngest member on the board.

Speaking to TODAY from Sydney, where he is currently based for his Olympic preparations, Koh said: “My role has not been confirmed yet, but I’ll probably be looking at events and plans through the eyes of the athletes – to see whether they’ll enjoy it, if it’ll disrupt their training plans. I’ve been to many overseas events and know what the athletes want.”

Balakrishnan stressed that the organising committee will need to get all of Singapore behind the Youth Olympic Games. He said: “We have to show the Singapore face to the world and therefore, we still need the man in the street, young and old people, ordinary Singaporeans to get involved in these Games.

“These Games must belong to Singaporeans. So that’s the key theme that we’ll have to return to over and over again as we prepare for the Games.”