Sixty-four athletes have been granted Singapore citizenship since the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme started in 1996. Over the last five years, 10 of them were granted citizenship while four have since renounced their citizenship. Acting Minister for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong revealed this in Parliament on Wednesday in response to questions posed by from [SMU Assistant Professor of Law and] NMP Eugene Tan. Assistant Prof Tan also asked Mr Wong how important sporting success is to Singapore given that the public has still not warmed up to the idea of sporting success of new citizens. Mr Wong replied: "You do see success stories of foreign sports talents who have integrated very well. When our Lions support the Suzuki Cup, for example, they won it with people like Aleksandar Duric who was on the team and he is embraced by Singaporeans as part of the team. And doing this doesn't mean that we neglect talent development of young Singaporeans. They are not mutually exclusive. In fact, we have to do more to invest in training and develop our young Singaporeans, which we are doing."