WHY DIFFERENTIATE disabled athletes from the able-bodied ones? Isn't that discrimination?

By giving out lesser monetary rewards to our Paralympians, it is sending a strong message that the competition they are in is less important and lacks the right spirit than that of our Olympians.

Regardless, anyone who represents the nation and brings glory to it should be given the same rewards. Period.

Our athletes have made a lot of sacrifice and dedication, especially those less able-bodied so why not have a single reward system? It's about time.

The reduction in the rewards again highlights a lack of professionalism and foresight.

If the cut is for development purposes, why isn't there separate funding for that?

Why should our athletes fork out something they work so hard for when the rewards should benefit them?

If Singapore really wants our athletes to stay motivated and aim for higher goals, the sports authorities should standardise rewards.

Any record broken, regardless of where and when, should receive the same rewards.

Put in the funding, expose our athletes to more world-class events. Only then will we improve.

If not, like our water-polo team, glory will simply be limited to the SEA Games while the rest of the world moves on to greater things. - Nor Hadi

BY OFFERING a mere 10 per cent of what the Olympians are getting, we get the impression that the authorities do not really put the disabled on par with their able-bodied counterparts.

The Paralympics may not be as competitive as the Olympics, but we should not neglect the Paralympians.

I suggest giving Paralympian gold-medallists $750,000, $500,000 for silver-medallists and $250,000 for those who win the bronze. That would be fairer than the current system. - Loh Shengli

WHEN Tan Howe Liang won his first silver medal in weightlifting for Singapore in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he was poorly rewarded.

However, I can understand that because Singapore did not have monetary rewards for sporting achievements then.

But now Yap Pin Xiu should be rewarded more because, first of all, she and her family can use the money for her treatment due to her condition.

I also believe her family would need to pay more for her training and special equipment. - Ace Kindred Cheong

WHILE the amount of money the athletes receive will somehow determine the importance of their achievements, the years of hardship and sacrifice they have been through should not be measured by just money.

Monetary awards only serve as a bonus, an additional encouragement, instead of being the only driving force to push the athletes onto the winning stand.

Since these two games are of different nature, it is understandable that they should not be placed on the same level.

But the winning athlete has to be rightfully given a deserving and reasonable amount. - Tan Yi Jun

THE AMOUNT a Paralympian gets for winning a gold is even lesser than what an able-bodied person would get for winning a gold at the Asian Games.

Yip Pin Xiu got a gold and in world record time.

Although the 20 per cent cut is now announced officially, I think that there should be a separate award for the national sports association based on the number of medallists and not as a percentage of an individual award, which is akin to a tax deduction. - Samuel Ng

WHILE being rewarded monetarily is nice, does the thought of $1,000,000 really motivate the athletes to strive that bit harder for the gold medal in the pressure of the competition, or does the thought of bringing glory to the nation is enough to drive them?

My recommendation - increase the monetary rewards for the Paralympian gold-medallists to $200,000 while decreasing the rewards for Olympic gold-medallists to be on par with the Paralympians.

Spend more money on mass development of young athletes to prepare them for Youth Olympic Games instead of a selected few so as to promote a more vibrant sports scene in Singapore that will garner more support from parents. - Lam Jick Sern