Can chess, bridge and e-sports be considered sports?

Close to two decades ago, Kevin Goh found himself standing on a stage at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), readying to deliver a speech to an auditorium of "super fit, very tough-looking" athletes.

- Kimberly Kwek, Melvyn Teoh and Rohit Brijnath

The memory remains a vivid one for the chess player, who had then been named the 2005-06 NTU Sportsman of the Year - he was the first male or female from a mind sport to win the highest accolade in the award's 15-year history.

And as he stood among his peers that fateful day, he saw an opportunity to challenge perceptions of what defines a sport.

Referencing his speech, Goh, now a grandmaster and the chief executive of the Singapore Chess Federation, said: "At the time, I basically mentioned that how one defines a sport could be a lot more holistic as compared to just whether one sweats or not. If you consider a sport as something where you compete against one another, whether it is one versus one or Il versus 11.

"Whether you consider sport as something that combines aspects like discipline, resilience, focus, preparation, nutrition, sleep, psychology, sport science, whether these are all things that an athlete from a physical sport has to consider."

Nearly 20 years later, the question of what constitutes a sport remains unresolved and the debate around whether mind games, and others like e-sports, should be considered sport still lingers.

The conversation gained fresh momentum after the Singapore Sports Council (Amendment) Bill was introduced in Parliament on Nov 4. Among other things, it seeks to formally recognise mind sports such as chess and bridge, along with e-sports, as sports.

The Bill was tabled for its first reading by Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo, and aims to update the roles and functions of Sport Singapore (SportSG) to better support Singaporeans' diverse sporting aspirations.

CAN MIND GAMES AND E-SPORTS BE CONSIDERED SPORTS?

Chess is already recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), while e-sports got the nod as a "sports activity" in 2017.