16/12/2025
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 11 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.
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Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/the-big-question-can-chess-bridge-and-e-sports-be-considered-sports
