Toyota will support 12 athletes from South East Asia, India and Pakistan in their journey to the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, including Joseph Schooling, with the athletes championing social causes in partnership with local community partners.
As interest for the Olympic movement is rapidly rising in Southeast Asia, Toyota announced at an event in Singapore on 13 September 2018 that it has formed regionwide partnership with 12 Olympic and Paralympic aspirants across Asia, including athletes from eight countries – Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Pakistan.
As part of its broader efforts to bring about greater mobility, sustainability and an inclusive society where everyone has the chance to realise their dreams, Toyota will support these selected athletes not just in their journey to the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, but also in their advocacy for social causes close to their hearts.
These 12 athletes make up Team Toyota in Asia, and they are heroes both in the sporting arena as well as in their local communities. Each of them has a compelling story to tell, having
challenged and overcome what many thought was impossible to achieve their sporting goals, as well as to take what participation in sports has taught them and their strong desire to
address societal challenges to make a difference.
In Singapore, Toyota, along with its official distributor Borneo Motors, has partnered with celebrated athletes Toh Wei Soong and Joseph Schooling, who will be supporting “Start Your Impossible” by championing their hero projects of “Equality of Opportunity” and “Road Safety” respectively.
Wei Soong will be one of the motivational speakers that the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC) will be working with in their ongoing school outreach programmes. The talks and programmes aim to inspire the young to pursue their sporting dreams, especially those with impairments. He also wants to empower those with impairments to find freedom of mobility in the water and will be part of SDSC’s “Learn-to-Play” swimming programme.
Joseph’s social-cause project will be focused on road safety awareness and education for drivers and children. Together with Borneo Motors, Joseph will be encouraging safe and responsible driving by partnering with ComfortDelGro Driving Centre to help drivers hone their driving skills and improve the handling of road situations through its Drive Safe Courses. Joseph will also be raising awareness of road safety among children by partnering with the Singapore Road Safety Council and Traffic Police to inculcate better safety awareness among this target group.
