Singapore's teenage swimming sensation Quah Zheng Wen has been cleared to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games after the country's ministry of defence deferred his mandatory national service.

The 18-year-old faced the prospect of missing out on next year's Games in Rio as he was due to enlist for mandatory service.

However, Quah - who won 12 medals at last month's South-east Asian Games - has been allowed to put back his enlistment until August 2016.

A statement from Singapore's Ministry of Defence read: "The Ministry of Defence received an application from Mr Quah Zheng Wen, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, to defer his full-time National Service (NS). Included in the application were his training schedule and targets with the goal to represent Singapore and compete successfully in the swimming competitions of the 2016 Olympic Games.

"The Armed Forces Council (AFC) chaired by Minister for Defence has reviewed the application. Mr Quah has satisfied the conditions for deferment of exceptional sportsmen who can win honour for Singapore, as his recent performances were better than the most recent Olympic Games' qualifying times in the 200m butterfly. The AFC has therefore decided to grant deferment to Mr Quah from full-time NS till 31 August 2016, for him to train and participate in the 2016 Olympic Games.

"The AFC would like to re-iterate that the criteria for deferment remain strict and limited to exceptional cases. The criteria for deferment have not changed and both Mr [Joseph] Schooling [who had his national service deferred in 2013] and Mr Quah met these criteria."