WEEKLY ROUND-UP: Sports happenings in Singapore (27 Mar-2 Apr)

SINGAPORE — Here is a round-up of sports events and developments in Singapore in the past week (27 March to 2 April):

Singapore Swimming Association to be renamed Singapore Aquatics

The Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) will be renamed Singapore Aquatics (SAQ) from 1 July, to better reflect the sport's multidisciplinary nature. It announced the name change and unveiled its new logo at the SSA Awards and Appreciation Night at the Raffles City Convention Centre on Friday (31 March).

SSA president Mark Chay said, "While we may be called the Singapore Swimming Association, we are also about diving, water polo, artistic swimming and open water swimming. We are five sports, united by water, by one flag and by one community for one mission: to make Singapore a world-class aquatics nation.”

The name change is the association's second since it was founded in 1939 as the Singapore Amateur Swimming Association. It changed to SSA in 2002.

The event saw over $370,000 raised for the sport through sponsorship and donations. The money raised will go towards supporting SSA’s high performance programmes, and provide opportunities for elite athletes to compete in international competitions.

For the first time at an SSA ceremony, para swimmers from the Singapore Disability Sports Council were also honoured for their involvement in major competitions.

Loy Ming Ying wins 1st WTT Youth Contender titles

Singapore youth paddler Loy Ming Ying clinched her first WTT Youth Contender title on Tuesday (28 March), when she won the girls' Under-13 competition at Wladyslawowo, Poland.

The 12-year-old defeated Hong Kong's Yuen Sum Lok 11-9, 11-6, 3-11, 11-7 in the final to land her trophy. She had defeated Yuen and Czechia's Linda Ratajska in the group stage, before advancing to the final after beating Uzbekistan's Arujan Kamalov in the quarter-finals and Spain's Guo Jiaqi in the semi-finals.

Loy secured her second medal of the tournament on Wednesday, coming in joint-third in the girls' U-15 competition after losing to China's Ding Yingjie 6-11, 8-11, 5-11 in the semi-finals.

She then proceeded to the WTT Youth Contender tournament in Berlin, and won her second U-13 title in a week, defeating Germany's Josephine Neumann 11-9, 5-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-7 in the final.

On Friday, national paddlers Clarence Chew and Zeng Jian teamed up to clinch the mixed doubles title in the WTT Feeder tournament in Antalya, Turkey, after defeating Romania's Darius Movileanu and Elena Zaharia 7-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-6, 11-8 in the final. Koen Pang and Izaac Quek also won the men's doubles event, defeating Algeria's Mehdi Bouloussa and Belgium's Adrien Rassenposse 11-8, 11-2, 11-2 in Saturday's final.

Mongolia, Australia victorious at FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup

Mongolia and Australia won the men's and women's titles respectively at the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup basketball tournament, which was held at the Singapore Sports Hub's OCBC Square from 29 March to 2 April (Wednesday to Sunday).

Mongolia stunned three-time defending champions Australia 21-18 in a thrilling men's final, putting an end to Australia's 24-match winning streak in the competition. Mongolia had held the edge but Australia stormed back to level at 18-all, before Anand Ariunbold hit a two-pointer and a free-throw to secure the triumph.

In the women's final, Australia capped one of the most dominant runs at the Asia Cup with a 21-11 victory over New Zealand. The scoreline was the closest any team got to Australia at the tournament.

The two Asia Cup winners earned a ticket to one of the Olympic qualifying tournaments for Paris 2024.

Singapore teams came in eighth in the men's competition and 10th in the women's event. The men's team had recorded their maiden win in the Asia Cup on Saturday with a 22-20 overtime win against Taiwan in the pool stages.

China, Kazakhstan win top honours at Asian Water Polo C'ships

China’s men’s team and Kazakhstan’s women’s team took the top honours at the 2023 Asian Water Polo Championships, which ended on Monday (27 March) after six days of competition at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

China's men's team came back from 0-3 down to defeat Iran 11-8 in the gold-medal match. Despite the early setback, the Chinese were level at 4-4 at the end of the second quarter. They had pulled away to a 6-4 lead after three quarters, and while Iran managed to narrow the gap at 8-9, goals by captain Chen Zhongxian sealed the win for China.

China and Iran, as well as third-placed Kazakhstan and fourth-placed Thailand, made the cut for May’s World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Division 2 qualifiers in Berlin. Hosts Singapore finished fifth after defeating Uzbekistan 12-11 on the final day.

In the women's competition, Kazakhstan had already sealed top spot before the final day, but still defeated Uzbekistan 12-6 in their final match. Singapore, on the other hand, finished fourth out of four teams after losing 4-9 to Thailand. All four nations qualified for the Berlin qualifiers for the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Division 2 next month.

World No.1 Viktor Axelsen to headline S'pore Badminton Open

Reigning world champion, Olympic champion, and current world No.1 Viktor Axelson will headline the Singapore Badminton Open, which will take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 6 to 11 June.

The Dane will be seeking to land his first Singapore Open title of his storied career, having already captured the Malaysia Open in January.

Joining Axelsen in what is expected to be a strong player field are Thai's men’s world No. 7 Kunlavut Vitidsarn, women’s world No.8 Ratchanok Intanon, and defending mixed doubles champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai.

The Open is set to feature all of the top 15 singles players and top 10 doubles pairs battling it out for top honours and a slice of the US$850,000 prize purse.

Income Eco Run to allow runners do their preferred distance

This year's Income Eco Run will be held on 11 June, and it is targeting to attract 5,000 runners with its unique physical mass run format, where participants are encouraged to show their support for a zero-waste lifestyle by running their preferred distance.

In support of the runners' efforts, Income Insurance will donate $1 to the Singapore Environment Council for every kilometre clocked at the event.

To facilitate this, the Income Eco Run has customised a run route that offers seven exit points, between 3 km and 21.1 km, to allow participants the flexibility in clocking their distance-of-choice. This means that participants can opt to u-turn at either the 1.5km, 2.5 km or 5 km distance markers and complete their run of 3km, 5 km and 10 km back at the race village.

For those who are gearing up for longer distances, they can either complete the full 21.1 km run, or choose to end their run at the designated exit points located at either the 9km, 12 km, 15 km or 18 km mark along the run route, which starts from Marina Barrage.

Participants are encouraged to run in their own orange T-shirts or past Income Eco Run race T-shirts. The run will also be reducing its running bib size by at least 30 per cent to minimise material wastage. Additionally, all participants will be given a reusable hydration cup to reduce the disposal of single-use paper cups.

Income Insurance mark the launch of the run with the observation of the inaugural International Day of Zero Waste on Thursday (30 March).

15 S'poreans to compete in Para Swimming World Series

Singapore will have 15 para swimmers competing at the Singapore leg of the Citi Para Swimming World Series, which will be held at OCBC Aquatic Centre from 29 April to 1 May.

Fans can look forward to cheering on Paralympians Yip Pin Xiu, Toh Wei Soong and Sophie Soon, as well as ASEAN Para Games medallists Colin Soon, Wong Zhi Wei and Danielle Moi. There are also debutants such as Jareth Wong and Robby Yeo in the Team Singapore squad.

Over 150 para swimmers from around the world will be joining the competition, including Susan Schnarndorf (Brazil), Alexandra Stamatopoulou (Greece), Tang Wai Lok (Hong Kong), and Cameron Leslie (New Zealand), as well as Spain's Teresa Perales, one of most successful para swimmers of all time.

Toyota has committed to supporting the Singapore leg as the main sponsor for 2023 and 2024, with a contribution of $200,000 over the two years.

The Singapore leg marks the fifth out of nine events in the 2023 Series. Singapore para swimmers have participated in two legs thus far, and collected three golds and five bronzes.

Tickets are available via Sistic, with prices starting from $10 for a day pass and $25 for a three-day season pass.

Two duathlon races added to PTO Asian Open

The Professional Triathletes Organisation announced on Thursday (30 March) additional, amateur multi-sport racing to its PTO Asian Open in Singapore on 19 and 20 August, with two new duathlon races.

The duathlons will take place over two distances: a standard 4.5km run/32km bike/4.5km run, and a longer distance of 9km run/64km bike/9km run. Both races will offer an individual or relay option featuring two or three people.

The duathletes will race on a similar course to the sold-out 100km PTO Asian Open triathlon. They will start off with a run along Marina Bay and the famous Gardens by the Bay, and then venture out on a spectacular bike course through the city centre.

Super early-bird registrations will cost $128 for the shorter duathlon race, and $178 for the longer race.

FAS in partnership with Canadian 2 For 1 Pizza

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has announced an official partnership for the Singapore Premier League (SPL) with Canadian 2 For 1 Pizza.

The pizza company will present a food truck at the stadiums for selected matches, where it will serve its pizzas so that fans will have the opportunity to enjoy freshly-baked pizzas while cheering on their SPL teams.

"As a proud local Singaporean business owner and a football fan, I hope to be able to share the offerings of Canadian 2 For 1 Pizza with the many other football fans and supporters of our club teams," said Mohamed Abdullah, chief executive officer of Hobbs Holdings.

StarHub to televise Indian Premier League

StarHub will be televising the new season of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket competition from 31 March to 28 May. Sports+ customers can catch all 74 cricket matches live, via dedicated cricket channels Hub Sports 4 and 5 (Ch204 and Ch205) at no extra cost.

With access available on smart TVs, web browsers, and smartphones, Sports+ customers will be able to stream the IPL action anytime and anywhere. For those unable to catch the late-night matches, StarHub will also have match highlights available on-demand the next day.

New customers can sign up for Sports+ at $25.22 per month, gaining access to a slew of other cricket competitions such as BCCI and CSA games. Subscribers can also catch top-flight European football, all four tennis Grand Slams, as well as Formula 1, UFC and WWE action.

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