WEEKLY ROUND-UP: Sports happenings in Singapore (4-10 Apr)

SINGAPORE — Here is a round-up of sports events and developments in Singapore in the past week (4 to 10 April):

Kelvin Ho appointed as badminton national singles head coach

The Singapore Badminton Association announced on Friday (8 April) the appointment of Kelvin Ho as the national singles head coach, taking over the position vacated by Mulyo Handoyo with immediate effect.

Ho was the national assistant singles head coach since 2018, and was part of the coaching team that went to 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2019 SEA Games, 2020 Olympics and 2021 World Tour Finals. He was part of the coaching team that oversaw Loh Kean Yew's world championship win last December.

He will now oversee the progress of the eight national singles players - Loh, Jason Teh and Joel Koh from the men's team and Yeo Jia Min, Jaslyn Hooi, Nur Insyirah Khan, Grace Chua and Megan Lee from the women's team.

“It’s an honour to be appointed as the national singles head coach. I would like to thank Coach Mulyo for his guidance and the association for giving me the opportunity," Ho said in media release on Friday.

"I’m excited about what lies ahead and we have some talented players in the pathway and developing them along with the top players is of paramount importance. Of course, Kean Yew and Jia Min are a primary focus for the 2024 Olympics, but there are also other players who can challenge for those positions.”

Sailors open 4-point lead after 6-1 rout of Tanjong Pagar

Defending Singapore Premier League (SPL) champions Lion City Sailors opened up a four-point lead atop the standings before they head to Thailand for their AFC Champion League group-stage matches, after thrashing early pacesetters Tanjong Pagar United 6-1 at Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday (9 April).

Goals from Diego Lopes (9th and 28th minutes), Shahdan Sulaiman (33rd), Kim Shin-wook (46th), Hafiz Nor (72nd) and Maxime Lestienne (91st) inflicted the first loss of the season for the second-placed Jaguars, who got their lone goal via a Pedro Henrique own goal (71st).

Third-placed Albirex Niigata (Singapore) played a thrilling 3-3 draw with fourth-placed Tampines Rovers at Our Tampines Hub on Saturday. Kodai Tanaka (8th), Jun Kobayashi (13th) and Tadanari Lee (67th) kept the Swans one point ahead of the Stags, who replied through Boris Kopitovic (30th and 35th) and Firdaus Kasman (45th).

On Sunday, Hougang United defeated the Young Lions 2-1 at Hougang Stadium, while Balestier Khalsa snatched a 1-0 win over Geylang International at Our Tampines Hub.

In the midweek round of SPL matches. the Sailors ascended to the top of the table following a 1-0 win over the Young Lions, while Tanjong Pagar came back from 0-3 down to draw 3-3 with Tampines. Albirex drew 2-2 with Geylang, while Balestier defeated Hougang 2-1.

Jing Junhong re-appointed as national table tennis women's team head coach

Former national paddler Jing Junhong has been re-appointed as Singapore's national women's team head coach, taking over from Hao Anlin, who has been re-designated as Jing's deputy, the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) announced on Monday (4 April).

Jing, who represented Singapore in three Summer Olympics (1996, 2000 and 2004), served as women's national team head coach from 2013 to 2015, before becoming STTA's chief coach of youth development after a coaching shake-up in 2015.

The 53-year-old had worked closely with the current crop of up-and-coming talents to develop their styles and techniques, and her familiarity with national team players such as Zhou Jingyi and Ser Lin Qian was a major consideration in her re-appointment.

"I am thankful for this opportunity and the management’s trust and confidence in my abilities," Jing said in a media release by STTA on Monday. "The task is not easy as we are a team made up of young players but I am ready to face the challenges ahead and do my best for Singapore. I hope to continue Singapore’s table tennis success in major competitions. ’’

Singapore National Youth Leagues resume after two-year absence

Youth grassroots football resumed on Sundays as the Singapore National Youth Leagues restarted after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 286 teams and 4,000 youth footballers will be competing in 16 age-group leagues - 12 boys and four girls - in 47 league divisions.

The youngest age groups start with the Under-6s and will go year by year up to a new U-17 age category for both boys and girls.

The leagues, organised by JSSL Singapore Events, will run from 3 April to 26 June across multiple venues islandwide, including HQ Arena Woodleigh Park, SAFRA Tampines, Rainforest Turf City, Tanglin Trust School & Tanglin Trust Training Ground and Stamford American International School.

The JSSL leagues - which are now in their 16th season - have been approved by Sports Singapore and all venues and protocols will comply with the new government COVID guidelines.

Tickets for UFC 275 on sale

Tickets for "UFC 275: Texeira vs Prochazka", the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view event to be held in Southeast Asia, are on sale for the 12 June event at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The fight card will see a double-header as UFC light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira making his first title defence against top contender Jiri Prochazka, and UFC women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko faces No. 5 Taila Santos.

Other bouts include former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker facing Marvin Vettori, a middleweight bout between Brendan Allen and Jacob Malkoun, and South Korean veteran Kang Kyung-ho against Brazil's Saimon Oliveira.

SCF gets donation from chess enthusiasts

The Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) has received a $180,000 donation from three chess aficionados: Zhang Taiyang, venture partner of Alameda Research Ventures; Zhang Changjie, chief executive officer of Theme International Trading; and Zhu Su, CEO of Three Arrows Capital.

SCF unveiled the donation in a media conference at its Bishan headquarters at the Singapore Intellectual Games Centre in Bishan on Tuesday (5 April). At the same event, SCF announced that the donation sum will be doubled to $360,000 under the One Team Singapore Fund which offers dollar-to-dollar matching grants from the government for donations that contribute to the high-performance system which supports national athletes.

SCF also honoured schoolboy Siddharth Jagadeesh, who became Singapore's 14th international master, and its second youngest to attain the title, in February.

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