Sport in Singapore


Life in Singapore
The New Singapore National Stadium

Singaporeans participate in a wide variety of sports for recreation as well as for competition. Popular sports include Supercar Motorsports,[1] football, basketball, cricket, rugby union, swimming, badminton, and cycling. Most people live in public residential areas that often provide amenities including swimming pools, outdoor basketball courts[2] as well as indoor sport centres which provide facilities for badminton, squash, table tennis, american football, gymnastics, indoor basketball and volleyball, among others.

Living on an island surrounded by the ocean, the people also enjoy many water activities including sailing, kayaking and waterskiing. There is also a number of avid recreational scuba divers, a prominent diving spot being the southern island Pulau Hantu, known for its coral reefs.

Association football is arguably the most popular spectator sport. Singapore has its own professional football league, known as the S.League. Launched in 1996, the league now consists of 10 teams competing with each other in stadiums around the country. In 1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012 the Singapore national football team became the champion of the Tiger Cup, the premier football competition in South-East Asia.

While not a major sporting power, Singapore's athletes have performed well in regional as well as international competitions, especially in table tennis, badminton, sepak takraw, bowling, sailing, silat, swimming and water polo. To date, Singapore has won two Olympic silver medals, one at the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang and the other at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in the women's double table tennis by Singapore players Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu. The country has come close thrice (all in women's single table-tennis, fourth-place finishes in 2000, 2004 and 2008). In the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Singapore won 5 Gold, 2 Silver, and 10 Bronze medals in 2002.

Recreational

Favourite Singaporean sports include outdoor sports such as football, basketball, cricket, swimming, sailing and various indoor sports such as table tennis and badminton. Most Singaporeans live in public residential areas with amenities such as public swimming pools, outdoor basketball courts and indoor sport complexes nearby. As might be expected on an island, water sports such as sailing, kayaking and water skiing are popular. Scuba diving is another recreation, particularly around the southern island of Pulau Hantu which is known for its rich coral reefs.[3]

Domestic competition

Singapore has its own football (soccer) league, the S-League, formed in 1994,[4] currently comprising 12 clubs including foreign teams.[5] Other foreign clubs are interested in joining.[6] The Singapore Slingers joined the Australian National Basketball League in 2006, which they left in 2008.[7] They are one of the inaugural teams in the ASEAN Basketball League founded in October 2009.[8] Beginning in 2008, Singapore started hosting a round of the Formula One World Championship. The race was staged at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the Marina Bay area and became the first night race on the F1 calendar[9] and the first street circuit in Asia.[10]

Government-sanctioned programs

The Government of Singapore sanctions a variety of sports-based programs for Singapore's education system in addition to normal physical education. The National Physical Fitness Award (NAPFA) was introduced in 1982, a scheme which requires the mandatory participation of all students within primary and secondary education. The scheme gives awards for a variety of physical tests for endurance, cardiovascular fitness and strength, including a medium-distance run of 1.6 or 2.4 kilometres for primary and secondary students respectively, and the results are reflected in each student's report book. As such, although gaining an award is not mandatory, students are often pressured to do so.

In addition, the government sponsors the Singapore Sports School which opened on 2 April 2004, combining a secondary school curriculum with professional training in each student's preferred sport, in an attempt to nurture future generations of sportsmen and sportswomen. The concept behind the Sports School is that sporting talent should not be compromised when striving for academic excellence.

Youth Olympic Games

On 21 February 2008 the International Olympic Committee announced[11] that Singapore won the bid to host the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. Singapore beat Moscow in the final by 53 votes to 44.[12] On 15 September 2010, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports Teo Ser Luck announced that Singapore will start off the Singapore Biennale Games initiative to keep up the Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010 Legacy, to be held every 2 years, starting from year 2011.[13]

Rugby union

Rugby was introduced to the British colony of Singapore in the late nineteenth century. It has had a steady presence since the beginning of the 20th century, when the Malay Cup between Singapore national rugby union team and Malaya was established, which is one of the oldest rugby competitions in the world.[14]

For the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which is to be hosted in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong will be hosting five RWC matches of their own.[15] The Singapore Sports Hub, the successor to the National Stadium, with a capacity of 50,000, will be hosting some of the matches.

List of achievements

Badminton

Basketball

Bodybuilding

Bowling

Chess

Cricket

Cuesports

Netball

In 2005, the Singaporean team won the Asian Netball Championship with a win over the Malaysian team with a score of 53–39 at the Finals.

Sailing

Silat

Football

Singapore National Stadium

Pétanque

Swimming

Table tennis

Track and field

Weight lifting

Wushu

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Supercars in Singapore , Lamborghini , Ferrari , Audi R8 , Maserati GranTurismo". dreamdrive.com.sg.
  2. ↑ "Outdoor basketball courts in Singapore". courtsoftheworld.com.
  3. ↑ "About us". The Hantu Bloggers.
  4. ↑ "About S-League". Football Association Singapore. 2008.
  5. ↑ "French And Chinese Teams Join Singapore's S-League". goal.com. 21 January 2010.
  6. ↑ Shine, Ossian (8 October 2010). "Opinion split over foreign teams in Singapore league". Reuters Football.
  7. ↑ "History". Singapore Slingers.
  8. ↑ "ASEAN Basketball League takes off". FIBA Asia. 20 January 2009.
  9. ↑ "News – Singapore confirms 2008 night race" (Press release). Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2007.
  10. ↑ "SingTel to sponsor first Singapore Grand Prix" (Press release). Formula1.com. 16 November 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  11. ↑ "Youth Olympic Games 2010 (Singapore)" (Press release). Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
  12. ↑ "Singapore won bid to host the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics" (Press release). Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  13. ↑ S, Ramesh (15 September 2010). "S'pore to kick off first Biennale Games in 2012". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  14. ↑ Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1) p71
  15. ↑ RWC 2015 /2019: 15 Main Topics & Venues of the Bid of Japan , Japan Rugby Football Union
  16. ↑ http://www.worldrecordacademy.com/sports/highest_billiard_break_world_record_set_by_Peter_Gilchrist_70870.htm
  17. ↑ http://www.redsports.sg/2013/03/22/silat-muhammad-shakir/
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