The Electric New Paper : 31 December 2008 By Ernest Luis Singapore Sports Council chief executive Oon Jin Teik tells The New Paper what makes 2008 a watershed year for local sports ON 2008'S INDIVIDUAL MILESTONES THIS year has been a historic year for Singapore sports in the areas of sports excellence, participation and industry. Not only is Singapore fast becoming a venue of choice for international sporting events, our athletes have also been making their mark on the world sporting front. Our athletes created several historic milestones in Singapore sports this year. Team Singapore had a very successful campaign at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, coming away with Singapore's first Olympic medal in 48 years - a silver by the women's table tennis team. At the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, not only did our disabled athletes come away with Singapore's first Paralympic medal, the contingent came home with 4 medals, including one gold medal in swimming. Our youth athletes also made waves at the recent Commonwealth Youth Games. Team Singapore had its highest medal haul in Pune with two golds, six silvers and three bronzes. In addition to this, our young bowler, Jasmine Yeong-Nathan and swimmer Tao Li, fared very well at the recent AMF World Cup and FINA/Arena World Cup respectively. This is proof our talent identification and development programmes are moving in the right direction and are beginning to bear fruit. ON 2008'S EVENTS MILESTONES ON THE sports events front, two of the world's most-watched sports events helped raise Singapore's profile in the international sporting fraternity and strengthened our position as a major sports events destination in Asia. That is, our successful bid to host the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and the world's first night Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix. We also had the privilege of hosting many prestigious international and local sporting events on our shores this year such as the Barclays Singapore Open, FINA swimming events, the Aviva Ironman 70.3, HSBC Women's Champions and Waterfest, to name a few. The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon that was created in Singapore seven years ago has also gone on to attract a record 50,000 local and international runners and even managed to secure current world champion, Luke Kibet, to take part in the event this year. Sports has taken a whole new dimension over the last few years. Singapore athletes' quests for sporting excellence are being supported by a holistic high-performance plan that ensures they receive all the support they need in order to reach the pinnacle of their sporting careers. The support system includes world-class facilities, coaches and sports medicine and sports science capabilities. ON 2009'S UPCOMING EVENTS OVER the next few years, we can expect several world-class sports events on our shores. These include the Asian Youth Games, the Men's Junior Hockey World Cup and the 2008/2009 Volvo Ocean Race, the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and last but not least, the World Netball Championships in 2011. ON SPORTS INDUSTRY GROWTH OUR SPORTS industry has grown over the years too. We have been putting together the basic building blocks that will enable the industry to grow in the coming years. This includes establishing a comprehensive sports industry development plan and a detailed manpower development plan that will ensure that we have a ready workforce with the right skills and capabilities to take on jobs in the sports sector. The local sports industry has grown from a $680 million industry in 1998 to a $906m industry in 2006. The sports industry is projected to contribute $2 billion in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and employ 20,000 people by 2015. We are confident that major sports initiatives such as the Youth Olympic Games, the Sports Hub, the Changi motor race track and SEA Games will boost our sports industry drive. The entire sports industry consists of many components of which hosting of sports events, investments by sports companies and corporate sponsorships, are some of the factors that contribute to our 2015 target. MORE COMPANIES SEE SPORTS POTENTIAL ON THE sports participation front, we are continuously building upon our experience with each event. The successful hosting of several international and local sporting events has proven that Singapore has the capabilities and expertise in organising large-scale sport events. From local events like the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, Amore Women's Day Out, WaterFest Singapore to international events like the Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, we have engaged the participants at various levels - volunteers, supporters, participants, and so on. While the sports industry is in its nascent stage of growth, we are seeing encouraging signs of increased corporate-sector understanding of the potential of sports business. For example, over 700 companies pledged their support for the Youth Olympic Games through the Business Times and we also saw a doubling of attendees in this year's CEO gala networking session since our inaugural session in 2006. In addition, more organisations have shown great interest in sports and see sports as one of their significant marketing tools. This is evident with the entry of new sponsors, like Audi Singapore, OCBC Bank and POSB Bank and, the continuous support from sponsors like Standard Chartered Bank and Amore. Strong corporate support is one of the key success factors to achieving a self-sustaining and a vibrant sports industry. Today, more corporations are recognising the marketing opportunities that sports here offers. Sports companies investing here MP & SILVA, a leading international sports agency that owns, manages and distributes sports programmes, has established its Middle East and Asia headquarters in Singapore since 2007. The company markets and manages media rights to the lucrative Italian football league - Serie A. LIFE Fitness, one of the world's top fitness equipment and solutions provider, has set up a 50-man Asian design centre in Singapore. This is the company's only other significant R&D centre outside the US, which develops products customised for the Asian market and is responsible for developing new generations of Life Fitness equipment. New corporate sponsorships STANDARD Chartered Bank - $2.25 million - title sponsor for Singapore Marathon. POSB Bank - $1.4m - title sponsor for Everyday Champions. OCBC Bank - $1m - title sponsor for Cycle Singapore. AUDI Singapore - co-sponsors for Singapore Marathon. This year's major events and award winners Formula One night race FINA Arena World Cup FINA World Cup - 10km Aviva Ironman 70.3 Barclays Singapore Open HSBC Women's Champions Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon Osim Singapore International Triathlon WaterFest Singapore Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Aviva Singapore Open Badminton TMS Singapore Open Table Tennis Singapore International Open Bowling
I agree with you although there were many question marks as to how Singapore could hold an F1 without past experience and more so something as new as an inaugural Night Race! But nothing like trying and reaping the rewards thereafter! To me I think our next important assignment is the inaugural (again!) Youth Olympics in 2010. After putting all our limited resources into winning the bid, the real test will come in less than two year's time. Will Singapore be able to come out alive and smiling? I certainly hope so.
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