Panda mania again The Straits Times Nov 22, 2009 Zoo looking forward to a repeat of 1990 experience when two pandas drew crowds By Jamie Ee Wen Wei A GIANT poster at the Singapore Zoo's entrance announces the imminent arrival of two panda cubs from China. Its gift shop is also stocked with plush toys of the endangered animal. The as-yet-unnamed pair - a male and a female - will be on loan to Singapore for 10 years. They will arrive in 2011 and will make their public debut after acclimatising. That will be in 2012, at about the same time as the opening of the $140 million river-themed animal attraction River Safari, where the VIP bears will be housed. This is the second time that Singapore is hosting giant pandas from China. Panda mania first hit Singapore almost 20 years ago. Then, two male pandas, An An and Xin Xing, arrived in September 1990. They were on loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Mr Chandran posing with plush toys of giant pandas. The curator of zoology was tasked with the care of two pandas on loan from China back in 1990. Much effort was made to ensure the cubs' diet and well-being were taken care of. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
Lyo and Merly to be mascots for inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games Channel News Asia 21 Nov 2009 By Patwant Singh http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1019684/1/.html SINGAPORE: The mascots for the world's first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next year have been revealed. One is a male Lion called Lyo and the other a female Merlion called Merly. The mascots were officially introduced to much celebration at Suntec City on Saturday. Doing the honours was Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who brought along his three-year-old son. A contest, won by two Singaporeans, was held to name the mascots. Lyo is short for "Lion of the Youth Olympics," while Merly gets her name from "mer" meaning the sea, and "l" and "y" standing for liveliness and youthfulness. Besides Singapore, the mascots will travel to five cities around the world as part of the global torch relay for the Games. Dr Balakrishnan said: "It is an interesting play on fire and water and the lion and merlion. So there are aspects of which we clearly can identify with as Singaporeans, but really what we hope is these mascots will be embraced by Singaporeans as well as the visitors who come." It took about six months to design the mascots. Plush toys of the mascots will go on sale at the official Olympic store at Takashimaya starting Sunday.
English to teach Chinese The Straits Times Nov 22, 2009 Education Minister's message to teachers: It is effective for kids from English-speaking homes By Goh Chin Lian USING English to teach Chinese has proven to be effective for children from predominantly English-speaking homes. So, teachers should not be hung up on whether it is taboo to use a mix of English and Chinese for these children, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Saturday. He also revealed that a task force is due to make proposals soon on how this group of children can be taught the language. 'We think we've to make certain significant changes,' he told reporters after a conference on dyslexia, adding that parents would be given ample notice of the changes. As for worries that Chinese standards would slip, Dr Ng pointed out that the education system allows children who are able to pursue the language at a higher level to do so. 'It's not that you have one method that you can teach the whole population,' he said, suggesting different strokes for different folks. Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said that it is not taboo to use a mix of English and Chinese to teach children from English-speaking homes. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
Swimming: Records fall at shortcourse World Cup in Singapore Channel News Asia 22 November 2009 1829 hrs SINGAPORE - South Africa's Kathryn Meaklim, American Peter Marshall and Swedish swim queen Therese Alshammar stormed to new world records on Sunday as the shortcourse World Cup season concluded in style. In the high humidity of Singapore and at a partially-enclosed aquatic complex, the first day of the meet Saturday surprisingly saw no new world marks despite 16 being set in Berlin last weekend. But that all changed with the powerfully-built Meaklim obliterating the women's 400m individual medley record. She turned under world record time after the butterfly and then fell off the pace on backstroke before recovering strongly with impressive breaststroke and freestyle legs to clock 4mins 22.88secs, knocking nearly three seconds off the old mark set by Spain's Mareia Belmonte in Rijeka, Croatia in December last year. Trailing behind Meaklim was Russia's Svetlana Karpeeva who took the silver in 4:38.35. Doing Singapore proud was Koh Ting Ting who took the bronze after finishing in 4:54.81. Like Meaklim, Marshall has been in sizzling form this year and he broke his own 50m backstroke world record, leading from start-to-finish to touch in 22.61secs. His time shaved a fraction of a second off his previous record of 22.73 set in Stockholm earlier this month. It was left to Alshammar in the final event of the day to bring the house down once again with the unstoppable Swede smashing her own 50m butterfly mark, touching in 24.38secs. It beat the previous best of 24.46 she set in Stockholm. Singapore's Tao Li had to settle for 6th with her time of 25.70 seconds. Before Sunday's exploits, only Natalie Coughlan of the United States had broken a world record in Singapore, and that was two years ago. It was a fitting finale to a World Cup season that has also taken swimmers to Durban, Moscow, Stockholm, and Berlin, with 37 world records broken in total. Those sort of performances are unlikely to be seen again with the vast majority achieved by athletes wearing the high-tech swimsuits that will be banned from January 1. Singapore is one of the last times the controversial suits will be worn. Meaklim was the standout performer, returning to the pool to upset a jaded-looking world record holder Leisel Jones of Australia in the 200m breaststroke. The South African came home in 2:20.52, well off world record pace, ahead of Jones (2:21.31) and fellow Australian Sarah Katsollis. In other races, Britain's Francesa Halsall set a new World Cup best time over the 100m freestyle, hitting the wall in 51.19 ahead of Inge Dekkar of the Netherlands and Germany's Daniela Schreiber. American world record holder Jessica Hardy comfortably won the 50m breaststroke with Katsollis second and Jones third, while Australia's Jessicah Schipper took out the 200m butterfly title. Among the men, South Africa's Darian Townsend came close to beating his own record in the individual medley, but slowed after the final 25m to finish in 1:52.49, a second outside his best time. Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin was also poised to break his world record in the backstroke, under the pace over 150m before fading to narrowly miss out. Australia's Robert Hurley upset favourite Ousamma Mellouli of Tunisia in the 1500m freestyle while South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh comfortably claimed the 100m breaststroke gold medal. - AFP/CNA/ir Peter Marshall
Early boost to Sentosa IR The Straits Times Nov 23, 2009 IN AN early boost ahead of its opening, Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) has secured 30 bookings for events to be hosted at the integrated resort starting next year. The biggest event, the 11th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention, will see 4,000 business leaders gather at the Sentosa integrated resort for a corporate pow-wow from Oct 5 to 7. Securing such business events, known in the industry as meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice), are important as business travellers are bigger spenders and a target group that Singapore Tourism Board wishes to grow. RWS director of Mice Elena Arabadjieva, said: "As the world's economy recovers, we are getting strong interest from organisers for events from 2010 to as far ahead as 2014 and that gives us great confidence in Singapore's meetings and incentive travel sector in the mid to long term." Events secured by RWS include the Asia Pacific Retailers Convention in 2011 and the 10th Asia Pacific Congress of Endoscopic Surgery in 2011. Besides inking the 30 contracts, the IR is also in talks with another 150 organisers for events up to 2015. Marina Bay Sands, too, has been signing up Mice events. The events being lined include the 3rd Sea Asia Conference and Exhibition in 2011, the Industrial Fabrics Association International Expo Asia in 2011 and the 77th UFI Congress by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry next year The biggest event, the 11th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention, will see 4,000 business leaders gather at the Sentosa integrated resort. -- PHOTO: RESORTS WORLD SENTOSA
typical singaporean, i must say, a product of SPH, a monopoly media empire of PAP run government, good only in manipulate the facts, in other words, brain washing citizen.
Oh really, the fact is for all to see in the real Singapore. Or are you blind to the fact even though you are located here? How do you describe yourself as if the majority of Singaporeans are manipulated? Not a typical Singaporean? Probably you are a foreigner?
Foreign athletes welcomed if they raise standard of Singapore sports Channel NewsAsia 23 November 2009 Singapore will continue to embrace talented foreign athletes who want to represent the country, as long as they raise the standard of sports here, according to Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan. Nominated Member of Parliament Joscelin Yeo on Monday questioned if there was a need to set a minimum ratio of local athletes versus athletes who graduate under the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) Scheme to ensure Singapore-born hopefuls have the opportunity to realise their full potential. In a written response, Dr Balakrishnan said: "We (the ministry) would only recommend an FST for approval if our assessment is that the FST will help raise the overall standard of play in Singapore, thus benefiting the entire sports ecosystem. "We also ensure that the respective national sports associations formulate a systematic programme to enhance opportunities for local-born athletes to fulfil their potential. "The elevation of standards and availability of sparring partners will certainly benefit our local-born athletes who are groomed for international competitions at the highest levels." Dr Balakrishnan revealed that FSTs currently make up 4.6 per cent of the total number of athletes among the development and national squads of the seven key sports in the country. Bowling and sailing do not have FSTs in any of their squads, but badminton and table tennis have the most number of FSTs in their teams. There are currently 19 FSTs out of 97 badminton players, and 11 FSTs out of 85 table tennis players. Dr Balakrishnan also laid down the three principles that guide the FST policy: openness to global talent, fairness in treatment of FSTs and local-born athletes, and ensuring the integration of the foreign-born athletes into society. He said: "Each FST application is processed individually by my ministry and the Singapore Sports Council, and Ministry of Home Affairs' final approval is required for athletes to gain Permanent Residency and subsequent Singapore citizenship." While Dr Balakrishnan said there was no need to set a ratio on the number of FSTs in each sport, he revealed that the Singapore Youth Sports Development Committee is working on growing the pool of young local athletes by spotting young talent early and nurturing them, and giving them greater exposure to competition. 30-year-old Yeo, a four-time Olympian and former star swimmer who plundered 40 gold medals in eight Southeast Asian Games also asked the minister whether elite athletes would be considered for deferment from National Service to ensure minimal disruption to their training programme. Dr Balakrishnan reassured Yeo that both his ministry and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) were well aware how NS enlistment could impact an athlete's performance. "Under the Singapore Sports Council Sports Excellence Talented Elite Athletes Management (spexTEAM) carding system, NS athletes who are graded B2 and above and have strong medal potential may be placed under the SAF Sportsmen Scheme (SSS). "Athletes under the SSS are eligible for time off and full-pay unrecorded leave during their full-time NS. This arrangement allows our top athletes to train and participate in major competitions... without having to defer from their NS obligations." The minister added that Mindef would consider a sportsman's request for deferment to train for major competitions on a case-by-case basis. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan
Attention Dear, Please talk/discuss ONLY good things of Singapore in this thread. No negative comments please. Thank you for your co-operation.
Singapore Inter-Club Masters League and Masters tournaments 2009 The Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) have a large following in badminton and they now possess a splendid hall with 6 badminton courts. Over the years they have been a leader in organizing badminton tournaments for an Inter-club (home and away) Masters League and a Masters (Individual) tournament for the veterans. And SSC's man of passion and masters brainchild is none other than their Badminton Convenor, Victor Sim, who has himself taken part in many masters tournaments overseas. This year a total of 7 clubs are represented in their SSC-WOS (World Of Sports) Inter-club Masters League, which is still ongoing. Our club is also a participant and is now lying in third or forth place. Nine doubles events are contested: cba - combined age min - minium age of player VD - Veteran Doubles S - Social C- Competitive 1. MD (cba 70 years, min. 30 yrs) 2. MD (80, 35) 3. VD (80, 35) S 4. VD (90, 45) C 5. VD (90, 45) S 6. VD (100, 50) S 7. VD (100, 50) C 8. WD (min 30 yrs) 9. XD (min 45 yrs for men, 30 yrs for women) Last Saturday and Sunday the Masters Invitational Individual Age Group Doubles Badminton Championships were played: 1. MD 90 (min 40 years) 2. WD 90 (40) 3. MD 100 (45) 4. MD 110 (50) 5. MD 120 (55) I saw some familiar faces, among whom were BC members like Oldhand. During the first day, the 'girls', largely dressed in red and pink, from SSC gave a demostration of their cheerleading dance with the pompom and got all their male admirers excited. It was all in good fun amidst some very tough but friendly competition.
uncle loh, heard that the famous chinese actor mc king who act as san wan in just in singapore, died earlier this year? what's the cause of the death? i'm really shock and sad at the same time to know this.!
This is interesting as we are seeing a difference in opinion among fellow Singaporeans. But such numbers are too small. What I am really surprised is the almost total absence of other opinions/inputs from more Singaporeans. A diversity of opinions will actually enhance Singapore's true image and soul; a lack of it only means everybody thinks its best to shut up.
Oh my Li Ning Wood N90 racket!!!!... *gasp*...am i seeing a pic of Oldhand there?!?!?!..does Oldhand know abt his pic being posted in BC?!?!?!..
I don't follow his acts, but I understand he is quite young and he died of heart attack. Unfortunately there are a few cases of late of seemingly healthy and young people dying suddenly, mainly from heart attack.
