WEEKLY ROUND-UP: Sports happenings in Singapore (2-8 Oct)

SINGAPORE — Here is a round-up of sports events and developments in Singapore in the past week (2 to 8 October):

LALIGA renews support for Unleash the Roar! project

Top Spanish football league LALIGA will continue to support Singapore's Unleash The Roar! (UTR!) project with the special focus of fostering youth development in the city-state.

It has renewed its commitment for a further three years in a presentation at its headquarters in Madrid on Thursday (5 October), attended by LALIGA president Javier Tebas and Alan Goh, chief executive officer of Sport Singapore and deputy chair of the UTR! executive committee.

LALIGA will continue to provide coaches to 12 School Football Academies and the new National Development Centres, where they will continue to implement the LALIGA methodology and philosophy. Ángel Toledano, LALIGA project coordinator in Singapore, has also been appointed head coach of the Under-16 Singapore men’s national team.

One of the initiatives already confirmed within the UTR! project for this coming season will be a training camp for a selection of U14 players from Singapore, starting on 5 November. For two weeks at the ESC LALIGA and NBA Centre in Madrid, the Singaporean players will be trained under LALIGA's methodology in the state-of-the-art centre that specialises in sports training.

The Singaporean team will play against several LALIGA EA Sports clubs’ academies and include workshop sessions for coaches. LALIGA will also be supporting the development of top young Singaporean talents who will be training under LALIGA Academy's long-term academic-sports programmes in Spain.

Nishigaya calls up Lions squad for Guam ties

Singapore national football team head coach Takayuki Nishigaya has retained the bulk of the squad called up for the September international window for the upcoming 2026 Fifa World Cup first-round qualifier against Guam.

The Lions will play Guam in the first leg at the National Stadium on Thursday (12 October), with the return leg taking place five days later in Harmon, Guam. They have been undergoing centralised training since 6 October, in preparation for the two legs.

Singapore will be boosted by the return from injury of Ilhan Fandi, who has been out of action for nine months due to a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee However, the Lions will still be without three injured stalwarts: Ryhan Stewart, Irfan Fandi and Ikhsan Fandi all of whom play for Thailand club side BG Pathum.

Ticket sales for the first leg can be purchased via the Football Association of Singapore website as well as Sistic. Fans will also be able to buy the current national-team jerseys as well as the previous 2020 jerseys at discounts off the original retail price of $115 from the official FAS e-Store by using the promo code “ROAR23” when making payment.

Singapore squad - Goalkeepers: Hassan Sunny, Syazwan Buhari, Zharfan Rohaizad. Defenders: Amirul Adli, M. Anumanthan, Jacob Mahler, Irfan Najeeb, Glenn Kweh, Lionel Tan, Christopher van Huizen, Zulqarnaen Suzliman. Midfielders: Adam Swandi, Joel Chew, Farhan Zulkifli, Hami Syahin, Hariss Harun, Shah Shahiran, Shahdan Sulaiman, Song Ui-young, Zulfahmi Arifin. Forwards: Daniel Goh, Hafiz Nor, Ilhan Fandi, Iqbal Hussain, Shawal Anuar.

Letita Sim rewrites own national record in 100m, 200m breaststroke

After setting national records in both the women's 100m and 200m breaststroke events at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Singapore swimmer Letitia Sim broke the two records again at the Berlin leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.

The 20-year-old set the new women's 200m breaststroke mark on Friday (7 October), clocking 2min 24.15sec - 0.23sec away from the A cut for the 2024 Paris Olympics - to lower her previous national record of 2:26.43 set at the Hangzhou Asian Games final. She has smashed this national record five times this year, bringing the mark down from 2:28 to this current timing.

A day later, Sim followed up her 200m feat with another national record set in the 100m breaststroke race, finishing second in the final with a time of 1:06.86, lowering the mark from 1:07.13 set in Hangzhou barely a week ago. Her new mark is just 0.07sec away from the Olympic A cut.

David Puig secures five-shot win at International Series Singapore

Spanish golfer David Puig won his maiden professional title as he strolled to a five-shot win in the US$2 million International Series Singapore at the Tanah Merah Country Club on Sunday (8 October).

The 21-year-old completed a wire-to-wire triumph after firing a final round one-over-par 73 to finish the Asian Tour event on 19-under total of 269, with South Korea's Eom Jae-woong finishing in second place after carding a 69.

American Andy Ogletree took another step closer to securing both the Asian Tour and International Series Order of Merits by closing with a 69, which featured a hole-in-one on the par-three fourth, to finish in joint-third with Thailand’s Poom Saksansin.

This was Puig's ninth start on the Asian Tour and his win moved him into second position on the International Series Order of Merit and fourth place on the Asian Tour merit list.

Singapore amateur Ryan Ang carded a 68 for a six-under total, finishing as the leading local player in a tie for 23rd.

Jeralyn Tan stuns world No.1 to win gold at World Boccia Cup

Singapore boccia player Jeralyn Tan, together with coach and competition partner Yurnita Omar, clinched a gold medal in the BC1 female individual competition at the Povoa de Varzim leg of the 2023 World Boccia Cup on Thursday (5 October).

Tan stunned the current world No.1 player, Brazil's Andreza Vitória de Oliveira, defeating her 4-2 in the final to win the gold in the Portuguese city. The victory was her second World Cup title this year, with the first won at the Montreal leg held in April.

Tan started playing boccia in 2008 as a student at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore School. Since 2010, she has represented Singapore at various Games, and only got her breakthrough in 2021, when she won a gold medal at the World Boccia Asia-Oceania Regional Championships. She is currently the only BC1 female national boccia athlete in Singapore.

Singapore Para Bowling International saw about 60 participants

About 60 para bowlers from eight countries took part in the Singapore Para Bowling International tournament at Temasek Club from Thursday to Saturday (5 to 7 October). The tournament is jointly organised by the Singapore Disability Sports Council and the Bowling Association for the Disabled (Singapore).

The competition marked the third time that Singapore is playing host to international para bowlers, with the previous editions in 2018 and 2019.

Team South Korea came in first place, with 15 golds, eight silvers and four bronzes, while Team Czech Republic were second with four golds, one silver and one bronze. Team Singapore finished in third place with two golds, eight silvers and six bronzes, with Mohamed Ismail Hussain earning both golds and two silver medals.

The tournament also provided an opportunity for the public to better understand the sport of para bowling. Nearly 100 students, including pre-schoolers as young as four years old, signed up for learning journeys to the event, as they took part in blindfolded and seated bowling to simulate the challenges faced by visually- and physically-impaired bowlers.

Over 3,500 participants for Cigna Healthcare/HYROX Singapore

Over 3,500 fitness enthusiasts took part in the inaugural Cigna Healthcare/HYROX Singapore event at the National Stadium on Saturday (7 October).

The Singapore edition of the global franchise combines both running and functional workout stations, where participants run 1km and do one functional workout station. This is then repeated through eight stations: SkiErg, Sled Push, Sled Pull, Burpee Broad Jumps, Rowing, Farmers Carry, Sandbag Lunges and Wall Balls.

Here are the winners of each category:

• Singles pro - Men: Gabe Heck. Women: Alice Schürer.

• Singles open - Men: Karim Hegazy. Women: Maire McGinley

• Doubles - Men: Ian Deeth, Tony Van Eck. Women: Sarah Cole, Kelly Newton. Mixed: Ande Mcdonald, Andy Nicholson.

The next HYROX race in the Asia Pacific region takes place in Hong Kong on 25 and 26 November.

Toa Payoh Sport Centre to close on 31 Oct for new egional sport centre

Toa Payoh Sport Centre will close on 31 October to make way for the construction of a new regional sport centre, as part of the Toa Payoh Integrated Development project which will also include a polyclinic, a library and a regional town park. The project is expected to be completed by 2030.

As part of a transition plan that started earlier this year, other ActiveSG sport centres such as Bishan and Jalan Besar will support residents, instructors, athletes and coaches from Toa Payoh Sport Centre with alternative facilities.

A closure event was held at the Toa Payoh Sport Centre on Sunday (8 October) for residents to come together to commemorate the centre’s rich sporting heritage. Advisors to Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Marymount SMC - Chee Hong Tat, Gan Siow Huang, Saktiandi Supaat and Chong Kee Hiong - were also present at the event to take part in the sporting activities and engage with the residents.

KASM appoints seven new board members

Kallang Alive Sport Management (KASM), responsible for the iconic Singapore Sports Hub, announced on Monday (2 October) the appointment of seven new members to its board of directors. They will serve a two-year term, from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2025.

The new members appointed to the KASM board are:

• Professor Chong Yap Seng (senior consultant of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, National University Hospital; Dean of Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore)

• Nicholas Chua (chief executive officer, Ho Bee Land)

• Goh Shufen (co-founder and principal of R3)

• Kuok Meng Ru (CEO and founder, Caldecott Music Group; CEO, NME Networks; CEO, BandLab Technologies)

• Lam Chee Weng (CEO, Singapore Pools)

• Derek Lau (CEO, Heliconia Capital Management)

• Jonathan Ng (executive director, Far East Organisation; director, Yeo Hiap Seng)

They will join existing members: Keith Magnus (chairman, KASM), Dr Lee Tung Jean (deputy secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth), Alan Goh (CEO, Sport Singapore), Quek Swee Kuan (CEO, KASM).

Singapore delegation visits US on Sports Visitor program

The United States Embassy in Singapore welcomed back on Monday (2 October) 14 Singaporeans who were on a two-week Sports Visitor program to the US from 20 August to 3 September.

As part of the Building Coach Capacity and Safe Sport Environments Program, the delegation from Sport Singapore (SportSG), National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI), and Singapore Disability Sports Council visited organisations including the US Olympics and Paralympics Training Center, the US Center for SafeSport, and Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport.

They engaged in workshops, trainings and discussions with prominent US sports professionals such as retired professional soccer player Tony Sanneh as well as policymaker Diana DeGette, who is an active advocate for safe sport in the US.

Managed by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, the Sports Visitor program brings youth athletes, coaches and administrators to the US for sports-based exchanges that enhance cross-cultural understanding and open avenues of dialogue between individuals and nations.

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