ASEAN Para Games picking up momentum among fans

SINGAPORE — The drive to get fans behind Team Singapore is picking up steam ahead of the Dec 3-9 ASEAN Para Games (APG). Some 50,000 spots for the APG Experience Tour — which allows individuals, schools and companies to experience some para sports first-hand and catch the action “live” — and entry spots to the 15 sports have been snapped up by fans with less than a week until the event.

Tickets to the Dec 3 opening ceremony at the Singapore Indoor Stadium — about 25 per cent of the 6,000-capacity indoor stadium was available to the public — are almost sold out. Aside from the opening ceremony, entry to all events at the APG is free.

The Singapore APG Organising Committee had targeted a “couple of hundred thousand” spectators at the Sports Hub and Marina Bay Sands for the Games, and chairman Lim Teck Yin is hopeful more fans will get behind Team Singapore’s 157-strong contingent when it kicks off.

“We are working with ActiveSG to put out the APG Experience Tour and the interest shown is in five figures already,” said Lim in an interview with TODAY. “Part and parcel of supporting a sport is understanding the sport and the skill involved. We have put in a lot of effort in education, educational videos, try-outs at the carnival, and roadshows, which are a very important part of getting people to appreciate para sports.”

Clustering of sports in the same venue will also allow for spectators to catch more than one sport.

For example, the athletics competition from Dec 4-9 will be held together with cerebral palsy football (Dec 3–7, Dec 9) at the 55,000-seater National Stadium, with events and matches staggered throughout the day to get fans to cheer on the athletes in both sports.

Fans will also be able to try out the para sports, games and activities at the APG Carnival at the Sports Hub from Saturday until Dec 9.

“We decided to play cerebral palsy football in the National Stadium because it is sheltered and weather-proof during the monsoon season,” added Lim. “And can you imagine how inspired the footballers will be if they play there? This will also synergise efforts in getting fans for athletics and football. The idea of clustering is for fans to experience as many sports as they can.”

Some 1,500 athletes from 10 countries will compete across 15 sports, with the majority of the sports to be held at Kallang (Kallang Cricket Ground, OCBC Aquatic Centre, OCBC Arena and National Stadium) and Marina Bay areas (Marina Bay Sands and Marina Bay). Shooting and bowling will be held at SAFRA Yishun and Temasek Club respectively.

The APG will also be a fitting finale for Singapore’s Jubilee year, and Lim wants Singaporeans to come out in force to rally behind the para athletes.

“My message to Singaporeans: You only have seven days to see the APG,” he said. “If you miss it, there is no next weekend as, before you know it, it will be gone.”