A Games for everyone

SINGAPORE — The aim is get Singaporeans to “Celebrate the Extraordinary” at the 2015 South-east Asian (SEA) Games from June 5 to 16, and come out to catch some 7,000 athletes from the region in action across 36 sports.

That is why the Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee (Singsoc) has decided not only to keep ticket prices low from below S$10 to below S$30, but will also give sports fans free entry to about half of the 15 competition venues next year.

Bowling, triathlon, shooting, and watersport events like canoeing, rowing and sailing are likely to be open to all for free, while popular sports like football, table tennis and badminton will be ticketed events.

The public can register their expression of interest for tickets in June, with ticket sales expected to start in November.

Said Singsoc executive committee chairman Lim Teck Yin in a media update yesterday: “We went with the purpose of trying to open up as much as possible to make it (the sports) accessible. At the same time, we needed to balance people’s need to plan ahead of time and to have the assurance they can get a ticket.

“So for those venues and those sports where we know there will be heavy demand, we’ve got to find a way to manage seating capacity and we have created a ticketing policy for that purpose.”

The sporting action will also be spread out across the country, with most of the 36 sports concentrated in three clusters: Marina, Kallang and Expo.

While marquee sports such as athletics, swimming and table tennis will be held at the new S$1.33 billion Sports Hub in Kallang, martial arts at the Singapore Expo and watersports at the Marina Bay, others like bowling, gymnastics and hockey will be held in Yishun, Bishan and Sengkang respectively.

Instead of housing athletes in a traditional Games Village, some 7,500 athletes and officials will be placed in three hotel zones in Havelock, Tanjong Pagar/Chinatown, and Marina to create a “Village-in-the-city” experience for participants and spectators.

Singsoc has also planned outreach programmes to schools, a Torch Up! Grant Scheme to get the public to come up with ideas to promote community engagement, and a year-long SEA Games Open House at the Sports Hub in mid-June.

Lim added yesterday that Singsoc has hit about 50 per cent of the targeted S$50 million in cash and in-kind sponsorship.

While the budget for the 28th SEA Games will only be confirmed later this year, about 70 per cent of spending has been committed already. But Lim was quick to add that the SEA Games will cost less than the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, which saw the budget ballooning from an initial S$104 million to S$387 million.

“It will cost less than the YOG …We’re very keen to make sure we run a cost-effective Games,” he said.

“We will spend money on the essentials. We’ve learnt a lot from Myanmar (SEA Games 2013), and saw how organisers spent money where it was needed. The YOG set certain benchmarks, but were also controlled a lot by international organisations. For the SEA Games, we have a lot more leeway in deciding on certain overlays and deliveries.”

Expectations are also high for Team Singapore to deliver gold medals when the SEA Games returns after a 22-year absence. At the 1993 SEA Games, Singapore won 50 golds. Said Lim: “Let’s say that I can’t imagine getting (any) less.”

While the SEA Games Federation had initially agreed on a list of 30 sports, boxing, equestrian, floorball, petanque, rowing and volleyball are expected to earn the nod when the Federation’s council meets here on April 29 to decide on the final number of sports and events.

Where the SEA Games sports will be:

Kallang cluster: waterski, squash, tennis, archery, softball, petanque, table tennis, badminton, netball, basketball, fencing, cue sports, aquatics, athletics, football

Marina cluster: canoeing, rowing, sailing, dragonboat, cycling

Expo cluster: boxing, sepak takraw, silat, taekwondo, wushu, judo

Yishun Safra: shooting

Orchid Country Club: bowling

Singapore Turf Club: equestrian

National Shooting Centre: shooting

Bishan Sports Centre: gymnastics, football

Padang: rugby, football

Sengkang: hockey

ITE Central: floorball, volleyball

Changi Exhibition Centre: cycling

National Sailing Centre: sailing

East Coast Park: triathlon

Sentosa: Golf

(*venues subject to changes)