SEA Games 2015 ticket sales ‘overwhelming’

SINGAPORE — The organisers of the 2015 South-east Asian (SEA) Games have described the speed at which tickets to the event are selling as “overwhelming”.

With a week to the start of the Games on June 5, tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as to sports such as fencing, volleyball, swimming and wushu, have sold out. Tickets to other popular sports such as football — which kicks off tomorrow (May 29) — are also selling out fast.

At a media briefing on the Torch Parade on June 4 by the Singapore South-east Asian Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) today, SINGSOC’s chief of community and corporate outreach, Toh Boon Yi, said that extra seats had been added to the OCBC Arena halls to allow more people to watch fencing and volleyball.

“Demand for tickets is overwhelming,” Toh told TODAY. “People have come to us to ask if there are more tickets, so we have opened up more seats at the venues where tickets for the sports held there have sold out, such as the OCBC Arena halls. We have found ways to increase the number of seats for sports such as fencing and volleyball.

“It shows people are looking forward to the Games. Singaporeans are (traditionally) late ticket-buyers, but we are very happy.”

SINGSOC also revealed today that the SEA Games torch flame will be transported in a safety lantern on a bumboat, and then a dragon-boat, via the Kallang Basin to the National Stadium for its final leg.

After the torch arrives at the Sports Hub waterfront, it will be brought into the National Stadium in a torch relay involving 13 athletes. The identities of the torchbearers have been kept secret, although it is believed footballing icon Fandi Ahmad and his eldest son Irfan may have the honour of lighting the Games cauldron.

As SINGSOC wanted to engage more deeply with the community, a torch parade comprising six teams of SEA Games volunteers will bear the torch along a 2.5km route, as opposed to the traditional torch relay. The oldest volunteer is 83-year-old Charles Eu; the youngest, Jesy Chea, turns nine on June 4.

Members of the public will be able to see the torch as it makes its way around iconic landmarks in Singapore along the 2.5km route. Said landmarks include Clifford Square, Merlion Park, Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, The Float @ Marina Bay, ArtScience Museum, and Event Plaza @ Marina Bay Sands.

The Games torch also made an appearance at districts such as Jurong and Pasir Ris-Punggol last weekend, with some Team Singapore athletes taking part in the lighting of the community flame.