Star power at the first ever Celebrity Sports Day

SINGAPORE — Some 2,300 people packed the OCBC Arena for the sold-out inaugural Celebrity Sports Day, organised by Mediacorp’s The Celebrity Agency, which was held on Saturday.

Fans were eager to see their favourite television stars and radio personalities participate in several sporting events, such as basketball, Captain’s Ball, sprints, a telematch and a Tug O’ War. There were also music performances by Bonnie Loo, Ian Fang and Desmond Ng; while Class 95FM’s radio duo The Muttons played hosts and commentators. The proceeds went to charity.

This Sports Day saw more than 50 local celebrities — who were split into two teams, Red and Blue. The Red Team was led by captain Tay Ping Hui, while the Blue Team was fronted by Kym Ng.

Artistes such as Elvin Ng, Aileen Tan, Rebecca Lim and Chen Tianwen were enthusiastic about the opportunity to flex their sporting muscles in front of their fans. The fans were equally enthusiastic — they turned up with banners to cheer their favourite celebrities; and some also wore the respective team colours.

The day kicked off with the basketball match — which the Red Team won 38-26. The team wasn’t as lucky for Captain’s Ball: The Blue Team eventually won after Carrie Wong successfully scored the golden goal.

But the day wasn’t without incident. Blue Team’s Belinda Lee slipped and fell during the 400m sprint; and though she wasn’t hurt, her team’s cheerleader Zoe Tay had to take her place for the subsequent telematch competition.

As for the guys, Red Team captain Tay Ping Hui pulled a shoulder muscle; while his teammate Shane Pow aggravated an old injury in his right leg, so YES 933FM DJ Jeff Goh took his place in the 100m sprint. (Unfortunately for him, it was Blue Team’s model-actor Chase Tan who won the 100m race, beating Romeo Tan by one second.)

In the end, the Red Team emerged the overall winners.

“I’m deeply humbled to be the captain of the team ... to win it on the first try is great,” said Tay after accepting the trophy.

“I think everybody got into the moment; we became quite competitive at certain points. Captain’s Ball was very kancheong and basketball was very intense ... but at the end of the day, everybody tried our best and everybody had fun,” he added.

There was more than fun: The Celebrity Sports Day managed to raise S$10,000 for NTUC Income OrangeAid in support of underprivileged children and youth.