Sports Hub has slew of events lined up for one-year milestone

The Singapore Sports Hub will host a series of activities in June and July to celebrate its first year of operations.

Dubbed the "Opening Season", it will kick off with the 28th South-east Asia (SEA) Games from June 5 to 16, with athletics, swimming, netball, basketball, table tennis and badminton hosted at various venues within the $1.33 billion facility (above).

That will be followed by several international events, such as football's Barclays Asia Trophy, as well as community events, such as learn-to-play programmes and kids' day camps.

Sports Hub chief executive officer Philippe Collin-Delavaud said yesterday: "More than 700,000 people have enjoyed themselves at events (here), and many more have utilised the free-for- public facilities or booked our venues at the Singapore Sports Hub.

"Our hardworking and dedicated team, our partners and sponsors have all played a pivotal role in getting us to this one-year milestone.

"We thank everyone for being patient with us and for supporting us. We will continue to help Singaporeans build memories at the Singapore Sports Hub."

EXCITED

Added Samuel Tsien, OCBC Bank group chief executive officer: "I am excited about the opening of its 2015 season coming up in June, especially since this will also usher in the SEA Games.

"I myself am looking forward, among much else, to catching the likes of Joseph Schooling and Tao Li as they swim for Singapore, come the SEA Games at OCBC Aquatic Centre."

OCBC is the premier founding partner of the Sports Hub.

The 35-hectare site was envisioned as a multi-use facility to help build a sporting culture, under the Committee on Sporting Singapore's masterplan more than a decade ago, and the management opted for a soft launch last June to iron out the kinks.

Since then, the Hub has housed concerts for visiting stars such as Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey and SuperJunior, along with local songbird Stefanie Sun.

It has also hosted glamour sporting events such as football's Suzuki Cup tournament, BNP Paribas Women's Tennis Association Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and the Fina World Cup.

Singapore Athletics (SA) president Tang Weng Fei said: "My wish is that SA, together with the Singapore Sports Hub, can bring about a change of lifestyle among Singaporeans, as we encourage them to exercise regularly and also enjoy the world-class events held in this majestic arena.

"We need to work closer together to maximise the Singapore Sports Hub's facilities to give our athletes the best opportunity to shine, hopefully on the Olympic stage one day."

This article was first published on April 24, 2015.
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