Showing posts with label Asian Youth Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asian Youth Games. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Lessons from AYG
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| WHERE ARE THE FANS? Empty stadiums were a common sight during the Asian Youth Games. TNP PICTURE: JOYCE LIM |
AYG ORGANISERS initially closed all training sessions to the media, making them closed-door affairs. This made it impossible for media to drum up public interest in the competition, especially with the football preliminaries starting. The New Paper even had to ask foreign team managers themselves for where and when their teams were training, as AYG organisers weren't providing information a day before the competition started. After that story, organisers opened up. SWITCHING of football matches at the last minute at Temasek Polytechnic (and not because of the H1N1 cases at that time), caused confusion among fans who turned up for the wrong games. There was no alert to the media or the public regarding the switches, as early as the day before. At Jurong Junior College, fans turning up, weren't even told that the Hong Kong-Saudi Arabia game had been cancelled due to the four H1N1 cases within the Hong Kong team. Drinks were unavailable at school venues, as water bottles were confiscated to prevent missile launching. There has to be better drinks availability for fans next year. AYG ORGANISERS - including public relattions agency Fulford - took criticism positively from start to end, and genuinely tried not to repeat mistakes. They apologised for the fixture mix-up and took steps for greater transparency, like e-mailing and texting advance notices of rescheduling matches to the media for public announcements. FOUR members of the Brunei contingent were stranded for more than three hours before they could check into their hotels and had to change clothes in a public toilet. They were also not given AYG accreditation passes. AYG organisers said it was due to a miscommunication. SINGAPORE'S Under-14 football team - in their first game against Iran - had no names printed on the back of their jerseys, leaving interested local fans clueless as to the future stars they were supposed to look out for. An FAS spokesman said this was not an oversight, but the coach added that it would have been nice to have names on the jerseys, and some players agreed with The New Paper as well. For the next game against Thailand two days later, the Cubs sported jerseys with their names newly printed. Fans later came to mark Jeffrey Adam Lightfoot and Hanafi Akbar as possible stars of Singapore soccer in the next 10 years. A REPORTER from The New Paper was prevented from speaking to the South Korean players during their training session at Temasek Polytechnic. The team's local liaison officer said that the instructions he had been given, since the start of the tournament, were to direct all media queries to the media centre. The New Paper had to leave the training ground without much of a match preview. This, after the previous policy of barring media from attending training sessions had been scrapped by organisers. Yet another example of miscommunication at the ground level. FOR THE Singapore-Thailand match at Jalan Besar stadium which can hold up to 6,000 people, there were fewer than 500 going by The New Paper's count. Several schools whose students are participating in AYG, hadn't made arrangements for their students to go down to the game venues to watch. Students had to go down to the game venues on their own accord. Singapore Sports School then turned out in droves over the next few days at various events to show support. AYG ORGANISERS claimed that a sell-out crowd of more than 150 spectators watched the first day of the diving finals. But when The New Paper visited the venue later that day, we found only 50 spectators without AYG passes. There was a possibility that those with tickets had failed to turn up. At other events, it took only till the end, over the weekend, when the events saw better crowd turnout. SIX OF 10 schools spoken to had not made any special arrangements for their students to catch the action at the various venues. They cited clashes with the schools' curriculum after the return from school holidays, examinations and fears over the Influenza A (H1N1) virus. As such, the majority of youth were missed from the Games. FEMALE athletes from Bahrain and Kuwait, participating in the 3-on-3 basketball event, were told that they were not allowed to take part while wearing a hijab (headscarf). In total, four athletes - three from Bahrain and one from Kuwait - donning the hijab were not allowed to take the court as they were deemed to be not properly attired. Bahrain's chef-de-misson managed to convince OCA officials to allow them to wear the hijab and play. But in yet another case of miscommunication at the ground level - possibly the AYG's biggest bugbear - this change in rules was not communicated to Kuwait. BAD SAND at the beach volleyball tournaments is unforgiveable if it injures participants. Singapore coach Teo Chiek Shan had to spend three hours at Singapore General Hospital's A&E Department on the night before the Singapore boys' big match against Oman last Friday. He got a nasty cut from a wooden splinter at Court Four. Better sand might have helped Singapore's cause, just as more funding and support would. |
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
WE WILL BE READY BY 2016
THINK table tennis in Singapore, and the names rattled off belong to China-born Singapore citizens like Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei.
They were Singapore's stalwart silver medal-winning team from last year's Beijing Olympics, coming in second to China.
If China boast the cream of the crop in table tennis talent around the world - even with so many countries importing Chinese players - what hope do Singapore stand if they are to challenge China themselves?
The answer lies in Singapore's very own youth team at the Asian Youth Games.
They are all born and bred here.
The quartet of Clarence Chew, 14, Tay Jit Kiat, 14, Isabelle Li, 15, and Chau Hai Qing, 15, won a bronze in the mixed team event last week.
Table tennis will be played again at next year's Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
Commitment
Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president Lee Bee Wah told the media earlier this year, that if this all-Singaporean YOG team continue to show the same amount of commitment and determination - together with support from their parents - they may be ready to represent Singapore at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Overall, three of Singapore's four young paddlers were shown the exit before the singles quarter-finals at the Asian Youth Games (AYG) last week. Isabelle was the only one to reach the singles' quarter-finals.
But our born-and-bred in Singapore players managed to give their stronger Chinese opponents a run for their money.
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When Clarence, was up against China's top world junior - Yin Hang - in Round 16 of the boys' singles, he managed to force the latter to commit a number of unforced errors to take the second set.
Clarence fought hard and managed to catch Hang off-guard with a series of fast smashes. But Hang ultimately nicked the win.
'I won one set. I will try to win more in future,' Clarence told The New Paper.
Singapore's youth team's coach Xu Xiangdong said these young made-in-Singapore players will be ready to represent the country by the 2016 Olympics.
Opportunities
He noted: 'By 2016, our local-born players will have a lot more opportunities.
'With the current system and normal progress and with no major accidents, we will see good results by then. We'll have one or two good players who will be ready to take on the Chinese players.
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'We still have time to groom our players and we will catch up with China.'
Sunday, July 5, 2009
女泳将柯婷文为我国再添金
新加坡体育健儿昨天在首届亚洲青年运动会上继续表现不俗，继前天获得2金3铜后，昨天再进账另五枚奖牌，收获1金4铜。
其中，16岁女泳将柯婷文展现惊人的后劲，在最后关头超越原本领先的韩国对手，勇夺女子200米自由泳金牌。
我国游泳队昨天总共贡献了四枚奖牌。除了柯婷文之外，何如恩、邱湕颖和黄凯伟也在游泳池中增添了三枚铜牌。
新加坡体育学校的短跑健将沙赫里尔则在男子100米决赛中，以11秒13的成绩添加另一枚铜牌。
另一方面，乒乓小将李思韵和周哲宇虽然在混合团体半决赛中以0比2不敌实力强大的中国队，但还是与中华台北分享铜牌。这枚铜牌将在下星期一所有的乒乓项目结束后才颁发。
新加坡亚青运代表团擎旗手柯婷文，昨天首次在游泳赛中亮相，自然成为众人和媒体的焦点。她在女子200米自由泳决赛中碰上实力强盛的韩国泳手金贞慧，在前150米的比赛中一直处于落后劣势。
不过，柯婷文没有忘记游泳队总教练林方育之前的指示，在比赛开始时先保留一些体力，到最后阶段才全速冲刺。果然，柯婷文在家人、队友和现场观众的支持下，最后50米快速前进，最终以1分59秒21夺得我国游泳赛的第二枚金牌，也是我国在整个赛会的第四枚金牌。
柯婷文也凭此成绩改写了这个项目的全国纪录，旧纪录为2分00秒14，是她上个月才创下的。
金贞慧以1分59秒93获银牌，另一韩国选手金瑞英则以2分01秒92获得铜牌。
柯婷文赛后说：“我在最后一程的时候其实觉得有些紧张，幸好队友和新加坡人的支持鼓舞了我。参加今天这场决赛的选手实力都很强，大家都游得很快，都有获胜的机会。
“这枚金牌对我而言非常重要，因为这是我在亚青运的第一场比赛，而且又是我的强项之一。能够夺得金牌，这种感觉真的是太美妙了。”
柯婷文承认，她在赛前并非完全有把握能夺得金牌。她说：“到了热身时，我的感觉才变得好一些。无论如何，现在拿下了第一枚金牌，我有一种如释重负的感觉。”
柯婷文接下来还会参加50米、100米自由泳、4X100米自由泳和混合泳接力，有望继续为我国添加奖牌。
在其他游泳决赛中，何如恩和邱湕颖分别获得了女子和男子50米蛙泳铜牌，而队友黄凯伟随后也在男子100米仰泳决赛中添加另一枚铜牌。
截至昨天为止，我国总共已获得4金9铜，在荣誉榜上暂时排名第六。
男子100米决赛 体校生为我国添铜牌
最后一天的亚青运田径场上继续飘扬起新加坡国旗。在男子100米决赛中，新加坡体育学校的沙赫里尔以11秒13的成绩获得一枚铜牌。尽管他对比自己最好的10秒88慢了0.25秒的成绩不是很满意，还是很高兴能为新加坡赢得荣誉。
离比赛开始还有一段时间，吴沁谕、梁惠欣还有林俊廷就早早地坐在了运动员席上，为队友加油。“你们看好今天哪个队友的比赛？三人几乎是异口同声地回答：沙赫里尔。林俊廷更是把握十足地说，他定能拿到奖牌！
林俊廷参加本届亚青运男子400米赛，获得第六名。与他交谈后，发觉他对沙赫里尔真的很了解，就像他是的手足：“我们都在体育学校读书训练，尽管他是马来人，但我们平时就是很要好的朋友，很谈得来。而现在选手村又住同屋。”
八名选手站在了男子100米的起跑线上，沙赫里尔处在第三道。这是一条紧靠同组实力最强的选手的位置，有压力也有动力。可以说前80米的过程中，他都将压力转化为了动力，几乎与在第五道最后夺冠的日本选手梨元正己并驾齐驱。
只是进入最后冲刺的关键时刻，一直处在第二位的沙赫里尔因体力下降没能保住优势，被第八道的泰国选手彼拉克萨以0.02秒的优势抢走亚军荣誉。对此他有点失望：“本来我可以跑到第二，可能是有点紧张吧。”
而俊廷在看了队友的比赛后，也表达了同样的看法。俊廷说：“赛前沙赫里尔变得很安静，不喜欢跟别人说自己的目标，只想让自己更集中精神。我没有和他 说什么，他到过美国、德国、泰国等国家参加比赛，都能获得前三名，所以他的比赛经验要比我多。不过他对我说自己有一点点的紧张。”
体育学校曹惠玲主任对本报表示，赛前就认为他应该拿第二名。他去年获得过国际田径锦标赛15岁以下组的冠军。本届比赛他的报名成绩仅次于日本选手的10秒65，所以他获得这枚奖牌并不意外。只是他自己肯定不会满意。”
据曹主任介绍，已读中四的沙赫里尔不仅训练刻苦，而且在学习上也非常出色，在学校属于精英。他目前是新加坡最好的短跑选手，大家都对他寄予很高的期望。
而俊廷更是了如指掌地说，沙赫里尔家里还有两个姐姐，他是家中唯一的男孩。父母都非常支持他，只要在本地有他的比赛就会到场观看。
沙赫里尔也很要强，他说会克服困难，下周参加国际青年田径锦标赛进一步锻炼，然后争取参加明年的青奥会和亚运会。
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Bowling's mother hen and her golden chicks
A MOTHER hen will do anything in her power to protect her chicks.
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| GOLDEN DUO: SingaporeBowling president Jessie Phua (far left) with the AYG doubles gold medal-winning team of K. Darshini (middle) and New Hui Fen. TNP PICTURES: JOYCE LIM PICTURES TAKEN USING A CANON EOS1000D |
She would hover over them, and if outsiders try to get close to her chicks she would probably peck at them, drive them away.
Those are just the instincts of a mother hen.
And that is why The New Paper would liken Jessie Phua - SingaporeBowling president - to being the 'mother hen' in her sport.
The outsiders would be the media.
And Phua's protected chicks?
In this ongoing Asian Youth Games (AYG), those chicks would be the girls' doubles gold medal-winning duo of New Hui Fen and K Darshini, who were the stars of the bowling alley yesterday.
Since Phua came to office in 2002, she has maintained a strict policy of keeping the media at bay before and during competitions.
No individual interviews, she would insist.
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But you can interview the team, as a group, to ease the pressure on the individuals.
For journalists who like to zoom in on different bowlers individually, this policy makes their job difficult.
Sometimes, even the chance to gain some rare but valuable publicity for a group of unknown teenagers, is lost.
But Phua is not about to please the outsiders.
Say what you like about her controversial policy but she continues to deliver the golden chicks of Singapore bowling, year after year.
Yesterday, Hui Fen, 17 and Darshini, 16, clinched the second gold medal for Singapore in the girls' doubles bowling event at Orchid Country Club.
Hui Fen had created headlines the day before, for being the first Singaporean to win gold at the AYG.
A few days before the AYG bowling competition, even media interviews of the team were banned by SingaporeBowling.
The youngsters were also not allowed to go to shopping malls or even to catch a movie.
Television, radio and even newspapers were kept out of their reach the moment they set foot into the Games Village, Swissotel the Stamford.
Hardline
Bowling's 'Mother Hen' took pains to explain her hardline measures to The New Paper after a second consecutive day of success.
Phua said: 'I know I may seem a little over-protective of them by placing an embargo on the team from speaking to the media during the competition.
'But if they see themselves on the front page of the newspapers, they'll feel more pressure to live up to certain expectations. What we always tell them is 'just be yourself'.
'On the technical aspects, I am in no position to manage the team. But I know the edge for us will be in the management of their emotions.'
Make that a 'gold medal' for Phua on emotional management for her young bowling chicks.
And so far, the chicks have appeared calm throughout the competitions, even with high profile ministers hoping and willing them on in the background.
Phua added that she has seen too many examples of athletes failing to perform after being shadowed by the media.
'Like how a Chinese shooter was being followed from his home to the training ground and later to the competition where he failed to perform at his best,' Phua said.
But Phua did admit there are some positives to media publicity, especially when the bowlers representing Singapore are unknown teenagers.
She agreed with The New Paper that, sometimes, athletes who see their stories appear in the newspapers can have their spirits lifted by the report and have their confidence levels boosted for their next competition.
But that's not all.
Phua said: 'We will even ask our bowlers if they want to know how their rivals are scoring in other lanes.
'Some of them want to know, some don't. Our coaches know how to best motivate them.
'But once the ball has been rolled, the head coach overrules me. I will just be their biggest cheerleader.'
Till the fanfare dies down next week, Singapore bowling's 'Mother Hen' will be guarding her precious golden chicks as best as she can.
Go to twitter.com/thenewpaper and tnppostman.com for TNP's AYG updates, pictures and videos.Lynette bags gold
SWIMMER Lynette Lim bagged the first gold in swimming for Singapore yesterday.
She clocked an impressive 4min 14.25sec for the girls' 400m freestyle final at the Singapore Sports School.
It was more than seven seconds faster than her closest competitor, Benjaporn Sriphanomthorn from Thailand, who clocked 4:21.63 and had to settle for silver.
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Lynette's winning time is close to a four-second improvement from her results in the heats yesterday morning.
The beaming 17-year-old said: 'I really didn't expect to win. I just went in and gave everything.
'Stephanie Au from Hong Kong (who finished third) had previously clocked a much better time than I did .
'I guess I just got lucky.'
Lynette also bettered her own personal-best timing of 4:16.42, set last year.
If 'lucky' is how Lynette describes such a slicing off her personal best, The New Paper wonders how much faster she could have gone if she didn't need any luck.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Singapore bags 2 more AYG golds
Dominant wins for swimmer Lynette Lim and bowling duo of New Hui Fen, Darshini Khrishna
HOSTS Singapore continued their golden run yesterday, a day after winning their first Asian Youth Games (AYG) gold medal.
It snared two more golds with dominant performances from the bowling girls' doubles team of New Hui Fen and Darshini Khrishna, as well as swimmer Lynette Lim.
At the Orchid Country Club late yesterday morning, Hui Fen and Darshini stormed to victory by leading from their first game to the last, beating silver medallists Sathean Tanaprang and Saebe Yanee of Thailand by 101 pinfalls.
Said Hui Fen, who added this gold to her singles gold on Wednesday: "The first game made us confident. We wanted to play our very best so that we would not need to hunt down the first spot."
In the evening, Lynette put up an equally convincing victory in her pet event, the 400m freestyle.
She won in 4min 14.25sec, a staggering 7.38sec faster than second-placed Thai swimmer Benjaporn Sriphanomthorn.
Singapore also added three bronzes from shooter Abel Lim (boys' 10m air rifle), hurdler Inez Leong (girls' 100m hurdles) and the boys' bowling doubles team of Brandon Lee and Christopher Hwang.
Singapore's first gold
BOWLER New Hui Fen clinched Singapore's first gold medal of the Asian Youth Games yesterday.
The pressure was on yesterday at the girls' bowling singles at Orchid Country Club.
The first game that 17-year-old New (above) bowled may have been disconcerting seeing that she only scored 192 pinfalls as compared to the highest score of the 246 by fellow Singaporean Anthea Sow.
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However New didn't give in, she kept a cool head and made an astounding comeback in the following games, scoring strike after strike.
At the end of the six games, New secured Singapore's first gold with a total score of 1,359 pinfalls.
H1N1 test result wait dashes his dream
FOR the past two months, all Zachary Ryan Devaraj could think of was the Asian Youth Games (AYG).
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| RUNNER: Zachary was part of the ACS (Independent) 4x800m relay team that won the SPH Schools Relay Championships Boys' B Division. ST FILE PICTURE |
The 14-year-old was confident of doing well in his pet event, the 800m.
But his dreams were dashed when he missed the heats at Bishan Stadium yesterday afternoon after he had to wait for his Influenza A(H1N1) test result.
He had to stay in isolation at the Games Village until the results were known and though he tested negative, the results came too late.
However, a spokesman for the Games said that the doctors advised him to rest as he had flu-like symptoms (see report right).
It all started when Zachary, who finished sixth in the 1500m final on Tuesday, was quarantined at the Swissotel the Stamford (the Games village) the same night. He said he felt 'under the weather' and had a runny nose but had no fever.
He said: 'I wanted to check that I was not infringing doping regulations if I take a Panadol.'
This triggered alarm bells. His swab was taken at 10pm on Tuesday, but he said a second swab was taken yesterday morning.
He was cleared only at 4.40pm yesterday but by the time he rushed to Bishan stadium, he was too late. The heats, which started at 4.45pm went on without him.
What Zachary is most upset about is that he would have probably qualified for tomorrow's semi-finals.
He had set a personal best time of 2min 1.04sec in the 800m at the Western Australia Little Athletics (Wala) track-and-field meet in Kuala Lumpur last weekend.
The six competitors who qualified for the 800 metres semi-finals clocked between 1min 59.30 sec and 2min 4.01 sec.
Said Zachary: 'I'm really angry. This is my pet race and I wasn't allowed to compete. This is all I've been training for. This was my dream.'
Since May, he has been working hard for the event. He said: 'When I found out I would be competing in the AYG, every thing stopped and I focused on this race.'
He intensified training.
Said Zachary, a Secondary 3 student at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent): 'I have been training six days a week and I've put everything I have into this particular race.'
He said he trained between three to five hours a day. He even had to watch his diet and take additional supplements.
Unfair
Running is everything to the boy and his parents put that first always - even at the expense of their own business.
His father, Mr Simon Devaraj, 45, and mother, Mrs Devaraj, 40, run an employment agency. Said Mr Devaraj: 'We are always there to drop him off at school and pick him up after that to send him for training.'
He added: 'Why are they so unfair to my son? Where is their Olympic spirit? Like our minister says, life has to go on with H1N1. They just crushed his dreams.'
Mrs Devaraj added: 'My husband and I left work behind last weekend to fly to KL with him for the meet.
'He had sinus issues in KL as well and took a Panadol. He's had such issues for years. They didn't quarantine him there.'
She added: 'We ensured he flew back on Sunday so that he had enough time to rest for the AYG. We take his health very seriously.
'He's given up on other pleasures. He has invested a lot of time into this. Day in day out, we see him train to achieve his dream.'Thursday, July 2, 2009
BATTLE ON THE BEACH
BRAIN and brawn. You'll need both for the AYG beach volleyball tournament, which starts today at Siloso Beach, Sentosa.
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You'll need guile and genius - for knowing when and where to run, and for predicting the opponents' moves, as you defend a 8m x 8m area with one other team-mate.
You'll need muscle and speed - for sprinting on sand, jumping for blocks and spikes, and for doing all this under the sun.
'It's not a sport where you can afford to be a pedestrian,' said Mr Teo Chiek Shan, 29, the Singapore team coach.
Compared to an indoor volleyball court, which measures 9m x 18m, a beach volleyball court is smaller at 8m x 16m.
But an indoor volleyball team has six players. A beach volleyball team has two.
The rules are straightforward: Each match consists of three sets, and each set is won by the first team to reach 21 points, with a minimum lead of two points.
The first team to win two sets wins. If necessary, a third tiebreaker set is played.
If just thinking about this makes you want to lie down with a Pina Colada, fret not. Here's our guide to playing (and looking) like a pro.
HAND signals are used by players to indicate the kind of block they intend to make.
In this sense, it is actually the non-serving player, whose back faces the team-mate who's serving, who dictates play.
Block signals differ from team to team, but there are a few basic ones.
But first of all, a couple of things to remember.
Each hand represents one opponent.
So a player's left hand represents how he intends to block the opponent on his left, and his right hand indicates how he intends to block the opponent on his right.
A '1' represents a straight block. A '2' represents an angled block.
HAND signals are used by players to indicate the kind of block they intend to make.
In this sense, it is actually the non-serving player, whose back faces the team-mate who's serving, who dictates play.
Block signals differ from team to team, but there are a few basic ones.
But first of all, a couple of things to remember.
Each hand represents one opponent.
So a player's left hand represents how he intends to block the opponent on his left, and his right hand indicates how he intends to block the opponent on his right.
A '1' represents a straight block. A '2' represents an angled block.
Here's how it works:
IN A 1-1 combination, the player is saying: I'm going to make straight blocks for both opponents.
The left half of the diagram above shows what happens when the opponent on the left spikes.
The player will make a straight block, i.e. he will block the area directly in front of the opponent. To cover the hole, his team-mate will position himself to the right.
The right half of the diagram shows what happens when it is the opponent on the right who spikes.
As before, the player will block the area directly in front of the opponent, but this time his team-mate will have to cover the hole on the left.
IN THIS 2-2 combination, the player is saying: I'm going to make angled blocks for both opponents.
If the opponent on his left is spiking, as shown in the left half of the diagram, he will block the area diagonally to the right.
His team-mate will position himself to the left.
Now look at the right half of the diagram. Here, it's an instance where it's the opponent on the right who is spiking, and the player will block the area diagonally to the left.
His team-mate will have to move to the right.
YOU CAN also combine the signals.
In this 1-2 combination, the player is saying: I'm going to make a straight block for the opponent on the left, and an angled block for the opponent on the right.
Either way, his team-mate will have to position himself on the right.
TICKET PRICES:
Tickets for all matches from today to Saturday cost $4.
Tickets for the semi-finals and final on Sunday will cost $8.
KEY FIXTURES TODAY:
BOYS
9am: Singapore v Sri Lanka
2pm: India v China
3pm: Singapore v Japan
GIRLS
10am: Thailand v Japan
11am: Singapore v Mongolia
2pm: India v China
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Where have all the fans gone?
S'pore youth soccer team loses in near-empty stadium. Fans give variety of reasons
IT JUST did not happen for Singapore - not on the field, nor in the stands.
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| NO SUPPORT: A S'porean player tussles with a Thai athlete for the ball at the Singapore-Thailand game. |
Our young footballers lost to Thailand 1-4 and were eliminated from the Asian Youth Games (AYG) soccer competition yesterday.
But the players can exit the tournament with their heads held high.
They were beaten narrowly by one of the competition's favourites, Iran, 1-2 last Saturday, before going down to Thailand yesterday.
So no shame. They lost to better teams.
But where were the fans?
Yesterday, at three in the afternoon, when the stakes were high, the fans let the players down.
They did not show up.
At Jalan Besar stadium which can hold up to 6,000 people, there were fewer than 500 yesterday, going by The New Paper's count.
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| THERE'S STILL TIME TO JOIN THE FUN: Dancers dazzle at the AYG opening ceremony last night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The Games will continue till 7 Jul. |
Despite the low ticket prices, at just $2 per person, the fans failed to show up.
This was a stark contrast to the Republic's opener against Iran which reportedly drew 2,500 spectators - almost five times more than yesterday.
Could it have been the timing of the match - played at 3pm on a working day? The Iran match had a Saturday 5pm kick-off.
If that's a reason, then it may be worrying for the rest of The Asian Youth Games - which was officially opened yesterday and will continue until 7 Jul - since the majority of the events start between 9am and 7pm.
Or could it have been the H1N1(A) Influenza - with schools and parents telling their kids to stay away from crowded places?
Perhaps it was due to the match being broadcast 'live' on television. However, the Singapore-Iran match was televised as well.
Time or, more accurately, the lack of it, seems to have been one of the main reasons for the poor turnout.
Mr Danny Nah, a 21-year-old full time national service man, said: 'I finish work only at six in the evening. Since the match was played at three in the afternoon there is no way I could have caught it.
'If they were to play at a later time, say perhaps at seven, I would have rushed down straight after work just to support our boys.'
But what about the school students? Why were they not at Jalan Besar to support their peers?
Exams coming up
Some, Daryl Aw Yeong, a 17-year-old student, said that they were too busy studying for upcoming examinations to even consider watching the match.
He said: 'I have my mid-year examinations coming up soon. They start next week. I will probably be giving the entire Asian Youth Games a miss.'
Most junior colleges and schools with integrated programmes hold their mid-year examinations immediately after the June holidays.
Others had remedial lessons.
A secondary school student who wanted to be known only as Shaan said: 'I couldn't go to the match as I had to attend remedial classes after school.'
Then there is the H1N1 fear.
Dylan Nah, 16, summed it up when he said: 'I didn't go because my school advises us to avoid going to crowded places. So avoiding a soccer match makes perfect sense.
'I would have liked to have been there to support Singapore especially since the athletes are my age. But with my 'N' levels drawing closer, I can't afford to risk getting ill.'
Secondary school and JC students were not the only ones who didn't manage to find time to watch yesterday's match.
Polytechnic student Mr Brandon Era said: 'School just re-opened. The match was on a school day.
'With my schedule, I wouldn't have been able to catch the match especially since it started at three in the afternoon.
'I'm a soccer enthusiast, but seeing how my school wouldn't take it lightly if I skipped classes I decided it would be better to just give it a miss.'
Even then there were some students who found their way into the stadium, regardless of curriculum time, remedial classes or the H1N1 scare.
These were the diehard fans of some of the players.
Said a group of five boys from a school in the east: 'We came to support our friend who is playing in the tournament, and, of course, the Singapore team.
'We came on our own accord. There have yet to be any announcement on this tournament, or the AYG, in our school.'
Not told about match
Similarly, another group of four students from a school in the west, also came in support of their teammate from their school.
Their school had banners saying that it has three athletes taking part in the AYG.
Said Nicholas de Silva, 15: 'We were not even told that one of our friends is playing today. It was only when we read The New Paper that we found out that he had a match today.
'It would help if the school is to make the announcements.'
Adults who turned up yesterday believe that the match would have attracted more fans if it had been scheduled at a more convenient time.
Mr Rohmat Hussein, 53, who works in the hotel industry, said: 'I am lucky, I had a day off. Others, who are working, really have no choice.
'Most adults would have still been working and students from the upper secondary would probably still be in class. It would have helped if the match was played in the evening.'
Another fan, engineer Gabris Chua, 39, added: 'The games should be held in the evening so that after work people can still make it down in time for the match.'
One of the players from the team said that when he walked out on the pitch and saw the dismal crowd, he asked himself why there were so few people.
His spirits were dampened when he realised the crowd was made out of mainly just friends and family.
He said: 'I heard some of the players discussing the possible reason for the low crowd turnout.
'They feel that because we lost the match against Iran nobody wants to support us.
'When we were playing against Iran the crowd's cheers spurred us on but today with the lack of support we thought we were doing badly.'
Sounding disheartened, he said: 'Who wants to support a losing team?'
Naveen Kanagalingam and Shannon Rezel, newsroom interns
For TNP's AYG updates, pictures and videos, visit twitter.com/thenewpaper or tnppostman.comWednesday, June 24, 2009
Fans weren't told match was cancelled
Some only found out after The New Paper told them that HK team had been quarantined
June 24, 2009
June 24, 2009
THEY were turned away, but not told why.
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| TURNED AWAY: Mr Sulasi leaves the college after the surprise announcement. |
Football fans headed to Jurong Junior College at 5pm yesterday to catch the Asian Youth Games (AYG) football match between Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.
But as soon as they arrived, they were told that the match had been cancelled, but weren't given a reason.
Unknown to them, the Hong Kong team was in quarantine after four of their players tested positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.
But this information was not conveyed to the fans.
This reporter - before identifying himself as one - was told the same message: The match has been cancelled but we don't know why.
Arriving at Jurong JC, a security guard immediately stopped me at the gate and said the match was cancelled.
He asked me to leave the venue.
'Everyone is leaving, no one is allowed inside,' said the 48-year-old who only wanted to be known as Steven.
When asked why, Mr Steven shrugged his shoulders and said: 'The match is just cancelled, that's it.'
Aetos auxiliary police officer Rahmat Jantan told The New Paper: 'I can't reveal to you the reason why the match was postponed. If you like, you can speak to the venue manager.'
But the venue manager was not at the JC's entrance.
Mr Rahmat also said that he and his team of eight officers arrived at the college around 2.40pm.
They were then told by the AYG venue manager that the match had been postponed.
Mr Rahmat declined to say if they were told why.
No reason given
But Mr Steven confirmed that the AYG officials he spoke to didn't tell him why the match was cancelled.
He said: 'In the half hour before the kick-off, I turned away two cars and roughly 20 people walking in, telling them that the match had been cancelled.
'But as I didn't know why myself, I couldn't give them a reason when they asked why.'
The New Paper managed to speak to some fans who had been turned away, and they all confirmed they weren't given any details.
Said Mr Anuar Aziz, 50, who was there with his wife and young son: 'They (the Aetos security officers) just told me that the match was postponed, but didn't offer me a reason.'
Another fan, Mr Sulasi Jamil, 48, also said the same thing.
The New Paper - which arrived at the scene at 5pm, after a 3.45pm press conference to announce that three players from the Hong Kong team had been confirmed with the H1N1 virus - told the fans the news.
Mr Sulasi was surprised.
He said: 'I think it is the duty of the AYG organisers to share more details with the fans who came down and get turned away because of the late cancellation.
'Especially since it's such an important reason like the H1N1 virus.'
The infected footballers are being treated at the Singapore General Hospital, while the rest of the team will be quarantined for the standard seven days at the Aloha Resort in Loyang.
The Philippine football team - already at Aloha since Saturday - tested negative for H1N1 after their latest throat swabs were taken yesterday.
But they will continue to be monitored and quarantined till Friday before being given the all-clear.
The one 14-year-old Filipino footballer who was confirmed with H1N1 on Saturday is now in the Communicable Disease Centre and is stable.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
亚青运又3香港足球员证实染病
继上周六一名前来我国参加亚洲青年运动会（AYG）的菲律宾足球员被发现感染甲型H1N1流感后，昨天又有3名香港足球员证实染病。
我国AYG组委会昨天召开临时记者会透露，3名染病的香港足球员在昨晚送入新加坡中央医院（SGH）接受治疗。
此外，共有20人因此须接受隔离，包括香港队其他13名球员、3名教练、1名队医、1名球队职员以及2名AYG组委会联系员。他们在昨晚被送入阿罗哈（Aloha）度假屋隔离中心。
组委会正在追查和香港队有接触的相关人士，同时也重申设在瑞士史丹福酒店（Swissotel The Stamford）的选手村目前没有病毒传播的危险，而村内的防范措施已加强。
AYG组委会联合主席温仁德说，现阶段赛事将按原定计划举行。
至于AYG是否有可能被迫取消，温仁德表示决定权不在于组委会，它在必要时会请示社会发展、青年及体育部（MCYS）。（联合早报）
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
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