Sport in Singapore


Singaporeans participate in a wide variety of sports for recreation as well as for competition. Popular sports include football, basketball, cricket, rugby union, swimming, badminton, and cycling. Many public residential areas provide amenities like swimming pools, outdoor spaces and indoor sport centres, with facilities for badminton, squash, table tennis, gymnastics, indoor basketball and volleyball, among others.
Since Singapore is an island, Singaporeans also enjoy many water activities including sailing, kayaking and waterskiing. There is also a number of avid recreational scuba divers, a prominent diving spot being the southern island of Pulau Hantu, famous for its coral reefs.
Football is arguably the most popular spectator sport. Singapore has its own professional football league, known as the Singapore Premier League. Launched in 1996, it consists of 10 teams competing against one another. Each team has its own home stadium, which are mostly located in heartland towns. In 1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012, the Singapore national football team were champions in the AFF Championship, the premier football competition in Southeast Asia.
Singapore's athletes have performed well in regional and international competitions, especially in table tennis, badminton, sepak takraw, bowling, sailing, silat, swimming and water polo. To date, Singapore has won a total of one gold, two silver and two bronze Olympic medals. Singapore has also amassed a total of 41 gold, 59 silver and 117 bronze medals at the Asian Games.

Recreational

Favourite Singaporean sports include outdoor sports, such as soccer, basketball, cricket, swimming, sailing, as well as various indoor sports like table tennis and badminton. Most Singaporeans live in public residential areas with amenities, such as public swimming pools, outdoor basketball courts and indoor sport complexes located in the vicinity. Since Singapore is surrounded by water, water sports, such as sailing, kayaking and water skiing are popular.

Domestic competition

Singapore has its own soccer league, the S-League, formed in 1994, currently comprisin 12 clubs, including foreign teams. Other foreign clubs are interested in joining. The Singapore Slingers joined the Australian National Basketball League in 2006, which they left in 2008. They are one of the inaugural teams in the ASEAN Basketball League founded in October 2009. Beginning in 2008, Singapore started hosting a round of the Formula One World Championship. The race was staged at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in the Marina Bay area and became the first night race on the F1 calendar and the first street circuit in Asia.

Government-sanctioned programs

The Government of Singapore sanctions a variety of sports-based programs for Singapore's education system in addition to normal physical education. The National Physical Fitness Award was introduced in 1982, a scheme which requires the mandatory participation of all students within primary and secondary education. The scheme gives awards for a variety of physical tests for endurance, cardiovascular fitness and strength, including a medium-distance run of 1.6 or 2.4 kilometres for primary and secondary students respectively, and the results are reflected in each student's report book. As such, although gaining an award is not mandatory, students are often pressured to do so.
In addition, the government sponsors the Singapore Sports School which opened on 2 April 2004, combining a secondary school curriculum with professional training in each student's preferred sport, in an attempt to nurture future generations of sportsmen and sportswomen. The concept behind the Sports School is that sporting talent should not be compromised when striving for academic excellence.

Youth Olympic Games

On 21 February 2008 the International Olympic Committee announced that Singapore won the bid to host the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. Singapore beat Moscow in the final by 53 votes to 44. On 15 September 2010, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports Teo Ser Luck announced that Singapore will start off the Singapore Biennale Games initiative to keep up the Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010 Legacy, to be held every 2 years, starting from year 2011.
Singapore has also performed well in subsequent editions of the Youth Olympic Games. To date, the country has won a total of 2 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Singapore sent its first 3 winter sport athletes to the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics held in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Rugby union

Rugby was introduced to the British colony of Singapore in the late nineteenth century. It has had a steady presence since the beginning of the 20th century, when the Malay Cup between Singapore national rugby union team and Malaya was established, which is one of the oldest rugby competitions in the world.

List of achievements

Badminton

Cuesports

In 2005, the Singaporean team won the Asian Netball Championship with a win over the Malaysian team with a score of 53–39 at the Finals.

Pétanque