WEEKLY ROUND-UP: Sports happenings in Singapore (21-27 Sept)

SINGAPORE — Here is a round-up of sports events and developments in Singapore in the past week (21-27 September):

LCS Football Academy earns AFC one-star endorsement

The Lion City Sailors (LCS) Football Academy announced on Thursday (24 September) that it has received endorsement from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as a one-star academy, the first academy in Singapore to earn the endorsement.

The grading is part of AFC’s Elite Youth Scheme aimed at lifting development programmes in member nations. There are three tiers of academy grading – one-star, two-star and three-star – with academies rated on 20 performance categories spanning across administration, facilities and programmes, as well as player-centric factors such as welfare, psychology and education.

One-star academies are recognised for having put in place basic essential ingredients required for an elite youth academy. Only two academies in Asia have received a three-star rating: Aspire Academy in Qatar, and South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC Academy.

LCS Football Academy’s one-star grading was a key factor in the Football Association of Singapore passing AFC’s 11-point evaluation criteria and recognised as a full member of the Elite Youth Scheme.

Live stream session with Arsene Wenger on 13 Oct

Singapore football fans can look forward to a live stream and book launch session with former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, presented by The Arts House and British production company Fane.

Wenger, who is the chief of global football development for world governing body Fifa, will be sharing tales of his trophy-laden, 22-year management of the Gunners, as well as his vision for propelling football to the global stage.

The 70-year-old Frenchman’s autobiography “My Life in Red and White” will also be on sale at the session.

The live stream session will be at 1.30am on 13 October, and will be available to view up to 48 hours after the event has ended. Tickets – $30 for the live stream session, and $46 for the live stream and Wenger’s book – are available on the Sistic website.

‘Love is Hope’ fitness charity event on 4 October

A total of 25 fitness instructors, together with 18 participants from SportCares, will be aiming to raise S$25,000 For Children’s Cancer Foundation through a charity event “Love is Hope” on 4 October. The event is a ground up effort by Fitness For Good, a fitness volunteer group formed by fitness instructors.

During the Zoom event, which will be graced by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, there will be activities such as KpopX, Fight Do and Zumba from 10am to 12.30pm for donors. The virtual session can host up to 500 participants at any one time.

Participants can donate any amount and they will be given a zoom link to participate in the activities.

AFF Suzuki Cup to be held in April/May 2021

The 2020 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, which was originally scheduled to be held from November to December, will now be held from 11 April to 8 May next year.

In a media release on Friday (25 September), the AFF said the decision was taken with a “firm intention” to stage the tournament in its full format – played on a home-and-away basis across the qualifying nations in Southeast Asia – pending conditions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In consultation with the region’s football federations and other relevant authorities, the AFF Suzuki Cup task force committee has determined that the above dates work best to accommodate the domestic football schedules,” AFF president Khiev Sameth said in the media release.

Ellen Lee re-elected as STTA president for 4th term

Ellen Lee was re-elected as president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) for a fourth and final term on Saturday (26 September).

Lee said in a media release that future plans for the association include: grooming more local talents to represent Singapore at major Games, enhancing communications with athletes and parents, and enhancing the association’s governance compliance with policy rules.

A total of 19 members were elected to the STTA management committee from 2020 to 2022, including Sembawang GRC Member of Parliament Poh Li San.

Donate used sports shoes for sports infrastructure materials

Sport Singapore (SportSG) has partnered materials science company Dow in a project to transform used sports shoes into materials for building jogging tracks, fitness corners and playgrounds.

Title “Others see an old shoe. We see the future”, the project aims to recycle 300,000 pairs of used sports shoes and divert them away from landfill over the next three years. The rubberised soles and midsoles are then ground into rubber granules that are used as a material to build sports infrastructure.

A shoe collection drive was launched on World Environmental Health Day on Saturday (26 September), whereby the public can contribute used sports shoes to the project.

They can choose to drop their used sports shoes at any of the 30 collection points including participating ActiveSG sport centres and stadiums, Decathlon stores, JD Sports stores and more than 30 education institutions in Singapore. The collection drive will end on 30 November.

More information of the project can be found here.

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