Archery And Fencing To Be Introduced To National School Games 2011 Broadcast On Starhub

Archery And Fencing To Be Introduced To National School Games 2011 Broadcast On Starhub's Supersports Arena Singapore

2011 Edition to Feature Team Singapore Youth Athletes and Alternative Viewing Platforms via Android and Apple iOS Applications

Singapore, 5 April 2011 - The Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and StarHub are collaborating for the second year running to broadcast the National School Games (NSG) on StarHub's sports channel SuperSports Arena (Starhub TV Channel 201), available free to all StarHub TV customers.

2. Two newly added sports, archery and fencing, will be featured in this weekly prime-time magazine show. The series will cover a total of 29 sports contested across the three age divisions in secondary schools and junior colleges. The programme will include Games highlights, interviews and results of the various competitions.

3. This year's edition will also feature student athletes who represented Team Singapore at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, 19th Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, and 16th Asian Games 2010 in Guangzhou, including Samantha Louisa Yeo Ginn (Swimming) from Raffles Girls' School and Justin Ong (Fencing) from Raffles Institution (Junior College).

4. "The Singapore Sports Council strongly believes that the National School Games facilitates the holistic development of student athletes as part of their learning experience in school. Based on the positive response received from students and parents who tuned in to last year's broadcast of the Games, we are confident that this year's programme will generate more interest among Singaporeans and inspire more students to participate in school sports," said Mr David Voth, Senior Director, Sports Marketing Group, Singapore Sports Council.

5. "The National School Games provides our students with a structured platform to showcase their sporting talents and good sportsmanship. It presents teachable moments for students to learn what fair play is, even under intense competition. In their pursuit of sporting excellence, our student athletes will apply a high level of self-discipline, focus and perseverance. They will also strive to achieve the highest standard of sportsmanship by caring deeply for themselves, others, and respecting the rules of the game. Beyond sporting excellence and character development, the Games also supports the promotion of a strong sporting culture for the nation, and we look forward to another exciting season of school sports," added Mr Ong Kim Soon, Deputy Director, Co-Curricular Activities Branch, Ministry of Education.

6. Similar to last year's format, highlights from the NSG 2011 will be broadcast by StarHub via SuperSports Arena (StarHub TV Channel 201) in a 13-part series at 9pm every Thursday, starting from 7 April 2011, with an encore broadcast at 11.30am every Sunday. There will also be a one-hour 'Best of NSG 2011' special highlight after the 13th episode, which will be aired on the same channel at 9pm on Thursday, 8 September 2011. A weekly online broadcast will commence on the following Monday after its first TV broadcast.

7. "StarHub is a firm supporter of local sports, and we endeavour to offer a bigger stage for local sporting events by airing the events on StarHub TV. This year, we are once again delighted to broadcast the National School Games on SuperSports Arena, a destination channel for local sports content, and the ideal platform to reach out to sporting enthusiasts. We hope that by showcasing our young talents in action, future generations of athletes will be inspired to excel in their respective sports and bring glory to Singapore," said Ms Sandie Lee, StarHub's Vice President of Content.

8. Weekly highlights of the NSG 2011 will also be made available through mobile devices running on Android and Apple's iOS mobile operating systems. Users can now download the weekly episodes for free via applications that are available on the Android Marketplace as well as Apple's App Store on the following Monday after the first TV broadcast of each episode. The applications, entitled 'National School Games 2011' are proudly supported by Vue Cube - a new media platform operated by Vue Networks - and will be available later this month.

9. The NSG is the umbrella event of the National Inter-School Championships for the 29 sports on the Singapore Schools Sports Council's Sporting Calendar. It is one of the highlight events for Singapore's school athletes. Approximately 34,000 student athletes from 183 schools will be competing for 174 national championship titles. About 2,600 sports officials, 1,800 school officials, 29 organisers and 16 sports advisors will also be involved.