Singapore Named Asia's Ultimate Sports City

Singapore Named Asia's Ultimate Sports City

Quebec City, Canada, 24 May 2012 - Singapore maintained her stronghold as the best sports city in Asia after finishing in 6th place at the biennial SportBusiness Ultimate Sports City awards at this year's Sport Accord International Convention in Quebec.

2. At its first outing in 2010, Singapore placed 2nd only to Melbourne in the global Ultimate Sports Cities Awards, due in part to its successful organising of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Despite the absence of a multi-sports international competition in 2011, the republic held off strong competition from Tokyo, PyeongChang and Kuala Lumpur to retain its position as Asia's best sports city.

3. This year's top spot went to the 2012 Olympic host city, London who ended Melbourne's reign as the number one sports city for the past three consecutive awards. Melbourne finished second while fellow Australian city, Sydney came in third. New York - one of this year's biggest movers - climbed from 10th position in 2010 to 4th this year. Manchester rose from 7th in 2010 to complete this year's top five cities.

4. Awarded by SportBusiness Group, cities are assessed on a diverse range of criteria, which include the number of federations hosted, the calibre of events currently being bid for, facilities and venues, transport, accommodation, government support, security, legacy, public sports interest, quality of life and marketing. Given the global rise of digital media, judges have also included the use of social media as part of this year's evaluation.

5. "We are pleased to be named the best sports city in Asia and we are committed towards building a diverse events strategy, one that will help us create a dynamic and sustained sporting culture in Singapore," said Mr Lim Teck Yin, CEO of Singapore Sports Council, speaking from SportAccord.

6. "Looking at the results in 2010, we were always expecting the bigger cities to raise the level of competition this year. But Sporting Singapore has never let our size stand in the way of delivering first-class sporting events. In 2011, we have hosted international badminton, cycling, canoeing, golf, ironman, motorsports, netball, rugby, tennis, sailing, triathlon, table tennis and windsurfing."

7. Cities are also graded according to the number of annual sports and major events held or won between 2008 and 2016. Since 2008, Sporting Singapore has hosted a series of high-profile sports events, including the Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, which won several awards from the international motor sports industry, including the Promoter of the Year Award at the annual Federation Internationale de L'automobile (FIA) gala dinner in 2008.

8. The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games confirmed the city's standards for service excellence and innovation after successfully hosting the inaugural Asian Youth Games in 2009. In 2011, Sporting Singapore hosted three world championships, namely the World Netball Championships, International Canoe Federation's (ICF) Canoe Marathon World Championships and International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF) Women's World Cup.

9. The Republic also hosted one of the continent's most prestigious golf events, the Barclay's Singapore Open, the world short course swimming series, the FINA World Cup, and the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore achieved the IAAF Gold standard in 2011.

10. "Over the past decade, Sporting Singapore has made great progress in establishing its brand and presence globally. With the Singapore Sports Hub due to be completed in 2014; our long-term future looks even brighter than ever," added Mr Lim.