| Who will be cheering for our AYG athletes? |
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I am glad that despite the pall cast by H1N1 and the effect it has had on the participation of some teams, the Games WILL go on as planned. The organizers are pulling out all the stops to ensure the safety of the youthful participants, most of whom are stepping on our shores for the first time. While the Singapore Sports School and sporting fraternities are all abuzz about the AYG, the mood elsewhere seems rather low-key. If not for the fact that my child is also involved in the AYG – albeit as performer in the Opening Ceremony rather than as a sportsman – I might not be showing much interest in it either. The Games are hardly the stuff of kopitiam chitchat and ticket sales – while starting to pick up – are still slow, though organizers are optimistic of good turnouts at the events. There’re just too many things to think about right now – H1N1, economic woes, neverending sales and hot deals that retailers are churning out as part of the GSS, even the sudden death of Michael Jackson - global pop icon, who commanded enough of a following here that hundreds came together at Hong Lim Park last night to pay tribute to him. Maybe we can put this down to the usual lack of interest in anything that doesn’t contribute to our own personal bottomline. But for our own boys and girls, and the visiting youth, it IS a huge deal. Even for Singapore, mass event organizer extraordinaire, it is worthy to note that this is the first sporting extravaganza since the 1993 South-east Asian Games. I believe that schools will take advantage of bulk discounts for tickets and go all out to support their students who are part of team Singapore – good for them! I hope that the events will also see their fair share of walk-in spectators. If there is an AYG event happening at a stadium or school near you, why not take that hour or two to rally behind our young sportsmen and sportswomen. A healthy crowd of supporters may just be what they need to push their performance to new heights. Do you agree that the majority of Singaporeans cannot be bothered that we are hosting the inaugural Asian Youth Games? Do you plan on attending any of the AYG sports events? Tell us what you think, we would like to hear from you. Comments (4)
  written by Mai Tai, June 29, 2009
Yes I think most cannot be bothered unfortunately unless they are the parents of the participants. There does not seem to be much publicity as well on the athletes and competitive events. Anyway I shall give moral support to all that have spent the time and effort to train for AYG. Go young (future) Olympians go!
 written by Yap, July 01, 2009
I support the AYG, but only from afar; I won't be attending any of the events. That sense of sporting spirit is missing in the reason Singapore is organising the games.
I feel that if we're serious about promoting sports per se, instead of it being the usual governmental do-it-for-economic-reason push (think: we wannabe a sports hub!), we have to embrace all sports, and in the right spirit. For example, in the recent Special Olympics, which I was involved with as a volunteer, where's the publicity and rah-rah and support? Are our "special" athletes less deserving than our able-bodied ones? It's nice to see an intellectually-disabled athlete as one of the torch-bearers, but isn't he/she just a token? Is he/she actually participating in any event? If we can give equal support to all such events, I'll be more inclined to believe and feel that we truly have the right sporting spirit.
 written by Gertrude The Runner, July 03, 2009
First of all let me say how proud I am that we are staging the AYG.However what we have witnessed is our inability to ensure that the events run smoothly ( with no glitches.....checks on athletes for fever and reverting with the results after so many hours and about an hour before the heats etc.,) We talk about supportingour athletes and the event and yet all marketing efforts seem amateurish ... no frequent run-up to the programme, the list of events for the day in the sports section is so minute that you'd have to use a magnifying glass, why couldn't we have a supplement / pull-out for the AYG? As for Principals saying that it clashes with curriculum time etc., it is about time we tried exercising sportsmanship attitude and if this fails , make it compulsory for every school to send a batch of students along with their school bands....create some din and "roar"!! The list can go on....let's get our basics right - attitude, aptitude and being non apathetic....only then can we truly look forward to putting on a show of pride and gaiety in next year's Youth Olympics.
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The Asian Youth Games will officially kick off today with the Opening Ceremony at the Singapore Indoor Stadium tonight. As of this moment, the torch relay that began at dawn yesterday is in its final quarter. Today, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, veteran national discus thrower James Wong, Singapore's AYG swimmer Quah Ting Wen and Benson Tan, an intellectually-disabled athlete are among the 200 torch-bearers who will see the relay to completion at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
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Doesn't matter if we host the game or someone else does it, more importantly I think the focus is on our representing athletes performing well and consistently under any circumstances home and away.
Our country have been known for "import" athletes. Are we truly promoting and nurturing home-grown athletes or just offering citizenship to those foreign talents to "lure" them over to cover up our flawed ability to produce true blue athletes?