Sporting calendar comes alive as fans return in droves

WHEN tickets for the Asean Football Federation's Suzuki Cup - the region's top international football competition, which Singapore is hosting - finally went on sale last weekend, I wasted no time in logging on to snap up a pair to each of Singapore's 4 group games this month.

They were a tad pricier than I had expected - S$27 for a single adult ticket and S$86 for a package of 4 matches, inclusive of booking fees - but I was never going to miss the chance to head back to the National Stadium in Kallang to root for the Lions.

Singapore - the 4-time winner of the biennial competition, with its last triumph coming in 2012 - is in a tricky-looking Group A with regional powerhouses Thailand along with Myanmar, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.

Of course, the live atmosphere will be a far cry from what it was just a couple of years ago, when more than 50,000 fans packed the same venue and sat shoulder-to-shoulder to watch the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur play in the International Champions Cup.

The number of spectators at the Suzuki Cup will be capped at 10,000 on each match day at the National Stadium - less than 20 per cent of what the venue can accommodate. And just 1,000 people will be allowed in per match day at the 6,000-capacity Bishan Stadium, the only other stadium to be used for the Dec 5-Jan 1 tournament.

The smaller-than-usual attendances aside, it's a positive sign that the authorities have given the green light for sports events to admit more spectators; it also marks another big step towards Singapore's difficult journey towards treating Covid-19 as endemic.

Everyone, including this columnist, is praying hard that the annoying Omicron variant of the virus won't turn things topsy-turvy, but as of press time, this tournament and many other events this month are still going ahead as originally planned.

Gradual return to normalcy

When the pandemic struck nearly 2 years ago, it wiped almost the entire sporting calendar clean. Before Covid-19, Singapore was the host of dozens of sports events throughout the year - the Formula 1 night race, pre-season football matches involving the top European teams, professional wrestling shows, world-class golf and tennis tournaments, and many more.

Today, with 96 per cent of those eligible for the vaccine now fully inoculated and over 1 in 4 who have already taken a booster, the government and event organisers are working hard together to bring some of these events back, and to ensure they can be held as safely as possible.

This weekend marks probably the busiest - and most significant - one for the local sports scene. Apart from the Suzuki Cup which begins on Sunday with two games, fans can get their live sports fix at several other events.

Martial arts mania

On Friday night (Dec 3), Singapore-based mixed martial arts organisation One Championship staged its latest live event at the Indoor Stadium in Kallang, with this Winter Warriors show handpicked to be part of a government pilot scheme to allow for more relaxed safe-management measures.

Up to 500 ticket-holders were allowed at One Championship's previous shows in Singapore, and more people - all of whom needed to be fully vaccinated or to have tested negative for Covid-19 before the event - were there on Friday to catch 12 of the world's top fighters in action on the main card.

There were six bouts in all, including the women's atomweight world grand prix championship final between Thailand's Stamp Fairtex and India's Ritu Phogat. After a gruelling battle, Stamp claimed the victory and earned the right to challenge the reigning atomweight champion Angela Lee for her prized belt in 2022.

Running at the Bay

In the pre-Covid days, the annual Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon attracted as many as 50,000 professional and amateur runners for the region's marquee running event.

Last year's race was done in a virtual format, and for the 2021 edition, event organisers Ironman Group have adopted a hybrid format with in-person races too.

On Saturday and Sunday, the marathon's in-person grand finale will see up to 4,000 runners descend on The Float @ Marina Bay. Half of them are running in the 10km category, 1,000 have signed up for the 5km race, and as many as 250 teams of 4 people each are in the Toyota Ekiden.