Singapore optimistic of its cricket future
Singapore Cricket Association (SCA) President, Imran Khwaja, believes that the time has come for cricket in Singapore to elevate itself. Speaking at a Gala Dinner hosted by the Singapore Sports Council for visiting ICC Annual Conference delegates to the nation-state, he acknowledges that the country has a bright future as a cricketing nation.
He said: "Singapore has tremendous potential in the sport, as a venue for international cricket events, and as a regional hub including, an international cricket laboratory. We have identified revenue opportunities that are available to be maximised to their fullest and ploughed back into development and facilities which will aid the growth of the sport in our country."
SCA's plans to put their country on the global sporting dovetail with the Singapore Sports Council's plans. The F1 track has been established, the inaugural Youth Olympics will be held in August and a Sports Hub for multi-purpose use to be built on the present site of the National Stadium at Kallang is due for completion in 2014.
Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said: "In Singapore, too, cricket has re-emerged as a popular sport. The SCA today organises matches for 91 teams in local leagues compared to just 14 in 2003. We now have the largest number of officially-sanctioned cricket matches amongst the non-Test playing countries of the world - with over 1,200 matches to be played in the 2010 season. Cricket enthusiasts at all levels play the sport on 14 cricket grounds across our small island. We are glad our national team was ranked number one in Asia and sixteenth in the world among non-Test playing countries, but we also aim to do better over the next decade. We are seeing cricket once again become a sport for all, starting with the young enthusiasts in our schools."
The SCA are looking forward to host high-level cricket within the next six months and have already received pledges for ?A' teams to play in Singapore. Its next major international event will be the ACC U19 Women's Championship at the end of September.
Speaking on the impact of hosting the ICC's Annual Conference, SCA General Manager Dharmichand Mulewa said: "It was definitely the key for SCA, the Sports Council and other ministries involved in promoting sport to hold this event and showcase Singapore as a venue for international fixtures. It feels great to work towards a success story of cricket in Singapore and to take the game and the country higher on the international map. All we needed was the support from big cricketing nations and now that we have got that, it is time for execution."
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