Singapore named Asia's ultimate sports city

Singapore maintained its stronghold as the best sports city in Asia after finishing in sixth place at the biennial World's Ultimate Sport Cities Awards.

During its first outing in 2010, Singapore placed second 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.

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.

Singapore Sports Council Chief Executive Lim Teck Yin stated "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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

Lim concluded "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."

Image shows the Singapore Formula 1 night grand prix circuit.

24th May 2012 - MELBOURNE AND OLYMPIC CITY LONDON TAKE THE TOP AWARDS FOR ULTIMATE SPORTS CITIES

1st November 2010 - MELBOURNE: AUSTRALIA’S MOST LIVEABLE CITY 

2nd April 2008 - MELBOURNE RETAINS ULTIMATE SPORTS CITY TITLE