The World Aquatics Championships will be held in Singapore from Jul 11 to Aug 3, with about 40,000 international visitors – comprising spectators, athletes, officials, production crew and media expected.
A new 4,800-capacity arena, which was built in the car park next to Leisure Park Kallang, will host the championships’ swimming and artistic swimming events. The water polo and diving competitions will be held at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, while the high diving and open water swimming events will be held in Sentosa.
In February, then Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Eric Chua said that authorities were also studying the possibility of using the temporary facility as a training and competition venue for other meets and for athlete training, and of making it available for public use.
“FANTASTIC FACILITY”
Speaking on Thursday, World Aquatics president Husain Al Musallam thanked organisers for their “hard work and difficult work”.
“Singapore is the first country in Southeast Asia hosting the World Aquatics Championships, with a fantastic facility. And the facility is (a) continuation of the legacy of the Youth Olympic Games in 2010,” he said.
What the world swimming body is looking out for is that venues must be “fit” for technical requirements and for the seating capacities of venues to be “based on the experience” of what the host nation expects, added Mr Al Musallam.
Singapore was picked as the host after the biennial event was relocated from the Russian city of Kazan in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The championships feature the six disciplines of swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving.
Among the big names expected to vie for top honours in Singapore are American legend Katie Ledecky, France’s hotshot Leon Marchand and 18-year-old Canadian swimming sensation Summer Mcintosh.
