A panel of sports industry experts discussed the potential for the development of track-and-field athletics in Southeast Asia during a webinar organised by SportBusiness, in partnership with Sport Singapore, on Thursday, June 30.
The panel considered this potential in light of Singapore potentially hosting the World Athletics Championships in 2025. The city-state is currently engaged in a bidding process that also involves: Tokyo, Japan; Nairobi, Kenya; and Silesia, Poland. World Athletics is due to make a decision on the host next week, ahead of this year’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
The webinar panel featured:
- Lien Choong Luen, president, Singapore Athletics, and Singapore GM, Gojek
- Tigor Tanjung, secretary-general, Indonesia Athletics Federation
- Michelle Sng, Singapore national team athlete – high jump
- Caroline Darcy, sponsorship expert and consultant at Milka Marketing, and former global head of sponsorship at Standard Chartered Bank
- Kevin McCullagh, editor, Asia-Pacific, for SportBusiness – moderator.
Topics discussed included:
- Why Southeast Asia is not yet punching its weight in terms of medals at elite level
- The untapped athletics talent in the region
- The challenges that Southeast Asian athletes face as they strive to become professional
- What needs to happen next for athletics to reach its potential in Southeast Asia
- How corporate sponsors can play a role in the athletics development story
- The impact a World Athletics Championships in Singapore could have on athletics across the region
- How major international brands would assess the sponsorship opportunity around a World Athletics Championships in Singapore.
This webinar was produced in association with Sport Singapore.