2015 SEA Games


The 2015 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 28th Southeast Asian Games, or the 28th SEA Games, and commonly known as Singapore 2015, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held by the city-state of Singapore from 5 to 16 June 2015, It was the fourth time the country hosted the games. Singapore had also hosted the games previously in 1973, 1983 and the 1993 editions.
Singapore was awarded the rights to host the Southeast Asian Games in 2011. The games were held from 5 to 16 June 2015, although several events had commenced from 29 May 2015. Around 4,370 athletes participated at the event, which featured 402 events in 36 sports. It was opened by Tony Tan Keng Yam, the President of Singapore at the aforementioned stadium.
The final medal tally was led by Thailand, which won the most gold medals, followed by host Singapore which won the most medals overall. Several Games and national records were broken during the games. The games were deemed as one of the most successful Southeast Asian games ever hosted with its effective management of cost spent to host the games and well-organised arrangement of public transport by Singapore, as well as the huge effort to promote the games which helped raise the standards of competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations.

Host city

Singapore's selection as the host of the 28th Southeast Asian Games of 2015 was announced in 2011 during the 26th Southeast Asian Games, held in Indonesian cities Palembang and Jakarta. Singapore had previously been nominated to host the event in 2007 and 2013, but turned down both opportunities citing costs associated with the construction of the new Singapore Sports Hub that was exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis.

Development and preparation

The Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee was formed on 28 June 2012 to oversee the staging of the event.
PositionNameDesignation
ChairmanMr Lawrence WongActing Minister, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information
MembersMr Chan Chun SingMinister, Prime Minister's Office
MembersMs Indranee RajahSenior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Law
MembersMrs Carmee LimFounder and President of Aoede Music Enterprise
MembersMr Low Teo PingVice-President, Singapore National Olympic Council
MembersMr Masagos ZulkifliSenior Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MembersMr Mohamed Abdul JaleelFounder and Chief Executive Officer, Mini Environment Service Group
MembersMr Valerio NanniniManaging director, Nestle Singapore Pte Ltd
MembersMs Annabel PennefatherVice-President, Singapore National Olympic Council
MembersMr Brian RichmondRadio Personality, MediaCorp Pte Ltd
MembersMr Saktiandi SupaatHead, FX Research Team, Global Markets, Global Banking, Maybank
MembersMr Manu SawhneyDirector, Manchester United Limited
MembersMr Seah Moon MingExecutive Director and Group CEO of Pavilion Energy Pte Ltd and Pavilion Gas Pte Ltd
MembersMr Richard Seow Yung LiangChairman, Singapore Sports Council
MembersDr Tan Eng LiangVice-President, Singapore National Olympic Council
MembersMs Jessica Tan Soon NeoManaging director, Microsoft Singapore
MembersMr Tan Kian ChewGroup Chief Executive Officer, NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Ltd
MembersMr Leonard TanFounder and Chief Executive Officer, PurpleClick Media Pte Ltd
MembersMr Stanley TanChairman, National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre
MembersMrs Josephine TeoSenior Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport
MembersMr Teo Ser LuckMinister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Mayor, North East District

Venues

The 2015 Southeast Asian Games used a mix of new, existing and temporary venues. Given the city-state's compact size, most venues were pre-existing public-sporting facilities located in the suburban heartlands which were reverted to public use after the games. No major retrofitting work were done in most venues as most had been used to host major multi-disciplinary events such as the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
At the centrepiece of the activities was the Singapore Sports Hub which was completed in mid-2014. Incorporating the new 55,000-seat national stadium, it hosted most of the events.
A games village was not built. Instead, a "village in the city" concept saw athletes and officials housed in 20 hotels in downtown Singapore. Besides being physically near to the Singapore Sports Hub, it was hoped that it will add vibe to the city and reduce post-games costs in converting a dedicated games village to other uses.
The 28th Southeast Asian Games had 30 venues for the games.

Public transport

Given the existing extensive public transport network already in place, there is no games-specific major infrastructural development to support it. The clustering of venues is aimed at easing the traffic flow, charted bus and MRT services for athletes and officials were provided.

Volunteers

The organisers estimated that about 15,000 volunteers are needed to successfully host the games. Volunteer recruitment began in late 2013, and by February 2014, about 5,000 volunteers have already signed up. This number swelled to over 17,000 by February 2015, and a volunteers night event was held at Universal Studios Singapore to launch the sports volunteers brand name as "Team Nila" and to thank the volunteers who have signed up with free shows at the venue. Amongst the pool of 17,000 volunteers, 35% came from the community, while 65% were from corporations in support of the games.

Ticketing

A total of about 790,000 tickets were put on online sale from February 2015, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and at SingPost outlets. To encourage public participation in the games, it was announced on 28 January 2015 that 18 of the sports will be free for spectators, while the other 18 are kept at relatively affordable levels of between S$5 to S$20. By 15 April 2015 some sports such as swimming and fencing were selling fast, while silat and sepak takraw were much less popular. Organisers reported that ticket sales were pass 70% for most sports by 27 April, with fencing and swimming being the most popular at 85 and 70% tickets sold respectively, while rhythmic gymnastics, silat and wushu have also sold over 70%. Billiards and snooker, equestrian, sepak takraw, taekwondo, and artistic gymnastics have sold about half their tickets. Rugby and judo have sold 30%, while table tennis has sold only 20%.
Priced between S$5 to S$20, priority sales for the opening and closing ceremonies tickets for those who registered theirs interests in 2014 began on 15 January 2015, while sales for the general public began on 22 January 2015. In February 2015, tickets to the opening ceremony were going at over seven times their original value on unauthorised websites, despite 40% of the tickets still available at that time. By March 2015, tickets to the opening ceremony were sold out.

Countdown

During the closing ceremony of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, the SEAG Flag was formally handed over from Myanmar to Singapore. This was followed by a song and dance section highlighting Singapore as the next venue.
On 27 June 2014, a series of festivities were held at the Singapore Sports Hub, including a fireworks display, to mark the one-year countdown to the games. The Sports Hub Community Open House was held in conjunction with the launch to introduce the new sports facilities to the general public.
The countdown to the games began on 15 February 2014 with a launch party at the Gardens by the Bay, where the logo, theme and mascot were also introduced.
800 Nanyang Polytechnic students organised a major countdown event on 11 April 2015 to mark the final 50 days in a few days, where about 4,000 people turned up to attend a concert and a sports carnival.
On 16 April 2015, the 50-day countdown began with various organisations stacking a number each through a video tribute. This included: Nanyang Polytechnic and Ang Mo Kio residents and Changkat Primary School, London School of Business and Finance Singapore, Compassvale Primary School, Development Bank of Singapore, National Kidney Foundation, CWT Limited, SportCares, Park View Primary School, Sport Singapore and 41st Battalion Singapore Armoured Regiment.
Other organisations were: