'A real honour for Singapore': Historic World Aquatics Championships officially declared open

SINGAPORE: A historic World Aquatics Championships, which is set to welcome some of sport's top names to Singapore, was officially declared open on Thursday (June 10).

The opening ceremony was held at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre, with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu and Minister for Law Edwin Tong among those in attendance. Also present was World Aquatics president Husain Al Musallam.

The 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.

This is the first time the sporting event has been hosted by a Southeast Asian nation.

It will feature the six aquatic disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving. The meet will begin with water polo group stage matches on Friday.

In his speech, Mr Tharman described it as "a real honour" for Singapore to host the meet.

"As Captain Husain observed, it's a special moment for Singapore because it's also the year in which we celebrate our 60th anniversary since independence," he added.

Mr Tharman said that even amid competition, sport has the power to unite.

"But what we celebrate too, in a quiet but profound way, is how sport can bring us together, even when we are rooting for different teams," he added.

"In a world increasingly divided, sports reminds us that we can strive together, even as we compete; that we can demonstrate our common humanity."

About 2,500 athletes from around the world will compete in more than 77 medal events. Singapore will also welcome almost 6,000 athletes for the World Aquatics Masters Championships.

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.

Thursday's opening ceremony began with a river cruise from Clarke Quay to Esplanade Jetty for a number of participating athletes, including representatives from Team Singapore's 72-athlete-strong contingent.

During the subsequent hour-long curtain-raiser, there were also performances by the School of the Arts (SOTA) alumni as well as a group from Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds). 

A new 4,800-capacity arena, built at the car park next to Leisure Park Kallang, will host the 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.

Among the big names expected to vie for top honours in Singapore are American legend Katie Ledecky, France's Leon Marchand and 18-year-old Canadian swimming sensation Summer Mcintosh.

Said Mr Tharman: "To our guests and international friends, may you discover not just our venues and our food ... but may you also discover the warmth of our people, and the diversity that makes this island home to many cultures."