The new year is set to kick off on an adrenaline-filled note as Singapore gets ready to host the biggest ever Southeast Asian short track speed skating competition next weekend.
The SEA Open Short Track Trophy 2019 will be held at the Rink at JCube on 5-6 January 2019. A total of 101 short track skaters from 12 countries – Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines, Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan and the USA – have registered to compete in a series of races across 10 senior and junior individual and relay categories.
This season, the International Skating Union (ISU) has introduced the Short Track Junior Challenge series to provide young skaters with valuable international competition experience in their preparation to qualify for or to take part in the ISU World Junior Championships. There are nine competitions in the global series, with SEA Trophy 2019 being the only competition in Asia to be included.
SEA Trophy 2019 is also expected to set the pace for SEA Games 2019, as the region’s best skaters converge in Singapore to set benchmarks ahead of the Games. Ice skating made a historic and widelyfollowed debut at SEA Games 2017, and will once again feature at SEA Games 2019 to be held in the Philippines. Short track events confirmed for the next Games are the men’s and women’s 500m, 1000m and 3000m relay.
This will be the fifth time that Singapore is hosting a short track competition for the region. SISA hosted the ISU World Development Trophy in 2013 and the Tri-Series SEA Cup in 2016, followed by the SEA Trophy in 2017 and 2018.
Said Mrs Sonja Chong, President of the Singapore Ice Skating Association, "Singapore has been hosting regional competitions since 2013. And with each competition, we are witnessing phenomenal growth, in terms of both participation and performance. We see new skaters having the courage to compete for the very first time on a big regional platform such as this. We also see the region’s young athletes growing along with the competitions, clocking new personal bests each season and setting new regional benchmarks for their age groups. Having SEA Trophy included into the global ISU Short Track JuniorChallenge is a huge boost for the sport in our region, as well as recognition of how far we’ve come in providing valuable competition experience and development opportunities for the region’s young athletes."
SEA Trophy is sanctioned by both the International Skating Union (ISU) and the Asian Skating Union (ASU). Results clocked at the competition are recognised for qualification into ISU World Championships, World Cup and World Junior Championships. SEA Trophy 2019 will also be the last qualifying event for the ISU World Junior Championships 2019 which in turn serves as the qualifying event for the Winter Youth Olympic Games to be held in Lausanne in 2020.
To be held in conjunction with SEA Trophy are two courses to further build capabilities to support the growth of the sport. The Regional Officials’ Course will be attended by 19 participants from six countries and the Regional Coach-the-Coaches Course will be attended by 16 participants from seven countries.
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