Contributed by Shane Neubronner

Singapore, Friday, October 8, 2010 — The Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has confirmed today that a record number of foreign swimmers will be competing in the Singapore leg of the 2010 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup to be held from 16-17 October at the Singapore Sports School.

The Singapore contingent will include swimmers currently competing in the 2010 Commonwealth Games such as Richard Chng LiJie, Arren Quek Xin Hui and Aaron Yeo Xian Ying. It will also include local swimmers who will feature in the upcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou, China such as multiple Southeast Asian Games gold-medallist Tao Li and Youth Olympic Games silver-medallist Rainer Ng as well as rising stars Amanda Lim and Samantha Yeo.

Over 180 swimmers comprising of 104 swimmers from 18 countries and more than 80 local swimmers are expected to compete here in just over a weeks’ time, highlighting the popularity of the meet amongst swimming athletes from all over the world.

Nine swimmers from Australia, which include recent medal winners from the on-going Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, such as Leisel Jones who claimed a silver medal in the women’s 50m Breaststroke and Hayden Ernest Stoeckel who clinched silver in the men’s 50m Backstroke this past week will be competing in meet here.

Marieke Guehrer, who broke the women’s 50m Butterfly Commonwealth Games record with a time of 26.07secs in the heats on 4th October and claimed the silver in the finals of the event the next day, will also be looking to bring her fine form to Singapore.

It was previously announced that Cameron van der Burgh, Roland Schoeman, Darian Townsend and Kathryn Meaklim, who are all also currently competing at the Commonwealth Games, will be participating in the Singapore leg of the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup and they will be part of the 12-strong team representing South Africa.

Van der Burgh, the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup men’s series champions in 2008 and 2009, recently claimed the 100m breaststroke gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, touching home in a Games record time of 1:00.10.

The largest foreign contingent of swimmers will come from Indonesia, with 19 athletes due to participate in the meet whilst China will also have a strong presence at the meet with 10 swimmers. Canada and Japan will both be sending teams of eight swimmers.

Additional swimmers from countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Brazil, the Cook Islands, Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Philippines, Sweden and Switzerland will also be competing in the fourth edition of the event in Singapore. The diverse field of athletes will also include a total of seven American swimmers which will include the likes of Jessica Hardy, Peter Marshall, Natalie Coughlin and Randall Bal.

The FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup is an international series of swimming meets organised by FINA, the International Federation for swimming. The series started in 1989, and is open to swimmers from FINA member federations.

Mr David Voth, Senior Director, Sports Business, Singapore Sports Council, said, “We are delighted that Singapore is the host of this international event for the fourth consecutive year. This further validates our reputation as a premier venue for international sports events. Singapore continues to be recognised as a regional hub for the sport, with our network of Olympic-sized swimming pools and training pathways for the development of elite athletes, and as shown by the achievements of our swimmers who have become contenders in the international arena.”

Singapore has hosted a leg of the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup since 2007 and is the third stop of the 2010 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup series which begins with the legs in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) from 10-12 September and Beijing (CHN) from October 12-13. The additional legs of the series will also be held in Tokyo (Japan), Berlin (GER), Moscow (RUS) and Stockholm (SWE).

The FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup will be held at the Singapore Sports School from the 16-17 October. Heats will be held at 9am to 11am and the finals at 6pm to 8pm on both days. Ticket prices are at $20 per day or $30 for 2 days. Tickets are available at www.finaworldcup.com.sg or call 6258 1011 for more information.