13th World Netball Championships Awarded to Singapore

Friday, November 09, 2007 - IFNA

Members of the International Federation of Netball Associations convened for the final day of the 2007 Congress in Auckland, New Zealand and voted to award the hosting of the 13th World Netball Championships to Singapore in 2011.

Singapore went head to head with Australia in a bidding process that started back in 2006 and concluded with a presentation to delegates at Congress.

The IFNA President, Molly Rhone, announced the result of the vote and thanked both bidding countries for raising the bar in the level of detail provided and professionalism with which they conducted their bids.

“I am delighted that for this edition of netball’s premier event we have had such a close contest. Both countries were very well equipped to host the event.

“I visited Singapore in January this year and was very impressed with their plans for the Sports Hub and I am delighted that we can now bring our showcase event here in 2011.”

This is not the first time that netball’s premier international event has been hosted in Singapore as, Tan Wee Khim, President of Netball Singapore said:

“We are very pleased to win the international netball community's mandate to host the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore and would like to thank all countries for their support.

”We are very excited to see the return of the World Netball Championships after 28 years and are confident that this will lead to a resurgence of the sport in our region. Our hosting of this event will also aid the development of netball as one of the most recognizable sports, and it will inspire a whole new generation of budding netballers.

”Singapore is already an exciting sports and tourism destination today. When the many multi-billion dollar sports and recreational projects now under development are completed at the end of this decade, it will be an even more compelling place to visit. We aim to stage a most memorable world netball event in an Asian cultural setting and look forward to being your host in 4 year's time.”

Says Oon Jin Teik, Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Sports Council,

“We are ecstatic on this win! The Singapore Sports Council is truly excited that Singapore has won the bid to host the World Netball Championships 2011 and would like to thank IFNA for their support. Winning such a bid is a true testimony of Singapore’s reputation as a venue of choice in staging major sports championships and international sporting events.

This is an important milestone for netball in Singapore and another feather in our cap. Holding the Championships in Singapore is an enormous opportunity for our local players to gain international competition exposure as they benchmark against world-class players and it will also be a huge boost to netball’s popularity in the local community and in Asia.

Netball enthusiasts can look forward to watching a spectacular showcase of top netball players in action come 2011.”