July 21 heralds the start of the Lion City Cup in Singapore.
A total of eight nations will be participating in the event, namely Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Philippines. Organisers are expecting at least 80 athletes and officials involved, making LCC2024 one of its kind since its last edition before the pandemic.
Amongst the powerpack stars in this year’s competition include Sheldon Bagrie-Howley and Keanu Darby from New Zealand, as well as the recently crowned world champion Nur Farrah Ain Abdullah from Malaysia.
The tournament will consist of multiple disciplines:
- Ladies’ Pairs – sets format
- Men’s Pairs – sets format
- U25 Girls’ Pairs – sets format
- U25 Boys’ Pairs – sets format
- Ladies’ Pairs – 14 ends
- Men’s Pairs – 14 ends
- U25 Girls’ Pairs – 14 ends
- U25 Boys’ Pairs – 14 ends
A nation will also claim the Lion City Cup based on overall results of the above disciplines.
Explained Edmund Lin, VP – High Performance, Bowls Singapore: “The event will be held across three locations in Singapore where the competition will be played at Kallang Lawn Bowls Green and the Tanglin Club Lawn Bowls Green. It will also be held concurrently with Bowls Singapore’s signature event (Lawn Bowls for Fun Festival 2024, July 20-21) held near Singapore’s iconic Sports Hub area to promote the game to the masses through a series of carnival-like programmes.
“Thanks to the support of Sports Singapore, Tote Board and many other sponsors, the prize money for Lion City Cup 2024 will be rather attractive.
“In this year’s edition, we are expecting a total prize money of nearly USD10,000 for our medallists.”
Since the Lion City Cup 2024 is a World Bowls sanctioned event, the winners will earn world ranking points from the city-state tournament. World Bowls CEO Neil Dalrymple was excited and supportive of the staging of this event: “Bowls Singapore have done a tremendous job in establishing this event and I can see that this event will grow into the future. Being one of the early events on the World Bowls Series calendar is exciting for all those participating and a great opportunity to earn some World Ranking points.”
Lion City Cup 2024 is only just the beginning as Bowls Singapore ambitiously looks to grow LCC annually with the objective of bring the best bowlers in the world to Singapore and also be a platform for the next generation of bowlers to shine.
With the support of World Bowls and Sport Singapore, it is hoped that the Lion City Cup will be a one of the many attractions in the World Bowls calendar for years to come.