Singapore ice skaters press on despite JCube rink closure; largest delegation sent to Asian Open

SINGAPORE: Singapore has sent its largest ice skating delegation to a competition, making strides in the sport despite the closure of the country's only Olympic-sized rink at JCube in August.

The Singapore Ice Skating Association (SISA) said in a press release on Saturday (Aug 26) that 13 figure skaters and 11 short track skaters are representing the country at the Asian Open.

This is the largest Singapore delegation to an international ice skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. 

The Asian Open is held in Bangkok and the figure skating portion of the competition ran from Aug 16 to Aug 19. The Asian Open short track events will be held from Aug 31 to Sep 2.

The Asian Open is one of the top international competitions in the region, according to SISA president, Ms Alison Chan.

She added that she was happy the "team is pressing on" despite the closure of the rink and that the athletes were still "hitting key development milestones and advancing through the national team pathway". 

"This bodes well for our sport as we are working closely with our fellow Southeast Asian ice skating federations to have ice skating included into SEA Games in 2025, 2027 and 2029," Ms Chan said.

"To support the continued development of our sport, we encourage everyone to donate to the SISA 25th Anniversary Fund to provide funding for our skaters to travel overseas for competitions and to access on-ice training while we work towards building a new Olympic-sized rink in Singapore."

The Rink at JCube - which was Singapore's only Olympic-sized ice-skating rink - closed on Aug 6.

It was a training venue for athletes from SISA and the country's hockey association.

The only other ice-skating rink in Singapore is a smaller facility at