Singapore will continue to pursue sporting events with aligned interests: SportSG after failed World Athletics Championships bid

SINGAPORE: Singapore remains committed to bringing international sporting events to its shores, despite falling short in a bid for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, said a Sport Singapore (SportSG) spokesperson on Friday (Jun 15).

In response to queries from CNA, a SportSG spokesperson said that Singapore will continue to pursue sporting events that are aligned to its "strategic interests".

World Athletics announced on Thursday that Tokyo was chosen as the host of the 2025 World Athletics Championships, beating out rival bids from Singapore, Nairobi and Silesia.

The event will return to the site of last year's Olympic Games in the year that the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) celebrates its centenary.

"Singapore congratulates Tokyo for being awarded the host city for the World Athletics Championships for 2025. While the decision did not go Singapore’s way, we believe that through this bid process we have strengthened our relationship with World Athletics and demonstrated the potential for athletics in Southeast Asia," said the SportSG spokesperson.

"We remain committed to bringing international sporting events to Singapore and will continue to pursue sporting events that are aligned to our strategic interests. We thank World Athletics for the opportunity to participate in this bid and wish them all the best for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and beyond."

World Athletics said in a press release that Singapore, Nairobi and Silesia were all deemed "strong enough and experienced enough to host the event".

Tokyo, however, scored the highest of the four candidates in the bid evaluation across four areas.

In March, SportSG announced its bid to host the World Championships in 2025. If it had been