SINGAPORE - To allow swimmers more opportunities to compete, the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has revamped its Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships and its qualifying system.
The junior invitational for Under-12 swimmers is slated to run on March 13-15 while the major Games qualifiers - for the Tokyo Olympics, 2021 SEA Games, 2021 Asian Youth Games, 2021 World Championships (25m) and 2022 World Championships - will be held on March 17-21 at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
Where swimmers used to qualify for the SNAG through time trials in January and February, they are now able to do so through SSA-sanctioned club meets from Dec 1, 2020 to April 30.
Singapore Swimming Club assistant manager Joey Tan said: "It is wonderful to know that we, as clubs and stakeholders, are now able to host more sanctioned meets to create more competition opportunities for our swimmers.
"With all the changes implemented since the pandemic, we are thankful for the consultation and assistance SSA provided to clubs to organise these meets."
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this year's SNAG will be scaled down. It will feature only the top 48 invited swimmers per gender for each of the 50m, 100m and 200m events, and the top 24 invited swimmers per gender for each of the 400m, 800m and 1500m events.
The SNAG was not held last year due to the pandemic but in previous editions, some events could see more than 100 participants for the heats, as long as they met the qualifying times.
SSA executive director Edwin Ker said: "We are heartened to see the clubs stepping up to organised 20 meets since January. While the number of participants per event at the SNAG may have reduced, we expect a larger total number of swimmers across all the club events this year."
Meanwhile, the Liberty Insurance Virtual SNAG Club Championships have also been introduced to allow swimmers from the different clubs to compare themselves against their peers of the same age group on the virtual SNAG leaderboard, based on results from all meets from Dec 1, 2020 to April 30.
E-certificates for the three fastest swimmers in each age group from eight-and-under to 17 and MVP titles will also be awarded.
Kobe Low, an 11-year-old swimmer from Chinese Swimming Club, said: "The various competitions held by SSA and our own clubs has helped swimmers maintain our competitive spirit. While nothing beats the real feeling of competing in the past, the virtual leaderboard is a gauge for us to see where we stand."
The meets are closed door but will be streamed live here.
Meanwhile, title sponsor Liberty Insurance has extended its cash and in-kind sponsorship, worth a six-figure sum, until 2022.
Liberty Insurance chief executive Defne Turkes expressed her delight to continue the fruitful relationship and said: "We look forward to achieving our mutual goals together, one of which is the commitment to preparing athletes for the future.
"We are committed to helping swimmers achieve their dreams and we are proud to be the title sponsor of the upcoming SNAG."
SSA president Lee Kok Choy paid tribute to the association's official general insurance partner, which came on board in 2017, and added: "The win-win partnership enabled SSA to provide much-needed insurance support for our national athletes and coaches while raising Liberty Insurance's profile amongst the aquatics community.
"The extension of their support is a strong testament to their confidence in the future of aquatics in Singapore."
