Poor turnout, but organisers expect more fans soon

Over the past two weeks, world-class athletes have put on a show with their dives, flips and bounce shots at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore.

- David Lee Additional reporting by Kimberly Kwek and Melvyn Teoh

But appreciative audiences have been somewhat sparse – the various venues have been half-filled at best, though attendances have picked up as the July 11-Aug 3 meet progresses.

While the organisers did not provide figures, The Straits Times observed that the turnout for water polo sessions at the 3,000-seat OCBC Aquatic Centre was in the low hundreds during the group stage, before it picked up to around 600 for the women's final on July 23 and then a rousing sold-out men's final on July 24.

At Sentosa's Palawan Green, where the open water swimming events were held from July 16 to 20, the 400 seats were generally less than a quarter filled.

For the July 18-25 artistic swimming events, the 4,800-seat WCH Arena was almost empty during the women's solo free final on the morning of July 22 – a Tuesday – although the crowd had swelled to over 2,000 for the team free final on the evening of July 20, which was a Sunday.

Responding to ST's queries, a Singapore 2025 organising committee spokesman acknowledged that "attendance at events varies widely, depending on the timing of the competitions and audience preferences".

He added that based on ticket sales, they expect attendances to further improve, while they also continue their community engagement efforts.

Despite the poorly attended water polo group stage, things perked up at the OCBC Aquatic Centre during the knockout rounds with a strong foreign following, as flag-waving fans made a ruckus whistling, cheering and jeering as they willed their teams on.

Hungarian fan Balazs Borbandi, 35, who works here as a banking professional, said: "There were days where there were quite few people, and others days where it feels much more lively.