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Sold out, but seats empty
ORGANISERS of
the Singapore Youth Olympic Games (YOG) have moved to correct a
ticketing problem that has seen scores of empty seats at the Games
- although tickets have been sold out.
From today, seats unoccupied at any of the 18 competition venues
across the island will be released to the public.
The move, which comes at the halfway stage of the Aug 14-26
event, is in response to complaints from those who have been unable
to purchase tickets despite the unfilled stadiums.
This was especially evident for some of the sports like tennis,
hockey and badminton.
Some fans have linked this to the fact that some spectators -
especially students given tickets from the Ministry of Education's
bulk purchase of 80,000 passes - do not stay for the duration of
the sessions, which can last up to seven hours.
A total of 320,000 tickets have been made available for the
public to catch the 26 sports on offer. Tickets cost between $10
and $30.
Acknowledging the problem of unoccupied seats, Minister for
Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said
yesterday: 'What I have been receiving now is many appeals, through
e-mail, phone calls and SMS, that, 'I want to get into this
particular event, I can't get tickets, what can I do?'
'What we realise is that although all the tickets are sold, some
people come late or they leave early.'
This being the case, venue managers at the sites - such as the
Singapore Indoor Stadium (badminton), Kallang Tennis Centre and
Bishan Stadium (athletics) - have been instructed to resell tickets
to walk-in fans if seats are still unoccupied once a session has
started.
Also, the gallery section at Jalan Besar Stadium will be open
from today, in time for Singapore's vital football match against
Montenegro.
The section, which seats roughly 2,000, was closed for earlier
matches because organisers felt they could not fill the seats.
'But I need to emphasise that I cannot guarantee entry for
people who come in at the last minute,' Dr Balakrishnan said on the
sidelines of yesterday's swimming competition at the Singapore
Sports School.
'But if at all possible, there is a spare seat, we will make it
available to you. I want to ensure that every single seat is filled
and that all our athletes get the support that they so richly
deserve.'
But this could mean two ticket holders for one seat. But for
those who buy tickets early and arrive late, Dr Balakrishnan
promised that organisers would do their best to find a seat for
them.
'Even if it means kicking someone like myself or the officials
out of the official seat...we will do so,' he said.
At least one school has acted to offer excess tickets to parents
of students at $10 each for a number of YOG events. Parents of
students in Bukit Timah Primary can obtain the tickets directly
from the school.
In the past few days, several sports fans have written to The
Straits Times Forum page after having been turned away at venues
because tickets were 'sold out'.
Mr Leong Soon Hong, who took time off from work on Monday to
watch badminton at the 5,000-seat Singapore Indoor Stadium (SIS),
was told by staff that there were no tickets available. He managed
to get a spare ticket from a friend, and once inside, was dismayed
to see that many seats were unoccupied.
He said: 'I was at SIS for at least six hours, and the majority
of the spectators were schoolchildren. Most left with their
teachers within two hours.'
Checks by The Straits Times yesterday at locations such as the
Sengkang Hockey Stadium and Kallang Tennis Centre showed that while
tickets were unavailable at the site, online and through the YOG's
ticketing hotline, many seats were indeed empty.
This was a turn-off for Canadian Satya Chaube and his two
children, who waited four hours in the hope that they would get
tickets into the Sengkang venue.
Said Mr Chaube, 40, who stood outside the fenced exterior with
his family to watch Australia take on Ghana: 'I am disappointed
that they didn't allow us inside.'
Schools whose students left YOG sessions early cite time
constraints as a reason.
Explained North Vista Secondary's head of the department of
humanities Julia Edison: 'We have to take into consideration the
concerns of parents, as well as arranging transport for our
students.'
This is especially important for sports that begin in the late
afternoon, she said: 'They might have to stay past dinner, and we
have to think about their meals.'
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_568256.html