After 10 years, Team Singapore returns to the FISU Winter Games, set to be represented by two history-makers in the local winter sport scene
SINGAPORE, 7 JANUARY 2025 – In 2015, short track skater Matthew Mak was the first athlete to represent Singapore at the FISU World University Games Winter in Granada.
Ten years on, the Singapore flag will once again fly at the FISU Winter Games to be held in Torino, Italy, from 13 to 23 January 2025.
This time, the Singapore contingent will have two athletes representing two firsts.
National skier Faiz Basha, 22, will be the first Singaporean snow sports athlete to compete at the FISU Winter Games. He is currently in mechanical engineering at the University of Strathclyde.
Read our 2022 feature interview with Faiz, where he reflects on his career beginnings and the challenges he faced along the way here.
National short track skater Amelia Chua, 18, will be the first female Singaporean athlete to compete at the FISU Winter Games. She is currently reading law at the University of Nottingham.
Mr Ng Woon Yang, President of Singapore University Sports Council (SUSC), said, “This is the first FISU World University Games that will see Singapore represented in both snow and ice sports. We are thrilled to support our first snow sports athlete and first female winter sports athlete as they head to Torino. The games are a perfect opportunity for student-athletes to experience cultural exchange through sport, and benefit from friendship and cooperation with other like-minded young athletes from different countries and backgrounds. We trust that Faiz and Amelia will have a productive and meaningful time at the Games.”
Both student-athletes are looking forward to racing on snow and ice in Torino, on the back of personal improvements and achievements in 2024.
Faiz is feeling pumped after achieving his first-ever top 5 placing at an International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) event last year. Since completing his national military service in 2023, he has wasted no time in getting back into competitive form, with several top 15 finishes at FIS events culminating in a 5th place finish at FIS Elite international Perito Moreno in July.
Amelia is also kicking off 2025 on a positive note, on the back of a good 2024. Last January, she represented Singapore at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon and in March became the youngest-ever Singaporean female skater to qualify for and compete at the ISU Short Track World Championships in Rotterdam. In August, she won bronze at the Asian Open Trophy Jakarta. In November, she broke the national junior Under-18 record as well as the national Junior A record for 500m that had stood since 2016. With that, she now has 14 national records under her belt.
Mr Marco Bardelli, President of Singapore Ski & Snowboard Association (SSSA), is feeling positive about the Games. “I am very proud of Faiz’s performance improvement last year. He has definitely opened many new doors for Singapore in snow sports, and I am sure he will do his best at FISU.”
Ms Alison Chan, President of Singapore Ice Skating Association (SISA), added, “It has been 10 years since Singapore was first represented at the FISU Winter Games through short track. I’m glad our short track skater Amelia, together with her Team Singapore teammate Faiz, will be flying the Singapore flag once again at the Games.”
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