Singapore national cerebral palsy football team

Singapore National Cerebral Palsy Football Team
Nickname(s)CP Lions
FederationSingapore Disability Sports Council
CaptainMuhammad Mubarak bin Md. Rastam
Home stadiumQueenstown Stadium
IFCPF ranking32
Highest IFCPF ranking21 (September 2012, 2016)
Lowest IFCPF ranking32 (December 2016)

Singapore national cerebral palsy football team is the national cerebral football team for Singapore that represents the team in international competitions. Singapore has participated in a number of international tournaments, but never the Paralympic Games.

Background

Singapore Disability Sports Council is in charge of managing the national team.[1][2] In 2012, Peter Schmeichel held a national team player training camp at Jalan Besar Stadium.[3] National team development is supported by an International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) recognized national championship. Recognized years for the national IFCPF recognized competition include 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.[4]

In May 2013, an IFCPF coaching workshop was held in Austria. It was attended by coaches from Austria, Singapore, Italy, Denmark and Jordan. The goal is to develop coaches for both national and international level competitions.[5] Ahead of the 2015 ASEAN Para Games, the team was facing a funding and support crisis. They were unable to get jerseys comparable to that of the no-disability football men's team. Equipment used for training was used and worn out. They could not train with goals sized for their sport or on a field sized for their sport. They decided that they needed to change their off pitch focus to trying to get interest from local football fans who were disappointed with the performance of the non-disability side. Their performance at the 2015 ASEAN Para Games assisted them in accomplishing this goal.[6] In March 2015, Singapora men's national football vice-captain Hariss Harun trained with the team as part of their ASEAN Para Games preparations.[7]

Singapore was active internationally by 2016, and had national championships to support national team player development.[8] The team's official grounds were named in April 2016 as Queenstown Stadium as a result of actions undertaken by Sport Singapore on their behalf. The Ministry of State for Culture, Community and Youth was also working in 2016 on greater inclusion for sportspeople with disabilities in order to increase their opportunities to participate at the highest level.[2] Prior to the use of Queenstown Stadium the team trained at Hong Kah Secondary School.[2]

The team was coached by Mohamed Zainudeen since 2013, going into 2016.[2][9][10][11]

Players

There have been a number of players for the Singaporean squad. Khairul Anwar Bin Kasmani has been team captain for several years.[2][6][10][11][12] Khairul Anwar Bin Kasmani's performance at the 2015 ASEAN Para Games was such that he was the first Singaporean player to score a hat trick at the recently opened National Stadium.[6] In 2015, Khairul was nominated in The Straits Times' Athlete of the Year.[6]

Name Number Classification Position Years active Ref
Muhammad Nizam Abdull Rahman FT5 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Balasubramaniam Annamalai FT6 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Muhammad Taufiq Baharin FT7 2016 [12]
Muhammad Shahidil Bin Saidi FT6 Defender/Forward 2016 [12]
Suhaimi Sudar FT6 Defender 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Lim Zhi Guang Ivan FT5 2016 [12]
Peter Kam FT5 Goalkeeper 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Khairul Anwar Bin Kasmani (C) FT7 Midfielder 2014, 2016 [2][6][10][11][12]
Muhammad Firdaus Mohamed Noor FT5 Goalkeeper 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Muhammad Mubarak Md Rastam FT7 Forward 2014, 2016 [10][11][12]
Muhammad Shafiq Ariff FT7 Striker 2014, 2016 [10][11][12]
Ngiau Hai Wan (Gabriel) Ngiau Meng Hai FT8 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Harun Rahamad FT5 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Hitesh G Ramchandani FT6 2014, 2016 [10][12]
Abdul Mahdi Abdul Rahman FT8 Defender 2016 [12]
Jeremiah Tan FT5 Forward 2016 [12]
Muhammad Danial Ismail FT7 Goalkeeper 2016 [12]

Ranking

Singapore was ranked 21st in the world by the IFCPF in 2016.[13] The team was also ranked 5th regionally in Asia-Oceania in 2016.[14] In November 2014, Singapore was ranked 22nd.[15] In August 2013, Singapore was 23rd.[16] In September 2012, Singapore was 21st.[17]

Results

The country has never participated in a Paralympic Games since the sport made its debut at the 1984 Games.[18] Singapore has participated in a number of international tournaments.

In 2013, the team participated in the Football Development Tournament in Vienna. The tournament was organized by Austrian Disability Sports Federation (OBSV), with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Singapore all participating.[9] Later that year, the team won a silver medal at the ASEAN Para Games.[7] In 2014, a 12 player strong Singapore squad went to Myanmar to play in a regional tournament that included hosts Myanmar and Thailand in preparation for the ASEAN Para Games.[10] Singapore won bronze at the 2015 ASEAN Para Games, after defeating Malaysia 2 - 1 in the placement match. Muhammad Shafiq scored the first goal for Singapore before the team's defense allowed Malaysia's Mohamad Sobri Ghazali to score the equalizer. In the forty-third minute, Muhammad Mubarak Md Rastam scored the team's go ahead goal. It was his first of the tournament. 5,323 people attended the bronze medal match in Singapore.[2][11][19] Twenty-nine-year-old captain Khairul Anwar Bin Kasmani finished the ASEAN Para Games as the leading scorer, with five goals scored in the tournament.[11] The first game of the ASEAN Para Games was against Indonesia, with Bin Kasmani opening scoring for Singapore in the waning minutes of the game to give Singapore a 1 - 0 victory.[6] In Singapore's second match against Myanmar, Bin Kasmani scored from the midfield.[6]

Competition Location Year Total Teams Result Ref
ASEAN Para Games Singapore 2015 5 3 [2][20][21]
Asian Para Games Incheon, South Korea 2014 4 4 [22]
ASEAN Para Games Myanmar 2013 2 [7]
Football Development Tournament Vienna, Austria 2013 4 [9]
Dream Asia Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2012 3 [10]

References

  1. ^ "Our Members — CP Football". IFCPF. IFCPF. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Cerebral Palsy football team gets own home ground at Queenstown". Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  3. ^ "Football Association Singapore Annual Report 2012 - 2013" (PDF). Football Association Singapore. Football Association Singapore. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  4. ^ "National Championships 2015". CP Football. CP Football. 2016. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  5. ^ "2016 - Coach Education Workshops — CP Football". www.ifcpf.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Nair, Sanjay (February 13, 2016). "Never taking no for an answer". Straits Times. Straits Times. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c Ong, Charles (March 22, 2015). "Hariss pays it back by coaching para players" (PDF). The Sunday Times. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  8. ^ "Worldwide Reach — CP Football". www.ifcpf.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-18. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  9. ^ a b c "Singapore Cerebral Palsy football team to take on European sides in Austria — Goal.com". 2013-08-26. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Singapore Cerebral Palsy football team looking forward to Asean Para Games — Goal.com". 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g "Hairdryer treatment spurs Cerebral Palsy team to bronze-medal win". Today Online. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Classifications — CP Football". www.ifcpf.com. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  13. ^ "Ranking — CP Football". CP Football. CP Football. Archived from the original on July 26, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  14. ^ "Asia-Oceania Ranking — CP Football". CP Football. CP Football. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  15. ^ "World Ranking 2014". CPISRA. November 8, 2014. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  16. ^ "World Ranking List Football 7-a-side updated after Intercontinental Cup 2013, Barcelona Spain" (PDF). CPISRA. CPISRA. August 2013. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  17. ^ "World Ranking List 2012 Football 7-a-side after PG Londen 2012" (PDF). CPISRA. September 13, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  18. ^ "Paralympic Games — CP Football". CP Football. IFCPF. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  19. ^ "Tan: Five 2016 wishes for Singapore". Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  20. ^ "Results — CP Football". www.ifcpf.com. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  21. ^ "Official Results — ASEAN Games CP Football" (PDF). ASEAN Games. December 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  22. ^ "Rankings and Final Results Asian Para Games" (PDF). CPISRA. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 10, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.