A swimming success: Trans-Eurokars Mazda making waves in the pool

Mazda Singapore managing director Chong Kah Wei says: "Our main goal is to support the World Aquatics Championships as best as we can and make sure that everything runs smoothly, so that Singapore can shine brightly as a world-class host and sports destination." PHOTO: TRANS-EUROKARS MAZDA

THE world’s best swimmers will be in town later this year for the World Aquatics Championships (WCH), with Singapore having the distinction of being the first city in South-east Asia to host this global sporting event.

In all, over 2,500 athletes are participating at the July 11 - Aug 3 meet, representing World Aquatics’ 210 national member federations across 75 medal events in six disciplines – swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving.

They will compete at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, the new World Aquatics Championships Arena that is still being constructed, and at other venues in Sentosa.

And when these elite athletes have to move from venue to venue, they will be driven around in style in one of more than 100 brand-new cars by official automobile partner Trans-Eurokars Mazda.

The latter was one of three corporate partners announced last November, with the other two being Pan Pacific Hotels Group and OCBC Bank. Collectively, they have committed to sponsorships worth about S$5 million. On Thursday (Feb 13), Trip.com was unveiled as the official travel partner.

For the duration of the WCH, Trans-Eurokars will supply a fleet of cars for all the athletes and officials that includes four models – the Mazda6 Sedan, the CX-5, the CX-60 and the CX-80. The company is also sponsoring a Mazda3 Sedan Classic (excluding certificate of entitlement) worth S$82,000 as a lucky draw prize for ticket holders residing in Singapore.

BT Weekend recently met with Mazda Singapore managing director Chong Kah Wei, a former competitive swimmer in his school-going days, and he spoke about his passion for the sport and why it was an easy decision for the company to support the event.

How did this sponsorship of the World Aquatics Championships come about?

We have been active in the local sports scene over the years. We have been involved with the HSBC Women’s golf, the Women’s Tennis Association Finals and others. Recently, we became the official car partner of Singapore Aquatics.

When the opportunity came up to be part of WCH, I was all for it. Personally, I used to swim competitively as well and represented the state in age-group competitions. So swimming has always been close to my heart.

There are the six disciplines at the event, and they all represent values that resonate with our company too – teamwork, endurance, precision, perseverance, agility, and many more.

These resonated very much with me and from the company’s point of view, we decided to go for this sponsorship. More than just giving back to the community and sports, we also want our staff to go to the event and see how these elite athletes compete at the highest levels, because that is where we want to be too.

Having been involved in many of these big sports events in the past, what have some of the takeaways been?

Definitely there is the branding element, and giving a boost to our visibility by having our newest cars on the roads, and telling people – current customers as well as future ones – that we are supporting such a high-profile event like the WCH.

The WCH also lasts for about two months (including the Masters Championships, which will take place from Jul 26 to Aug 22) in total, so it is much longer than a typical golf tournament that may only last, say, three or four days.

Our main goal, really, is to support the WCH as best as we can and make sure that everything runs smoothly, so that Singapore can shine brightly as a world-class host and sports destination.

The WCH will be, by far, the biggest swimming event that Singapore has ever hosted. What does this mean to you?

I would say this is just second to the Olympic Games. It is going to be big, and I feel it is really good for our nation to be able to stage this event here. There is a huge sense of pride as a small country, being able to welcome 2,500 swimmers, as well as all the judges and officials from around the world.

The logistics will be massive. But I have got all the confidence in our ability to organise this well, and we are excited for the competition to begin in July and see everything executed well. On our part, we will do everything we can in terms of the logistics and transportation needs.

What do you remember most about your days as a competitive swimmer?

I competed in the Asean and Asia-Pacific Age-Group Swimming Championships, from 1991 to 1993. We went overseas to compete in India and China and elsewhere. My specialty was the 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke.

Right now I still swim, but only for leisure, of course. I like to play water polo, and I do a bit of scuba-diving whenever I can. I enjoy other activities like snowboarding and skiing too.