| PLUG CASTING COMPETITION
2000
Singapore's 1st Plug
Casting competition was held on 16th January 2000 at the People's
Association, Kallang Athlete field. It was a sunny and bright Sunday
morning when this inaugural event took off at 9 am in the morning.
A crowd of 20 aspiring casting competitors and others being "fishing
kakis", supporters and organizing officials from the Sport Fishing
Association, SFAS, sponsor Congregated on this Sunday morning.
The competition was the
first such sport event organized in Singapore. Never before had
any one organized a casting competition here or elsewhere in Asia
other than Japan. The success of this event was the culmination
of months of planning and hard work attributed to members of SFAS
who first muted this idea in 1999. The underlining motivation to
organize a casting competition was two folds: firstly it is the
primary goal of SFAS to promote sport fishing skills and secondly,
there has been countless fishing competitions being organized by
fishing clubs, fishing ponds and many other private organizations.
However no one has ever organized a casting competition to this
day except for this first plug casting competition. SFAS realized
that it would be a good idea to start to do the first one in Singapore.
And so, 16 January 2000 became the day the first competition was
held in Singapore. As it turned out, it was a fun and enlightening
Sunday morning at Kallang.
The key events of the
competition were centered on two main activities, namely; Accuracy
casting and Distance casting. Competition rules were adopted from
the International Casting Federation (ICF) and the Japan casting
association (JCA) models. Participant's rod length, line class and
casting plugs were required to comply to the prescribed requirements
set out in the competition rules and regulations. Participant was
allowed to perform the accuracy casting and distance casting with
single-handed casts and not double handed. Casting line was restricted
to only monofilament grade. All competition plugs which were specially
brought in from overseas and sponsored by Tickle Tackle.
After the day's competition
events had been completed and the final scores total up, three winners
received their fabulous prices and trophies. Three sponsors contributed
the prizes and trophies for the occasion. The generosity were contributed
by Angler's Supplies/Edwin Tan, Tickle Tackle/ Colin Ng and Benson
Teoh of FECS Outfitters. The champion of the competition went to
Mr. David Lim, a bait casting pro, better known as " Mango Jack
" who achieved a top score of 133.775 points. Mango Jack indeed
deserved his honour for he had been practicing and polishing his
casting skill at Pasir Ris park with his fishing kakis for months.
The many Sundays, hard work and sweat indeed brought him victory
and glory. Mango Jack took the top price of a premium ABU 2500 bait
caster, a fishing rod and the overall championship trophy. The second
price went to Mr. Ong Chee Seng who scored the second highest of
131.68 points and walked away with another ABU 2500 bait caster
and a trophy. The 3rd winner was Mr.Zhang wenlong who scored 126.38
points and received a cash voucher of $200 and a trophy. All three
winners of the day were full of "smiles" as they departed the ground
for home amidst jubilating cheers from kakis and friends.
By mid noon the event
came to a close after the prize presentation ceremony and photo
taking sessions. For SFAS members, it was a day of triumph and satisfaction
that all had gone well as planned. With much expectation, we will
be looking forward to the next season sometime next year.
By: SAFS / Awe Yun Nam/
21Jan 2000
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