They're flipping over it

Young and old compete at this year's National Cheerleading Championships.

Some were aged four, another was in his 70s, and they were all there to perform "toss hands", "pencil tosses" and "thigh stands".

There was no age limit for the newly-created Freestyle segment of the National Cheerleading Championships, organised by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and the Federation of Cheerleading (Singapore).

The impressive moves, which included women being tossed metres into the air by a contingent of men while doing mid-air back flips, were performed in front of 2,500 supporters at the Pasir Ris Sports and Recreation Centre Sports Hall over the weekend.

Nine teams

With the support of the People's Association, nine teams competed in the segment, and the participants included two four-year-old girls and a 74-year-old man.

A total of 44 teams comprising 540 participants took part this year - the largest number of people taking part in the competition's three-year history.

The cash prizes for the nine categories ranged from $200 in the Partner Stunts category to $800 in the four Team categories.

There to witness the enthusiastic, roaring cheers from the competing teams were Mr Lim Teck Yin, 49, chief executive officer of SSC, and Mr Yam Ah Mee, 55, chief executive director of the People's Association, alongside the guest of honour, Madam Halimah Yacob, 58, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Madam Halimah said: "The National Cheerleading Championships is about celebrating the joy and excitement of cheering together as a team, and collectively as a community."

A panel of judges hailing from Japan, Thailand and Indonesia was there to assess the competing teams.

The overall champion of this year's competition was Gusto Team A from Singapore Polytechnic. "We are thrilled at being crowned overall champion for the second year in a row," said Samuel Liao, 18, team captain of SP Gusto (A). "I'm glad that the amount of hard work and effort put in by the team has paid off."

darylyam@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.