After a week of intense football action, the Canon Lion City Cup 2011 were drawn to a close with the grand finale, the 3rd and 4th placing and the final itself. The teams that came to Singapore maybe youngsters, yet they provided with nice football skills and play, from the various football clubs around the world, it was an eye-opener for the football fans here in Singapore and a great competition to give our young Singapore U15 and U16 boys a chance to learn and play with/against players of their age range from different parts of the world. This would only serve them to improve their footballing skills and experiences!

The crowds were great, simply awesome and it was vocal and loud, giving the Singapore U15 and U16 teams great support during the entire matches. I was there again, to capture a piece of the action from the 3rd and 4th placing and the final, shooting from the sidelines of the Jalan Besar football field, as I was part of the 25 selected participants from the sports photography workshop to take photographs of the Canon Lion City Cup matches and a chance to win the prize of Canon 600D too!

I was lucky that I was able to loan a 300mm f4 prime telephoto lens from the event organiser and it was my first time using the 300mm prime lens! A great experience overall, although, it took me 1 game, the 3rd and 4th place game between Singapore U15 and Juventus U15 before I got the hang of it, just in time for the 2nd game, the final between Singapore U16 and Flamengo U15. Being up close to the action was great, fun and an enriching experience, adding more to my sports photography portfolio.

Both the Singapore U15 and U16 teams played well through out the tournament, giving their counterparts a run for their money and a great platform to showcase their skills and potential. From these matches, we might be seeing future rising football stars of our nation! The Singapore U15 beat Juventus U15 for 3rd place while Singapore U16 lost to Flamengo U15 for the final, regardless the results, the young boys had done really well! Let’s all wish them all the best for their footballing future!