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SLUGGISH SALES: There may be plenty of tickets left for the National Stadium's closing festivities, but organisers are confident that sales will pick up these few days. -- TNP FILE PHOTO
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ONLY three days remain before the fireworks go off on Saturday's closing festivities for the 55,000-capacity National Stadium.
Yet there is a growing concern that the Kallang Roar may be reduced to a whimper.
Some 20,000 of the over 40,000 available tickets to the event - after grandstand and South entrance seats have been cordoned off - have yet to be sold.
However, organisers remain confident that, come Saturday, there will be a full house to celebrate the end of an era for the National Stadium.
Said a Singapore Sports Council spokesman: 'Ticket sales have picked up over the last two days, and we expect them to be sold out by the time the event rolls around.
'Perhaps it is a Singaporean mentality to leave things to the last moment.'
However, some of the public said they are turned off by the steep ticket prices.
Spectators have to pay $40 for premium tickets - inclusive of a $30 gift pack with a $15 dance party entry - or $15 for normal gallery tickets.
In January, when Singapore played Thailand in their Asean Football Championship final first leg at the National Stadium, tickets had cost $15 for grandstand and $7 for gallery seats.
Organisers for the closing festivities say that the prices are 'more than reasonable, and couldn't have gone any lower'.
However, undergraduate Christine Ooi, 19, said: 'I'm not willing to pay that much, even for an event like this.'
Others, like teacher Koh Say Yong, are not even aware that the Old Lady of Kallang is bidding a formal goodbye on Saturday.
Said the 40-year-old: 'I went for the opening ceremony 34 years ago, and would have liked to go for the closing event, but I didn't know about it.
'If I had known, I could have planned around it. But I will be out of the country this weekend, so it's too late now.'
Customer service officer Melvin Poh, 24, who has yet to purchase his ticket, is intending to do so after finally finding a companion to go with.
'I had told my friends I wanted to go and was waiting for their response,' he said.
'It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the National Stadium before it's torn down, and I wouldn't miss it.'
The highlights of the festivities will be the two football matches - Singapore taking on Australia, preceded by a match featuring ex-internationals from both sides of the Causeway.
Fans will also be able to catch the likes of famous Singapore sportsmen, such as C. Kunalan, Quah Kim Song, Tan Howe Liang and James Wong, in a parade of Team Singapore athletes.
It will be a nostalgic moment for the veterans as they take their final trip down the track.
Said former footballer Quah, 55: 'I will never forget how we almost qualified to play in the second round of the Pre-World Cup qualifiers, back in 1977.
'We ended up second in the table behind Hong Kong, and missed our chance.
'But this stage has always given us good matches, and I will miss the atmosphere and the cheering fans.'
So will Wong, whose sporting career kick-started in the National Stadium.
Said the 38-year-old discus thrower: 'I won my first South-east Asia Games gold medal in 1993 at this stadium - its first, and only, athletics gold.
'It was a special moment, and I'm honoured to be a part of history.
'It's sad that it will be gone, but it's also good - it heralds bigger, better things to come.'
hpeishan@sph.com.sg
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