Alcatel-Lucent sponsors event to fosters young sports talent with 2008 Youth Football Tournament

Alcatel-Lucent and ANZA Soccer International Junior Football Challenge 2008 will help establish youth football in Singapore ahead of 2010 Youth Olympics



Singapore, April 2008 – Alcatel-Lucent announced today that it will host the Alcatel-Lucent & ANZA Soccer International Junior Football Challenge 2008. This will be the first time for Singapore to host this tournament, which is the largest youth football tournament in South East Asia.

More than 650 children and teens playing on 40 teams will participate in the event, which will be held April 19 and 20. The teams will be travelling from Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and will vie for championship positions in five groupings based on age. The players range in age from 9 to 15.

“We welcome Alcatel-Lucent’s initiative and are encouraged to see efforts by volunteers and corporate partners playing such an active part in promoting youth sports, especially when Singapore will be hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games 2010. This is a great opportunity for our youth to play against their peers from various countries and in the course of which strengthen cross-border friendships. I wish Alcatel-Lucent every success for the event,” said Mr. Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Transport, Singapore.

Participating children will come from virtually every nation in South-East Asia and there will be children from Singapore’s large expatriate community, which includes representatives from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and New Zealand.

As part of its community outreach, Alcatel-Lucent will host a team of children/youths and their families from Singapore’s Club Rainbow, a charity organisation that supports young people with chronic life-threatening illnesses, to watch the tournament.

“As a sign of support and commitment to Singapore’s preparation to host the 2010 Youth Olympics, Alcatel-Lucent hopes to inspire young people to become enthusiastic participants in sports,” said Oliver Foo, Managing Director of Alcatel-Lucent activities in Singapore & Brunei. “We hope the tournament will foster interest and community participation in youth sports, both in Singapore and around the region.”

The Alcatel-Lucent & ANZA Soccer International Junior Football Challenge 2008 will take place at Turf City, 200 Turf Club Road, Singapore, on April 19 and 20. For more information about the tournament, please visit http://www.footballpassion.com.sg/Anza.html.

Alcatel-Lucent is one of the key members in the oneMeridien consortium, which recently won the Singapore government’s public sector Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOEasy) project. Alcatel-Lucent also is a short-listed member of two consortia bidding for the Singapore Next-Generation National Broadband Network and has set up its Asia Pacific Internet Protocol Transformation Center (AIPTC) in Singapore in early 2007.