ActiveSG Courts @ Farrer Park, an eight-court pickleball facility converted from a sheltered waiting area at the Little India Bus Terminal, was officially opened on Saturday (Mar 14) morning by Minister of State for National Development and Trade and Industry Alvin Tan.
Dubbing Farrer Park the “spiritual home of sport in Singapore”, where the former Farrer Park Athletic Centre and Swimming Complex once stood, Mr Tan said: “We’ve now worked together with Sport Singapore (SportSG), with support from the Land Transport Authority (LTA), to make this space available for dual use.”
“It is primarily used on Sundays for our migrant worker community and is unused from Mondays to Saturdays. So we thought of how to better utilise an underutilised space, and given that pickleball is a growing sport in Singapore and many of my residents have asked for more sporting spaces, including for pickleball.”
He added that the launch was part of ongoing efforts to make sports facilities more accessible.
“This pickleball court is one of a whole variety of sports facilities that we are opening in our Moulmein-Cairnhill division. For example, just next door, we are also about to work on a multi-purpose sports complex which comprises two swimming pools, an additional pool for children, an ActiveSG gym, and sports fields.
“We are retaining the boxing gym so you can do yoga, table tennis, and there’s also multi-purpose courts for use in the multi-storey car park, and that’s also going to be complemented by parks and running tracks all around the corner.
“We’re very excited to bring the sports back to Farrer Park for all of our residents to enjoy.”
Other plans include a rugby field that can also be used for football, as well as indoor futsal courts to be developed with futsal facility, Cage.
The launch comes amid rising interest in pickleball locally, with ActiveSG facility bookings for the sport increasing tenfold between 2023 and 2025.
With the addition of the new venue, there are now more than 80 pickleball courts available across ActiveSG sport centres and dual-use facilities.
The facility is also part of the government’s Sports Facilities Master Plan, under which an additional 50 multipurpose courts for badminton or pickleball will be built islandwide over the next five years.
More than 600 members of the public attended the launch, as residents had a taste of the new courts with trial sessions and a friendly pickleball competition organised by the Moulmein-Cairnhill Community Sports Network.
The facility will be officially open to the public for booking via the MyActiveSG+ platform, with play beginning on Mar 16. Courts will operate from Mondays to Saturdays, 9am to 9pm, while the site will continue functioning as a bus terminal on Sundays.
