Slow off the mark?

Singapore is not exactly the greatest sporting nation in Asia but it has won the right to host the 2010 Youth Olympic Games tonight.

The news didn't come as a surprise as Singapore looks more exciting than Moscow due to the former's fast-changing landscape. Singapore's new attractions include the Singapore Flyer, the Formula One race later this year, a new downtown by Marina Bay, two big integrated resorts (Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa) by 2010 or 2011.

The hosting of the inaugural junior Olympics will be a big boost to Singapore, which is reinventing itself.

However, it would have been more ideal if the Singapore Sports Hub could have been completed in time for the big sporting event.

Singapore last month said it will award a contract to build and operate the new sports hub at the site of the current National Stadium. The winning consortium will start construction of the waterfront facility in April and complete it by the end of 2011.

Was plan for the sports hub slow off the mark?