Kuala Lumpur (Saturday)
Sports Toto Malaysia is delighted to be the main sponsor of Penang Shanghai World Star Quest(PSWSQ), which will be held from 25 April to 26 April 2008 at the Auto-City, Juru, Penang.
PSWSQ was previously known as Shanghai Asia Music Festival in China when it was launched in 1991. It has been acknowledged as one of the most prestigious international singing contest in Asia. It has been a platform designed to discover singing talent and to contribute to the growth of the music industry in Asia.
An interaction platform for music
This is the first time the singing contest has ventured out of Shanghai. It will be held in Penang. It will act as a platform for musical and cultural interaction between China and Malaysia. It will also provide a good opportunity for Malaysians to watch a contest of international standard and the rising of budding stars.
It is indeed heartwarming to note that popular Malaysian singer such as Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, Misha Omar and Jacklyn Victor were among the winners at the contest in the previous years.
Sports Toto Malaysia hopes that more young singing talent will be discovered through this singing contest. A series of promotional activities will be held to publicize the singing contest. This will contribute to Penang's cultural and tourism development.
Malaysia will be sending two singing talent to vie for the title. They are Frankie Yu (the 6th winner of ASTRO Young Talent Quest) and Shila (1st runner-up of One-in-a-Million contest).
Meanwhile, the organizer has invited Daniel Lee and Misha Omar as guest artistes during the event.
Nerine Tan, Sports Toto Malaysia's General Manager (Sales & Operations) said, "The company is very proud to be a part of this event as this is the first time this international singing contest has ventured out of Shanghai and Penang has been chosen as the destination of choice."
28 contestants from 16 countries will be vying for the contest. They are from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Malta, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
Nerine Tan said, Sports Toto Malaysia had, in the past, sponsored quite a number of musical events featuring popular artistes who have made it big in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore and Malaysia such as Andy Lau, Eason Chan and Fish Leong.
Nerine Tan: Sports Toto feels proud to be able to contribute to singing industry
Nerine Tan said, Sports Toto Malaysia was very proud of being the main sponsor of the Penang Shanghai World Star Quest.
"We are delighted to be the main sponsor of the event. Apart from contributing to the musical arena, the sponsorship will also give a boost to our brand building initiatives," she said.
She explained, the singing contest would be able to discover more young and new singing talent to realize their dreams and to pave way for them to build up their singing career.
"Since this is the first time the event is held outside Shanghai, we are proud to be the main sponsor of this event which will be held in Auto City, Juru, Penang. Being the host city, Penang will become the focus of the people," she said.
When asked why the organizer had chosen Penang and not Kuala Lumpur as the venue for the event, Nerine said, KL is a busy city and many contests and activities are concentrated in KL.
She said, a series of musical video clips featuring the contestants at the numerous tourist attractions around Penang would contribute to the tourism development of Penang. More Malaysians and foreign tourists would get to know about the rich culture and uniqueness of Penang.
Nerine said, the public could obtain the tickets to the event for free at designated Toto outlets.
"In fact, people from the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, such as like Penangnites, are very enthusiastic and hope to be a part of activities like this. Through the numerous advertisements we put up to promote the event, we call on more people to participate in this glamorous event," she said.
She said, those who were unable to watch the contest live at the Auto-City could watch the delayed broadcast by ASTRO.
"Judging from the size of Auto City, I believe that it can accommodate more than 30,000 people. We expect 15,000 people will converge to watch the singing contest," she added.
Sports Toto Malaysia will be sponsoring the accommodation, publicity, food and drinks and other expenses of all the contestants.
(Extracted from KWONG WAH YIT POH)
