Asian Games: 5 of Singapore's all

This year's Asian Games unearthed two athletes who could go on to become one of Singapore's greatest athletes.

First, Joseph Schooling bagged 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in his Asian Games debut, earning the first gold by a male swimmer in more than 32 years. Then, Jazreel Tan went one better than Schooling by winning four bowling medals: one team gold, two silvers (singles and trios) and one All-Events bronze.

Who are the Singapore athletes that have done the best at the Asian Games? Here's a top five list of the all-time greatest Singapore athletes at the Asiad:

1. Neo Chwee Kok (4 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze from 1951 and 1954 Games)

All talk of Singapore's greatest Asian Games athletes should start with the original 'Flying Fish'. At the very first Asian Games in New Delhi in 1951, the freestyle specialist set the bar of golden excellence by winning four freestyle golds (400m, 800m, 1,500m and 4x100m). No other Singaporean has won as many golds in one Asian Game edition as Neo.

Neo Chwee Kok also known as The Flying Fish, won four gold medals in the 1951 Asian Games. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

2. Remy Ong (3 golds, 2 silvers, 1 bronze from 2002, 2006 and 2010 Games)

One of the best bowlers the Republic has ever produced, Ong came closest to Neo's golden haul, when he snared three golds at the 2002 Busan Games. He followed it up with two silvers in the 2006 Doha Asiad, and finally a bronze at the Guangzhou Games in 2010. Nowadays, he is the head coach for the Singapore national team, guiding Jazreel Tan and co. to their women's team gold on Tuesday.

Singapore bowler Remy Ong won the first gold for Singapore in the Men single final of the Asian Games 2002. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

3. Tao Li (2 golds, 2 silvers, 2 bronzes from 2006, 2010 and 2014 Games)

Do not let her 1.6m height fool you - Tao is an explosive swimmer who shines on the big stage. The butterfly specialist is still the only Singapore athlete who has retained her Asian Games gold, as she won the 50m butterfly races in both the 2006 and 2010 Games.

Swimmer Tao Li won gold at the Asian Games 2010 women's 50m butterfly. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

4. Ang Peng Siong (1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronzes from 1982, 1986 and 1990 Games)

Quite possibly Singapore's best-known male swimmer, until Schooling came along. Clocked a world-best time of 22.69s in the 50m freestyle in 1982, a record that still stands as the national record for that race. In the same year, he won his Asian Games gold in New Delhi in the 100m freestyle.

Singapore swimmer Ang Peng Siong, who beat world 100 metres and 200m freestyle record holder Rowdy Gaines, of the United States, in the 50m freestyle last month, is banking on that power to propel him to the lead in the initial stages of the 100m freestyle in the Commonwelth Games in Brisbane. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

5. Junie Sng (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze from 1978 Games)

Singapore's swim queen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sng captured all her Asiad medals at the 1978 Bangkok Games, including a gold medal in the 400m freestyle which made her Singapore's first female Asian Games gold medallist.

Junie Sng proudly showing her two gold medals and a silver which she won during the Asian Games. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

What It's Like To Fly The $23000 Singapore Airlines Suites Class

This Post is originally posted at dereklow.co and is republished here with permission. Derek Low is an engineer and entrepreneur, best known for the Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm (BRAD), a viral YouTube hit.

In 2008, Singapore Airlines introduced their Suites Class, the most luxurious class of flying that is commercially available.

The Suites were exclusive to their flagship Airbus A380, and they go beyond flat beds by offering enclosed private cabins with sliding doors that cocoon you in your own little lap of luxury. The interior was designed by French luxury yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste and comes along with a plush soft leather armchair hand-stitched by the Italian master craftsmen Poltrona Frau. Perhaps most well-known of all, Singapore Airlines became the first and only commercial airline with a double bed in the sky.

However, the experience came with a hefty price tag. With round-trip tickets costing up to S$23,0000 (or US$18,400), it was completely unattainable for most people.

Formerly, the only way for an average person to fly in the Suites was to take out a bank loan. And then I remembered that most of my personal net worth exists in frequent flier miles rather than cash.

So in September 2014, after splurging an colossal amount of miles... I was booked on Suites Class to New York!

But first, a lot of unnecessary build up.

I arrived at Singapore Changi Airport and proceeded to the Singapore Airlines counters for check-in.

As I joined the line for check-in, I was promptly greeted by a staff.

'Good evening sir, how may I help you?'

I had a sudden mental light bulb and said 'HI OOPS SORRY NO YOU CAN'T HELP ME' and briskly walked away, leaving a bewildered staff.

I had almost forgotten that Changi had a luxurious check-in lounge specially for First Class and Suites passengers set apart from the rest of the check-in areas, and thank goodness I remembered, or else I would've been courteously and professionally assisted by the lady at the regular check-in desk!

I quickly located the First Class check-in lounge at the far end of the terminal. It looks like a hotel lobby, and there's even a bellhop who carries your luggage.

Interestingly enough, my suitcases were not even weighed. I suppose when you fly Suites, you can pack a suitcase with lead bars and get away with it.

Soon, I was in possession of The Golden Ticket. Flying in the Suites also includes an invitation to The Private Room, which the staff was proud to say that it was 'higher than first class'.

I arrived at the lounge and was approached by an attendant. 'May I escort you to The Private Room?' she asked.

I followed her past what seemed to be 50-60 people in the Business Class lounge. She walked noticeably fast, seemingly afraid that I would be disgusted by the presence of the working class. Here I was transferred to another attendant who walked me through the First Class lounge, and then through a set of automatic sliding double doors before being transferred to yet another attendant.

Finally, after walking about 10 miles and having my documents inspected by 8000 people, I arrived at The Private Room. Entering the confines of The Private Room, the staff greeted me by name. It's like they all already knew me before even meeting me. I wasn't hungry but I've heard rave reviews about the dining room. So I sat down and ordered a glass of champagne and had the Chicken and Mutton Satay plate. ...and the Baked Boston Lobster with Gruyere, Emmenthal and Cheddar. ...and also the U.S. Prime Beef Burger with Foie Gras, Rocket Leaf and Fried Quail Egg. Oh, and a Mango Smoothie too. Completely stuffed at this point, I realized it was time for boarding. Ok I'll board first.

There was a dedicated jet bridge solely for Suites passengers. Standing at the end of the bridge was a flight attendant ready to greet me.

'Good evening Mr Low!'

I realized that they would address me by whatever title I chose in my Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer profile. I instantly regretted not going with President Low or Princess Derek.

I was escorted to my Suite. I picked the middle suite, which can be merged with the adjacent suite to form a double bed. 'Would you like a glass of Dom Pérignon, sir?' And I replied the only acceptance response to such a question: Yes. 'Sir, would you like a copy of every newspaper we have onboard today?' At this point, the crew members came out to personally introduce themselves to me. Among them was Zaf, who was the Chief Steward of the flight. As it turns out, he's also the guy in the airline's safety video. Zaf told me that there were only 3 passengers in the 12 Suites, and joked that I could have a bedroom, dining room and living room if I wanted. And so I picked my dining room. Dom Perignon and Iced Milo in hand, it was time to take off. It took this time to check out what was provided onboard the flight. Headphones from Bose, for example. Salvatore Ferragamo amenity kit, which included a full-sized bottle of cologne. Everything else was Givenchy: blankets, pillows, slippers and pajamas. As soon as the plane reached cruising altitude, I was offered another drink.

Seeing that it was almost 1am and I was just beginning to indulge in the the whole suite experience, I decided to order coffee to stay up.

I don't know much about coffee, but I do know the Jamaican Blue Mountain costs a ton. A pound of the Blue Mountain beans sells for $120 at Philz Coffee.

So I ordered the Blue Mountain, and was complimented by Zaf. 'You have a very good taste in coffee, sir.' Zaf returns with the coffee and tells me about their selection of gourmet coffee, and how the Blue Mountain was 'by far the most outstanding'.

I unglamorously gulped down the entire cup at once, while pretending to appreciate the finely-balanced traits of the Blue Mountain.

I asked him to recommend me a tea, and he quickly brought out a cup of TWG's Paris-Singapore tea.

And then he knelt down next to me as I sampled the tea. He told me about the high quality tea leaves. He told me about the hand-sewn cotton teabags. He told me about the fragant cherry blossoms and red fruits infused into the tea. Somewhere in between, he might have mentioned about the history of coffee trade and the East India Company, but I can't be sure.

He says that he has been with the airline for 19 years. Within the past 2 or 3 years, he has served Leonardo DiCaprio and Morgan Freeman flying in Suites Class.

I figured since Zaf was so available to recommend me coffee and tea, I asked him, 'can you recommend me a movie?'

He picked The Grand Budapest Hotel, a fantastic movie which I thoroughly enjoyed. Off his head, he could name me the actors and talk about how brilliant their performance were in the movie.

'That's incredible!' I exclaimed. 'Are you like a savant of the cinema?'

'I just happened to be someone who likes movies,' he said, modestly.

'I will call you here every time I need a movie recommendation in the future!'

'Uh... okay!' he said, as brightly as he could.

As I settled in, supper service began.

Having stuffed myself with three entrées back in the lounge, I wasn't particularly hungry so I settled for a 5-course supper.

For appetizer I had the Malossol Caviar with Lobster-Fennel Salad. And after clearing the plate in three bites, I asked for a second plate. On to my third appetizer, I had the Duck Foie Gras with Shaved Fennel-Orange Salad, Beetroot and Mizuna. I picked the Fish Noodle Soup for main course. And Vanilla Bavarois with Raspberry Coulis for dessert. After supper, I decided to burn off the calories by walking around the plane. I asked the crew if they could give me a guided tour of the A380 and they willingly obliged.

We walked up the front stairs to Business Class, down the length of the upper deck, and back down a spiral staircase to Economy Class. Zaf said he'd love to take me to see the pilots' cockpit, but the airline has stopped allowing that in recent years due to security concerns.

When I got back to the Suites, the lights were already turned down indicating it was time to sleep.

In the Suites, you don't just lie on a seat that has gone flat. Instead, you step aside while the Singapore Airlines flight attendants transform your Suite into a bedroom, with a plush mattress on top of a full-sized bed. When the adjacent suite is empty, the dividing partition can be brought down to create a double bed.

Zaf and a stewardess went about making the bed. I don't even know how to express this in words. I should've hired a poet to describe how amazing this was. I jumped into bed squealing like a little girl. I spent the next hour lounging in all possible positions. Some people might say this seems to be the loneliest flight ever. And to that, I say this: And while you're doing stupid things like that in the Suite, you can use the 'Do Not Disturb' button for privacy.

Through the entire flight, the attendants check on you almost every 3 minutes without being intrusive or annoying. They would just briskly walk past you with quick glance.

I paid a visit to the restroom to change into the pajamas provided.

It's a restroom, what were you expecting? There's a seat that folds down that's actually more comfortable than most Economy Class seats. And henceforth, I slept. Well, not on the toilet of course. When I woke up, I saw the clock and my heart sank. A little over 3 hours to Frankfurt. I'd slept for 6 hours, or $6,000 worth of the flight. So to cheer myself up, I asked for a chocolate and was handsomely rewarded with two.

We landed at Frankfurt for a two hour layover, and the three of us in Suites Class were escorted to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge which had a spa and hot shower.

Getting back on the plane, a new crew was onboard for the flight to New York. It was daytime and I was walking around taking another set of photos of the Suites.

The flight attendant insisted on taking a photo, since I was a big important travel blogger. It was 8 AM in the morning and I decided to begin the day with a Singapore Sling. For breakfast, I used Singapore Airlines' Book the Cook service.

It allows you to pre-order a specific meal before the flight, which is then specially put onboard the flight for you.

I had the Lobster Thermidor with Buttered Asparagus, Slow-roasted Vine-ripened Tomato, and Saffron rice. And dessert, which I can't remember what it was.

When it was time to nap, I didn't want to trouble the crew for a full double bed, so I opted for a single bed instead.

The partition between the two middle suites slides up to form a wall. The single bed is plenty spacious on its own. U.S. Grilled Prime Beef Fillet designed by celebrity chef Alfred Portale.

As we finally landed at New York, a huge problem presented itself. Coming off a flight in the Singapore Airlines' Suites, I (a) didn't want to leave the airplane and (b) see a.

I have to say, after being served Dom Pérignon in a double-suite bedroom at 36,000 feet, I'm not sure flying experiences get any better than this.

But eventually I got off the plane, because New York's not too bad.

The post What It's Like To Fly The $23,000 Singapore Airlines Suites Class appeared first on Vulcan Post.

13

Lai celebrating her win (Photo by SNOC)

REPORTING FROM INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA

For a Secondary One student just crowned champion at the Asian Games, Jodie Lai was remarkably calm.

'I'm very happy because I won gold,' said the Singaporean sailor, cool as you like, as cameras flashed and reporters thrust phones in her face.

Lai, 13, finished clear of an eight-woman field in the optimist race Tuesday afternoon, after nearly a week of racing at the Wangsan Marina in Incheon, South Korea.

It was an especially productive day for Singapore at the Games, as the sailors yielded a total of two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals after the bowlers also struck gold in the morning.

The duo of Kimberly Lim and Savannah Siew won their 420 women's event while sisters Priscilla and Cecilia Low clinched second-place in the 29er.

Raynn Kwok, 12, was awarded a late silver in his optimist race after protesting his initial fourth-place finish.

Kwok in action during the Optimist Men's One Person Dinghy Race 11 Mandatory Credit: Jaewon Lee / Sport Singapore ...

Delivering bronzes were Colin Cheng in the laser men's as well as the team of Loh Jia Yi and Jonathan Yeo in the 420 men's race.

But it was pint-sized Lai, standing tall at 148cm and 33kg, who stole the show with her historic win - Singapore's first-ever Asiad gold in the optimist, a beginner-level dinghy typically used to introduce children to the sport.

'I thought positive,' she said, when asked how she dealt with the challenge of a chasing pack. 'If anything happens, I know I tried my best, so I won't be that upset.'

Siew and Lim after their victorious race (Photo by SNOC)

Fellow podium toppers Lim and Siew, both 18, were equally level-headed in their post-race assessment.

'We followed our routine and stuck to what we've been practicing for so long,' said Lim, who partnered Siew to a gold medal in the same event at the Southeast Asian Games last year. 'We spent three years in preparation for this.'

She added: 'Doing what we know best and not thinking too much of the outcome - that's what really helped us.'

There was heartbreak, however, for the Low siblings, who kicked off the day in pole position for gold - only to concede their lead to eventual champions Thailand.

'Today was a really tough day for us,' said Priscilla. 'We needed to be in front of the Thais to win... but they really sailed very well, and we just didn't do as well as they did.'

SEE ALL OF SINGAPORE'S MEDALISTS AT THE 2014 ASIAN GAMES HERE:

5 things Toronto could learn from Singapore

5.3 million people are crowded into the island nation of Singapore. At just a touch larger than the City of Toronto, the city-state is the most densely populated country in the world, a place where car ownership, public transit, water conservation, and income disparity are critical issues that affect the entire population.

Because it has absolute authority over its own affairs, Singapore is able to control its urbanity to a much greater degree than Toronto, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of good city-building ideas within our reach. Here are 5 things Toronto could learn from one of Asia's leading commercial hubs.

Make pedestrian crossings safer for everyone In Toronto, the amount of time a pedestrian has to cross the street depends on the width of the road. Before May 2013, people were required to move at 1.2 metres a second to make the other side before the countdown expired, but that was revised down to 1 metre a second in an effort to give more time to the elderly or people using mobility devices.

In an effort to balance the needs of road users and people who need extra time to cross the street, the city has committed to expanding its 'Green Man Plus' technology to more than 495 crossings across the island by 2015. The contactless card-based system allows holders to summon an additional 3 to 13 seconds crossing time. Without a swipe, lights operate on a normal schedule. Check out the cute explainer above for more info.

Lure people onto public transit with incentives Before he dropped out of the race, mayoral candidate David Soknacki suggested the city reward early bird commuters with free use of public transit. Singapore adopted a similar proposal in June 2013, and it appears to have had the desired effect. About 7 percent of morning riders caught the subway earlier, easing congestion for those traveling during the traditional rush hour period.

The bait doesn't have to be free fares. Pleasant subway stations encourage riders, so too does the promise of speed, convenience, and saving money. In Toronto, nixing street parking on streetcar routes, prioritizing transit vehicles, or aligning the departure of last train with last call at the bar could count as incentives.

Conserve every drop Water conservation efforts in Singapore have become so effective that the city is drinking its own urine. The densely packed island sees plenty of rain--about 2.5 metres a year, more than twice the global average--but still imports 40 percent of its drinking water from neighbouring Malaysia. In an effort to reduce foreign water dependency, the country has invested heavily in desalination plants and other efforts to recycle and purify waste water. The result of which is the NEWater program that, among other things, produces its own brand of bottled water.

By using 'advanced membrane technology,' Singapore is able to turn contaminated waste water into high-quality potable water. Over the next five years, the government has pledged $290 million to further water reclamation research and development. Toronto might lie on the shore of one of the world's great bodies of fresh water, but as the city grows, it will become vital to conserve its bounty.

Public washrooms don't have to be a disaster Toronto's history with public washrooms is long and troubled. A plan to install toilet facilities at major streetcar interchanges stalled in the early 20th century over fears of unsanitary conditions and NIMBYism, leaving the last remaining public washroom outside of a public park to close amid rising costs and declining use in the late 1980s. A planned fleet of automatic pay toilets has been abandoned after two installations.

Singapore, on the other hand, is fanatical about public washrooms, particularly when it comes cleanliness. It is a legal requirement to flush and the owners of public bathrooms must provide liquid soap and towels, toilet paper, litter bins, hand dryers, sanitary disposal bins, and adequate ventilation, or else. The Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) is the freelance police on these matters, and the group launched a smartphone app last year that allows people to report bad commodes.

Think carefully about ways to discourage car use Singapore doesn't make it easy to afford a car. Just 15 percent of the city-state's population owns their own vehicle, in large part due to steep taxes and fees. Vehicles are taxed at a minimum of 100 percent of the open market value and the government requires car owners to purchase a Certificate of Entitlement. 'A Toyota Corolla purchased in Singapore would run you about $48,000, today the price for the same car is closer to $96,000,' writes Mimi Kirk for City Lab.

Instead of making cars less desirable, the rules appear to have had the opposite effect. Owning a car has become a coveted status symbol and the ever increasing gap between rich and poor has become a sticky issue in the country. One of the solutions, a professor at the National University of Singapore told City Lab, is to make other modes of transportation more desirable. It's not enough to simply wage war on cars, it seems.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman. Image: Mike Behnken, Tristan Schmurr/Flickr

ST Run 2014: Kenya's James Kemboi wins men's 21km race, Singapore's Colin ...

Young Kenyan James Kemboi became the first person to cross the finish line inside the new National Stadium, winning the men's 21km race at The Straits Times Run at the Hub on Sunday.

The 21-year-old clocked a sizzling time of 1 hr 10min 39sec, raising his hands in triumph at the end of a route that took in landmarks such as the Merlion and the Gardens By The Bay.

National runner Colin Tung was the best Singaporean finisher in fourth spot (1:15:43).

Belgian student Vanja Cnops topped the women's 21km section in 1:26:27, some six minutes ahead of second-placed Rachel See.

Nepal's Shiva Rai took the men's 10km crown (35:30), while Kenyan Valentine Serem crossed first among the women (38:59).

The ST Run is the first mass-running event that ended inside the new 55,000 seater National Stadium. In all, some 21,000 participants pounded along the 5km, 10km and 21km routes, which took in famous sights such as the Marina Bay Sands and the Gardens By the Bay. Panasonic is the presenting sponsor of the ST Run 2014.

Runners arrived as early as 4am along the Nicoll Highway start line to book the best spots for their respective races. Spirits were high and limbs were limbered up as Zumba instructors from the True Fitness club led warm-up sessions ahead of flag-offs for the three categories.

For many runners, it was the first time they had seen the iconic dome-shaped stadium in person. Said Mr Ong Meng Hong, 43, who signed up for the 21km run: 'This route is something different, it's not like other runs that start near Marina or East Coast.'

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong flagged off the 5km run, before the party got started inside the stadium with local acts like pop-rock band 53A and former ChildAid performer Sophia Joe treating the crowd to a host of popular tunes.

National footballers Isa Halim, Izwan Mahbud, Gabriel Quak and Khairul Amri were also on hand, showcasing their nifty footwork and posing for pictures with their fans.

This is the second year The Straits Times has organised such a run.The inaugural ST Run at Punggol Waterway last year attracted around 12,000 participants to the new reservoir.

Several runners noted that the event was an improvement from last year's run. Said 21km runner Ng Zhi Fan, 27, who was at last year's event: 'It gets better each year. It is a new experience and I look forward to coming back next year.'

Singapore Selects 'Sayang Disayang' as Oscar Contender

Malay-language film 'Sayang Disayang' has been selected by Singapore as its contender for foreign-language Academy Awards contention.

The film, about a migrant domestic helper, a nurse and the old man they look after, is the debut feature of Sanif Olek, who heads the independent film and TV consultancy Reeljuice.

The selection was made by the Singapore Film Commission.

Made on a budget of US$315,000 (S$400,000) 'Sayang Disayang' had its premiere as the closing film of the Southeast Asian Film Festival in Singapore in May.

Olek self-released the film for a week at a single screen theater in August. A commercial distributor has not been attached and wider local release has yet to be finalized.

In 2013 Singapore selected the Chinese and English-language 'Ilo Ilo.'

Follow @Variety on Twitter for breaking news, reviews and more

Singapore shooter disappoints while bowlers fail at Asian Games

Photo by SNOC

REPORTING FROM INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA

It was a day loaded with hope and promise for Singapore's athletes at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Shooter Jasmine Ser was competing in the 50m rifle 3 positions, her pet event which yielded a gold medal at this year's Commonwealth Games.

And Singapore's female bowlers, featuring a mix of top-ranked Asian Games medalists, were taking to the lanes in the doubles event, buoyed by Jazreel Tan's silver in the singles on Wednesday.

In the end, neither delivered, and the Republic's lone medal of the day was a bronze won by Gai Bin in the men's 25m centre fire pistol.

Yet it was Gai's teammate Ser who had the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range buzzing with excitement after a brilliant performance in qualifying.

The 24-year-old finished first out of 40 competitors with 590 points - the feat broke her personal best, the national record and Asian Games record.

Unfortunately, she could not replicate those results two hours later in the finals, and was eliminated in sixth position with a score of 411.3 points.

'Of course it's a little disappointing,' said a stoic Ser, who also missed out on medaling in the 10m air rifle individual and team events on Monday after finishing fourth in both. 'But that's how sport is. You can do your best every time, and maybe once you'll win a medal, but the second time you may not.'

'You just have to keep on trying,' she added.

Jazreel Tan (Photo by Action Images / Sport Singapore)

'We failed'

Later that evening, Singapore's bowling national head coach Remy Ong found himself making promises along the same lines after his female charges wound up empty-handed in the doubles event.

Jazreel Tan and New Hui Fen finished fourth out of 38 pairs with 2,447 pinfalls, while Cherie Tan and Shayna Ng placed sixth. Further back in 26 ^th position were Joey Yeo and Daphne Tan.

Much more was expected of the likes of Ng, a world champion and singles silver-medalist at the last Games, as well as this year's Asiad singles runner-up Jazreel - a fact not lost on Ong.

'We failed today. Singapore bowling failed because we didn't medal,' was his frank assessment. 'But moving forward to the next event, we're just going to get stronger and stronger.'

Ong, a former world champion and three-time Asian Games gold medalist, added: 'At the end of the day, we want to win the medal everybody is looking for.'

'I believe we are working towards that very, very hard and we are not going to chicken out for sure.'

SEE ALL OF SINGAPORE'S MEDALISTS AT THE 2014 ASIAN GAMES HERE:

Singapore bowlers turn tide to win Asiad silver, still hunting for gold

Asian Games - Asian Games Incheon 2014 - Team Singapore - Incheon, Korea - 27/9/14 Bowling - Singapore's New Hui ...

REPORTING FROM INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA

Singapore's bowlers are back.

Federation head Jessie Phua is convinced her charges have finally found their form at the Asian Games, after the women fought to a silver medal in the trios event on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier this week, t hey had failed to win anything in the doubles, leading to an emergency pep talk by Phua immediately after the event.

And her words appear to have fired up Cherie Tan, New Hui Fen and Jazreel Tan as they scored 3,753 pinfalls to grab Singapore's fourth silver of the Asiad.

South Korea took gold and bronze, with Lee Nayoung, Jung Dawun and Son Yunhee on top with 3,896 pinfalls while Lee Yeongseung, Jeon Eunhee and Kim Jinsun registered 3,692 pinfalls.

' I'm glad the girls stepped up,' said Phua, who is also Singapore's chef de mission at the Games. 'I really hope this will be the turn we need... definitely you should be seeing better, stronger performances from them.'

Jazreel told reporters how their meeting with Phua had helped. 'We took it as an extra boost, and it gave us the extra energy and determination we really needed to push on for this event,' said the 25-year-old, who also won silver in the singles on Wednesday.

'Knocking on the door'

Still, the team didn't look too excited with their second-place finish. 'We are not going to be satisfied with just this,' Jazreel explained. 'It's another gold medal we missed out on.'

Singapore won gold in the women's trio at the last Asian Games held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China. It was a point not lost on national coach Remy Ong, who expressed similar dissatisfaction with today's result.

'We're still hunting for that medal and we're close,' he said. 'Something is still lacking for that colour we're looking for... but we're going to keep knocking on the door and I believe it will come.'

Jazreel, for one, is hoping it will arrive in the team event on Monday. 'That's the event we really want (to win),' she said. 'And I trust that we're going to fight even harder than we did the last few days.'

Asked how they planned to deal with the challenge posed by hosts South Korea and their boisterous fans, she added: 'They are favourites and their home support is tremendous, but it's not going to knock us down.'

'We'll take it as noise and focus on our own game,' Jazreel asserted. 'The energy we have between us will be enough to overcome the support the Koreans have.'

SEE ALL OF SINGAPORE'S MEDALISTS AT THE 2014 ASIAN GAMES:

Asian Games: Women's bowling team clinches Singapore's fourth silver

POSTED: 28 Sep 2014 11:54 Bowlers Jazreel Tan, Cherie Tan and New Hui Fen took second place in the women's trios competition.

INCHEON: Singapore's women's bowling team on Sunday (Sep 28) took second place in the women's trios competition to clinch Singapore's fourth silver of the Asian Games.

Jazreel Tan, Cherie Tan and New Hui Fen registered 3,753 pinfalls, behind South Korea's 3,896 pinfalls. Another South Korean team took third place with 3,639 pinfalls.

The other Singapore trio of Daphne Tan, Joey Yeo and Shayna Ng finished seventh out of 27 teams with a total pinfall of 3,639.

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Nico Rosberg's Singapore retirement due to freak contamination – Mercedes

Nico Rosberg's retirement from Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix was caused by a freak contamination of his steering column electronics by a substance used by Mercedes in their pre-event servicing, the team said on Friday.

The Mercedes team said the contamination led to a loom failure in his steering wheel column. This resulted in him struggling to start and then abandoning the race won by team mate Lewis Hamilton.

Briton Hamilton's victory lifted him three points clear of German Rosberg with five races remaining in their sometimes acrimonious duel for the drivers' title.

'Forensic analysis has revealed that the steering column electronic circuits were contaminated with a foreign substance,' the team said in a statement.

Forensic analysis has revealed that the steering column electronic circuits were contaminated with a foreign substance #F1 #SingaporeGP

- MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 26, 2014

'This occurred during our normal pre-event servicing procedures at the factory and the substance found is used as part of our standard servicing procedure.

'The contamination was not visible and did not manifest itself until Sunday as Nico went to the grid, although the steering column was used throughout the weekend and the car fired up as normal on Sunday morning.

'Nico could not command the clutch nor change engine settings. The car was ultimately retired because it was unsafe to execute a pit stop without command of the clutch. Fresh parts will be used at the forthcoming races.'

Mercedes later added a tweet that denied any suggestion of foul play.

'To clarify, the contaminant was a substance used in normal pre-event servicing of the component. #NotAConspiracy :)'

The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix on 5 October.

Singapore population now at 5.47 million, slowest growth in 10 years

SINGAPORE - Singapore's population grew at its slowest pace in a decade in the one year to June 2014, due to a slow down in the inflow of foreign workers.

Total population now stands at 5.47 million, up 1.3 per cent from the year before, a slower increase than the 1.6 per cent growth recorded last year, according to the latest government figures released on Thursday.

Growth of the non-resident population, made up mostly of foreign workers, has slowed. It has fallen to 2.9 per cent this year, compared to 4 per cent last year.

This was the result of fewer foreigners being hired, with foreign employment growth slowing to 3 per cent, compared to 5.9 per cent last year.

The National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) said in its latest Population In Brief report that this was due to 'concrete steps taken to slow the growth of our foreign workforce to a more sustainable pace'.

Meanwhile, Singapore's citizen population, at 3.34 million, grew at the same pace last year.

And with increasing life expectancy and low fertility rates, has continued to age, said the NPTD.

Those aged 65 and above now form 12.4 per cent of the citizen population this year, up from 11.7 per cent last year.

The old-age support ratio - which is the number of citizens in the working age band of 20 to 64 supporting one older citizen - has also decreased further.

It has fallen to 5.2, compared to 5.5 last year, and 7.6 in 2004.

The report also showed that the total number of marriages and births had fallen, after a promising increase last year.

Fewer Singaporeans are getting married, with 21,842 marriages involving at least one citizen last year, down from 23,192 the year before.

Singapore residents, across all ethnicities, are also having fewer babies. The total fertility rate was 1.19 last year, compared to 1.29 recorded the year before during the Dragon Year. This is below the replacement rate of 2.1 per cent.

For rich jetsetters, Singapore packs a punch

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The Malaysia Airlines's twin tragedies and the unrest in Thailand may have taken the wind out of the sails of Singapore's tourism sector, but one segment in particular is bucking the downtrend: luxury travel.

A stay at the city-state's iconic Raffles Hotel, a swim in the infinity pool on the top of Marina Bay Sands and high-end gourmet experiences are what keep the rich coming. Industry players tell CNBC that Singapore state remains a highly-sought after vacation spot among the rich from the U.S., Hong Kong, Taiwan and most recently, Russia.

'[Luxury travel in Singapore] is really picking up. Singapore's become fashionable and acquired a cool in a way that was unthinkable just a few years ago,'Hajar Ali, founder of luxury travel operator Urbane Nomads, told CNBC via email.

Read More 3-D museums: Next big thing for Asia tourism?

'A country that was once described as 'Disneyland with a death penalty' now lists [as] one of the coolest cities in the world, according to British Vogue,' she added.

A city of 5.3 million, Singapore is one of Asia's most developed and affluent countries. Synonymous with its reputation for a high quality of life, low crime rates, superior infrastructure and cleanliness, Singapore has also been regularly named as one of the world's most expensive cities. Transport costs in the city-state, for example, are almost three times higher than in New York, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living survey released earlier this year.

Government figures show international visitor arrivals to Singapore for the first half of the year fell 2.8 percent on-year to 7.5 million. This is due mainly to a decline in Chinese visitor arrivals, the Singapore Tourism Board said.

Tourists from China have become wary of traveling to the region because of political unrest in Thailand, the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines flight in March and a new Chinese law that clamps down on ultra-cheap tour packages.

Read More Singapore may suffer from its neighbors' currency perils

But for wealthy holidaymakers, these concerns appear to be of little deterrent to visiting Singapore, which they see as a safe and orderly holiday destination. In addition, travelers who are on their first visit out of China also prefer Singapore as it provides 'less of a culture shock', noted Tim Russell, Marketing Director of New York-based travel operator Remote Lands.

With gourmet experiences being one of the main requirements among wealthy jetsetters, Singapore's wide variety of delicacies is a huge draw.

Singapore's population growth slowest in 10 years

SINGAPORE: The Republic's population grew 1.3 per cent between June 2013 and June 2014 - its slowest rate of growth in the last 10 years, according to figures released by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) on Thursday (Sep 25).

In actual figures, Singapore's total population was 5.47 million as of June, up from 5.4 million a year ago, the NPTD said in its annual Population in Brief report.

The citizen population grew 0.9 per cent to 3.34 million, similar to last year's growth rate, while the Permanent Resident (PR) population remained stable at 527,700.

The Government plans to continue taking in between 15,000 and 25,000 new citizens each year to keep the citizen population from shrinking, the NPTD report said. To keep the PR population stable, it will grant about 30,000 PRs each year.

The non-resident population grew at a slower rate of 2.9 per cent, down from 4 per cent in the previous year. As of June, there were 1.6 million non-residents in Singapore, up from 1.55 million a year ago.

Foreign employment growth slowed across all sectors to a 'more sustainable pace' of 3 per cent, compared with 5.9 per cent the previous year, the report said, adding that growth was mainly driven by the construction sector.

MORE ELDERLY, FEWER BABIES

Singaporeans are living longer, with the number of citizens aged 65 years old and above rising from 11.7 per cent last year to 12.4 per cent in 2014.

The report also found that there are fewer working citizens to support the growing number of elderly. There are currently 5.2 working citizens for each elderly person, down from 7.6 in 2004.

Fewer Singaporeans got married, with the number of marriages involving at least one citizen decreasing from 23,192 in 2012 to 21,842 in 2013. The median age at first marriage has remained stable for both genders, with men getting married at the median age of 30.1 and women at 27.8.

Fewer babies were born, with the resident total fertility rate dipping from 1.29 in 2012 to 1.19 last year. The decline was seen across all ethnic groups, with Chinese experiencing the largest decline, the report said.

Joseph Schooling on winning Singapore's first Asian Games gold: Want to ...

Singapore's Joseph Schooling celebrates after winning the men's 100-meter butterfly swimming final at the 17th ...

On Wednesday evening, Majulah Singapura played in Incheon, South Korea for the first time - because Joseph Schooling really wanted it to.

Just how badly did the Singaporean swim prodigy want to win the Asian Games 100m butterfly event? Enough to kill, it seems.

'I saw that I was ahead, but I was tightening up at the end,' said Schooling. 'Still, if someone wanted to overtake me, if someone wanted to run me down... they were going to have to die trying.'

In the end, no one was hurt, and the 19-year-old claimed Singapore's first gold medal of the Asiad in a new Games record of 51.76 seconds.

Schooling is now Singapore's first Asian Games men's swimming champion in 32 years, since legend Ang Peng Siong won the 100m freestyle in New Delhi, India in 1982.

But it was also the closest of shaves, with China's Li Zhuhao taking silver in 51.91 seconds while Hirofumi Ikebata of Japan finished third in 52.08 seconds.

At the halfway turn, Schooling was in second place. His kick off the wall propelled him to the front of the pack, but 15-year-old Li caught up and threatened to dash his dream - at least until the Singaporean dug deep and powered home in the last 25 metres.

'During the race, I just wanted to go pretty hard, to stick with them and hold on in the last 50,' Schooling reflected at a press conference. '(Li) was coming in pretty hard on me so I tried to hold him off.'

'I died a little bit at the end but still managed to touch the wall first,' he added.

He said that going into the race, he was confident of winning, despite less-than-ideal preparations for the Games.

'I just enrolled at the University of Texas, so I've been training once a day for the past four weeks. It's not much,' Schooling explained. 'I tried to prepare for this meet as best I could, but that is no way close to what I will be doing for future big meets like this.'

He added: 'On a scale of one to 10, I would say my preparation for this event is a five, or 5.5... maybe a weak six.'

On Sunday, Schooling delivered Singapore's first Asian Games men's swimming medal in 24 years when he took bronze in the 200m butterfly.

'It's always good breaking records and surpassing milestones,' he said. 'It's one of the big things I think about before practice every day: wanting to reach higher heights and to do something special.'

'I'm honoured I could do that for my country.'

SEE ALL OF SINGAPORE'S MEDALISTS AT THE 2014 ASIAN GAMES:

"Asia's first" gold

SINGAPORE - Singapore now has its first automated teller machines (ATMs) that dispense gold.

Two such ATMs were launched on Wednesday morning at Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands.

The custom-built machines will dispense a variety of pure gold items that produced by top Swiss refiner, PAMP.

The gold products - available in a variety of sizes from one to ten grams - will have different prices daily, pegged to the day's global prices.

On the day of the launch, a one gram pendant cost $100 while a ten gram one cost $660.

The company behind the machines, Asia Gold ATM, says it intends to launch two or three more machines 'in the near future' as it looks for more locations to base the ATMs.

It also touted its ATMs as Asia's first.

Asian Games: Joseph Schooling clinches first gold for Singapore

INCHEON: Swimmer Joseph Schooling won Singapore's first gold at the Asian Games in the 100m Butterfly finals in a Games record time of 51.76 seconds, edging out China's Li Zhu Hao who ended up with silver.

This is Singapore's first men's swimming gold since 1982.

The 19-year-old came in second at the turn behind Li, however the Chinese swimmer ran out of steam. Japan's Hirofumi Ikebata took bronze.

Schooling had earlier won Singapore's first medal in a male swimming event at the Asian Games in 24 years, grabbing bronze in the 200m Butterfly event.

In the women's 200m Butterfly finals, Quah Ting Wen finished 6th, with a timing of 2 minutes 14.26 seconds.Earlier, bowler Jazreel Tan won Singapore's second silver at the Games. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong posted on Facebook that it was a 'great day' for Singapore at the Asian Games. 'Well done and keep going Team Singapore!' he wrote.

Jason Mraz to perform acoustic show in Singapore 17

Jason Mraz, backed up by all-girl band Raining Jane, performed in concert at the Fox Theatre on Tuesday, Sseptember ...

Jason Mraz fans in Singapore, brace yourselves. The man will be in town, with his band Raining Jane, for a two-night intimate show this November.The 37-year-old singer-songwriter, responsible for hits like 'I Won't Give Up', 'I'm Yours' and 'The Remedy' will present his rare but critically-acclaimed acoustic set at The Star Theatre at the Star Performing Arts Centre in Buona Vista on 17 and 18 November. His concert will come as part of promotion for his new album 'YES!', and his latest stop in Singapore accompanies other locations including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan the Philippines and Australia.Tickets for Mraz's two-night show will go on sale at Sistic from Monday, 29 September at 10am, and will be priced at $68, $88, $108, $128 and $168. There will be no standing tickets for this show.

NYC Park to Singapore Labs Go Underground in Space Hunt

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Cities from arctic Helsinki to equatorial Singapore are exploring the benefits of expanding toward the center of the earth.

Crowds, weather, expensive real estate and vulnerability to climate change are prompting urban planners to turn their eye to the potential of usable spaces below street level.

From an underground park in a forgotten century-old trolley terminal in Manhattan to Mexico City's inverted 300-meter underground pyramid -- called the Earthscraper -- architects are re-imagining spaces for people and not just infrastructure in cities of the future.

'There are real opportunities to develop underground to accommodate density for cities that are already overcrowded or growing,' said Clara Irazábal, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. 'It can expand efficiency, reduce commuting times and improve quality of life.'

Singapore is planning a 20-hectare (49 acres) subterranean labyrinth that could house as many as 4,200 scientists and researchers in soundproof labs and data centers carved out of caves, according to JTC Corp., a property developer that commissioned a feasibility study on the project.

The city-state opened the first underground oil-storage facility in southeast Asia this month, freeing space three times the size of New York's Grand Central Station for chemical manufacturing above ground. The project caps a 30-year effort to create a petrochemical hub. It began when officials merged seven offshore islets and then spent S$950 million ($749 million) to dig rock caverns that can hold enough liquid hydrocarbon to fill 600 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

'Looked Down'

'When we ran out of room, we looked down,' said Yeoh Keat Chuan, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board. 'We had to find creative ways to find space.'

With a population of 5.4 million, Singapore has the same number of inhabitants as Finland packed in a fraction of the land. Its skyline is already clotted with more than 4,000 high-rises. Yet, cities studying underground development could look to the Finns, who have been doing it since they began building shelters against Russian bombardment in the 1940s.

Dubbed the daughter of the Baltic, Helsinki is surrounded by water on three sides and lies on a granite bedrock that lends itself to sturdy construction. Pasi Aarnio, a development manager at builder YIT Oyj (YTY1V), compared Helsinki below street level to a 'Swiss cheese.' Down below, there are rail tunnel and service passages for power lines and heating, as well as 20 parking facilities and two bus stations.

Courts, Pools

There is also human life bubbling 10 meters to 20 meters below, from walkways and malls to badminton courts and a kids' playground to an ice-hockey rink and a 50-meter swimming pool.

'It's a whole other world down there,' Eija Kivilaakso, one of the urban planners behind a 2010 master blueprint to map underground spaces.

The city's wastewater-treatment plant operates underground; for more than three decades, Helsinki has drawn its drinking water from Finland's second-biggest lake, Paeijaenne, through a 75-mile long tunnel.

It doesn't stop there. Frosty sea water is funneled via tunnels to an old bomb shelter underneath a 19th-century Christian Orthodox cathedral, where it's used to cool the computer servers of a 2,900 square-foot data center built underneath the tourist site. Heat generated by the center, run by Telecity Group Plc (TCY), is channeled to warm about 500 homes.

30 Meters

A sea fortress, situated on an island 15 minutes by boat from the city's south harbor, is reachable via a maintenance tunnel also used by ambulances.

'There are so many tunnels that finding the space below ground can be difficult,' said Aarnio. 'It's getting full to about 30 meters down. Below 30 meters, there's more space.'

Rising Asian megacities take note: Helsinki officials are planning to divert traffic via subterranean passages for trucks serving city-center stores.

Authorities in Beijing already have something to work with, thanks to Mao Zedong. He ordered the construction of an entire second city when tensions ran high with the Russians in the late 1960s. When the much-feared nuclear blowout didn't come to pass, the network fell into obscurity and disrepair.

Many U.S. cities, locked into a car culture, have tunnel vision when it comes to moving more of their transit, utilities and water structures below the surface, according to Nasri Munfah, head of underground projects for Kansas City-based HNTB Corp., a civil-engineering consulting firm.

'No-Brainer'

'It's a no-brainer that at the rate at which Americans are fleeing rural towns and flocking to cities, developing underground structures is the logical thing to do to make these cities bearable and sustainable,' he said.

In Montreal, where the average low temperature in January is minus 14 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit), there's a 19-mile (31 kilometers) underground pedestrian network connecting 30 cinemas, 200 restaurants and almost 2,000 shops accessible via 20 outdoor exits and 10 metro stations.

It doesn't always work as planned. In the case of Atlanta, Civil War-era underground structures that doubled as speakeasies during the Prohibition were transformed in 1969 into an entertainment district with bars like 'Scarlet O'Hara' to lure people downtown. Yet the novelty soon wore off, crime came in and the 'city beneath the city' instead became a costly white elephant that was put up for sale.

Humanity's yearning to build below the ground can be traced back millenia, with the most notable ruins in modern-day Turkey across a lunar Anatolian landscape.

Turkish Labyrinth

The archaeological complex of Derinkuyu in Cappadocia is a vast labyrinth of caves and tunnels that give a flavor of what was once, probably in the Bronze Age, an entire underground city of as many as 50,000 people with evidence of bedrooms, kitchens, chapels -- even a wine press and stable for horses.

Underground realms have captured the imagination of writers, from Jules Verne's classic 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' to the science-fiction series 'City of Ember.'

One of New York's biggest draws is the High Line, an elevated park built on 1.5 miles of disused railroad tracks running along the West Side. That inspired a Kickstarter campaign to create the Lowline, which would convert a rail site in the Lower East Side into a park using fiber-optic tubes to channel sunlight below ground. It raised more than $150,000, a third more than the target, by April 2012.

'Natural Light'

Futuristic scenarios aside, there are limits to staying cooped underground.

'People need some exposure to natural light and natural ventilation to maintain their health,' said Irazábal.

Underground is also an expensive proposition, nearly five times the cost of construction above ground, according to Amy Huanqing Li, who wrote her PhD on underground urbanization at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

Part of the reason U.S. cities are laggards in underground development is the lack of government spending at the federal, state and local levels, IBSWorld's Diment said. Boston's ' Big Dig,' the most expensive U.S. highway initiative on record, which included the relocation of 29 miles of utility lines below ground cost almost $25 billion -- more than the Channel tunnel connecting the U.K. to France.

Money is not something Singapore -- the world's third-richest country per capita -- has to worry about.

At the Sept. 2 opening of Jurong Rock Caverns, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recounted a meeting he had with the board of Halliburton Co. (HAL) two months earlier where he was asked how Singapore would expand its physical land area to accommodate the world's biggest provider of oilfield services.

His answer: 'There is a theoretical limit, but with ingenuity and determination and technology, that limit can be quite a way off.'

To contact the reporters on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in New York at fjackson@bloomberg.net; Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net; Sharon Chen in Singapore at schen462@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net Melinda Grenier

Drinking sewage: solving Singapore's water problem

Editor's note: Future Cities offers an inside look at the rapid evolution of urban spaces, exploring new ideas, new technologies and new design concepts that might impact urban life throughout the world.

(CNN) -- Could sewage be recycled to provide water that's cleaner than what comes out of your tap? The place to find out is the small yet highly urbanized city-state of Singapore.

The South-east Asian island country has a population of 5 million residing on less than 750 square meters of land. Whilst known for its strong economy, Singapore is lacking one essential asset -- water.

Water security has long been a national priority in Singapore as half of its current water supplies are imported from neighboring Malaysia. 'We are preparing for the day that should the water agreement expire, we should be ready to fulfill our own needs,' says Chew Men Leong, Chief Executive of the Public Utilities Board.

Storage tanks of recycled water at the NEWater plant in Singapore. Recycling water in Singapore: click to view

The agreement with Malaysia is due to expire in 2061, so the country has time to be ready.

Singapore's strategy for a hydrated nation is four-fold: as well as importation, it includes desalinization plants, efficient catchment of rainwater and recycling of sewage.

Rainwater is collected through a network of drains, canals, rivers, storm water, collection ponds and reservoirs with the aim to catch water across two-thirds of the country. But the real hope lies in the membrane technology to treat wastewater known as ' NEWater', created by the country's public utilities board.

Through a four-step series of barriers and membranes, wastewater is made free of solids, microorganisms, and contaminants resulting in potable water supplies for use by humans and industry.

After one decade, the technology meets 30 percent of Singapore's water needs, with plans to triple volumes by 2060.

'The level of quality we receive from the Public Utility Board meets and exceeds the expectation,' explains Jagadish CV, CEO of Systems on Silicon Manufacturing, where the water is used in their processing of silicon wafers. 'We are using the water three times before we let it into the drain,' he says.

The demand by industry is being further met by a new collaboration with Japanese firm Meiden that will supply factories with recycled industrial water.

One and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools of water are currently filtered and treated every day. The goal is to more cost-effectively treat industrial waste streams in the long run.

Professor Asit Biswas from the Lee Kuan School of Public Policy feels other countries should follow the example set by Singapore and even the current standards can be improved to eventually re-use every last drop of water.

'There are two major future challenges,' he says. 'First is how to make the water system less energy intensive and the second one is consumer behavior with respect to water.'

If these challenges can be overcome, this small country will continue to flourish, long into the future.

Read more from Future Cities:

Shared space, where the streets have no rulesInvisible solar panels hidden in your windows? They're coming Brazil's idea for future mobility? The good old bus

Conclusions from the 2014 Singapore GP

The world turns for the better for HamiltonWith 150 points still to play for, Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers' World Championship by a mere three. But somehow it feels more than that. The tide has turned; from down and nearly out two races ago, Hamilton has acquired not only the lead but, just as valuably, the momentum. The doubts of Spa that 'this might not be my year' have already faded to a distant memory. The doyens of Fleet Street won't be lonely in concluding that the force is now with Hamilton.

It helps, of course, when your lead rival is crippled off the line, an electronics glitch rendering Nico Rosberg's malfunctioning Mercedes as slow as a Caterham and underlining the recklessness of the FIA's aborted attempt to ban radio messages on car performance. 'It would have been a hard-core race if Nico was still in the race,' Hamilton acknowledged after his victory, but not before reminding all and sundry that he has still suffered the majority of Mercedes' unreliability this season. Some memories are never going to fade.

Hamilton, one suspects, is still spoiling for a proper fight with his team-mate. The racer's instincts that courses through his veins was abundant at Monza two weeks ago when he ignored the advice of his race crew to bide his time behind Rosberg before launching a late attack, and equally evident this Sunday when he tore past Sebastian Vettel at the first half-opportunity when a more cautious driver would have waited for the Red Bull to reach the proverbial cliff. That's the type of driver he is and that's why his lament about the reduced 'intensity' of Sunday's race following Rosberg's retirement was, in spite of the advantage accrued from Nico's misfortune, absolutely genuine. Easy victories are not in his nature.

Not that there was anything especially easy about Sunday's win once the mid-race appearance of the Safety Car and its subsequent fifteen minutes of tedium had wiped out Hamilton's advantage and cast the remaining twenty laps as a classic contest between the tortoises and the lone hare.

Hammertime has never been so spectacular or well timed as the laps ran down and Hamilton, forever fretting over the state of his tyres, sprinted his advantage above and beyond the critical twenty-five seconds mark. F1 always works when it is played out with two vastly different tyre performances and degradation becomes an increasingly prevalent factor. But the critical ingredient, upon which the entire spectacle hinges, is a driver willing and wanting to play catch-up and play offensively on the frontfoot. Note the lack of drama the defensive Alonso-Ricciardo-Vettel train produced despite the trio all sharing the same section of track for lap after lap with just a second or so between them.

Hammertime was just the trick for him and us.

Mercedes run out of excusesFor a team which has such a vast performance advantage, Mercedes are making remarkably hard work of 2014. Four DNFs - plus two mechanical failures for Hamilton in qualifying before the summer break - have besmirched a campaign that had the potential to be a walkover. Given the W05's superiority, it is scarcely believable that Daniel Ricciardo remains a realistic title contender, but the fact of the matter is that the Red Bull is still just 60 points adrift with 50 on offer in the Abu Double season finale. He could still do it.

But probably not. Red Bull's refusal to order Vettel aside in order to let Ricciardo through for an additional handful of points gave the game away about how unlikely they regard the Aussie's title prospects. Which just leaves Mercedes in the spotlight and the pressure exclusively thrust on the team to ensure that this year's title is decided on merit rather than through mechanical failure. The team's reputation is in profit this year, massively so after delivering a missile of a car, but any more failures are unlikely to be tolerated in the all-important court of public opinion.

When safety becomes dangerous to the spectacleSeven laps and fifteen minutes of the Singapore GP were spent behind the Safety Car. While the decision of Race Control to deploy the pace car to clear up the debris from Sergio Perez's squashed front-wing is not for us to argue with, surely questions can be legitimately asked why the delay was so prolonged and why the lapped cars were requested to run round the entire circuit to reach the back of the field. Why not simply ask them to pull aside for a corner or two, letting the rest of the field through in the process, before rejoining at the back? Because of the extra delay waiting for the slowest cars in the field to unlap themselves, a race which ought to have been 61 laps long had to be reduced to 60, an avoidable alteration which, as we saw with Valtteri Bottas' collapse and Jean-Eric Vergne's last-lap surge, could have given us a very different result.

The gang of threeThe problem with talk of three-car teams in F1 next year isn't that number but the precursor that there would only be eight teams in existence. Regardless of the extent of the financial travails at the back of the grid, is it not incredibly disrespectful to the likes of Marussia, Caterham, Lotus and Sauber - the four likely lads to drop out - for the sport to be openly discussing their demise when they are all still in existence and all insisting they'll still be in existence next year as well?

Three-car teams may well be preferable to three pointless - metaphorically and literally - outfits at the back. But these teams have been welcomed into the fold, signed commercial deals to be part of F1, and deserve to be respected. That respect may not stretch to equal status, but nor should it shrivel to having their obituaries written when they are alive and kicking.

Vergne makes his caseFor Jean-Eric Vergne, crime pays. Despite being hit with two penalties during Sunday's race, the grand prix ended with the Frenchman - still 24, lest we forget - celebrating a well-deserved sixth place and what may prove to be a career-saving drive. Perversely, the five-second penalty to be added on to Vergne's final race count may have actually saved the Toro Rosso driver time in the final reckoning, inspiring him to throw caution to the wind as he launched a series of aggressive moves in the final stages before finishing the race with a lap of 1:54.330 - five seconds faster than the last lap of team-mate Daniil Kvyat.As there's nothing in the new radio regulations outlawing telling porkies, perhaps Toro Rosso should try telling Vergne he's facing a retrospective five-second penalty in Japan regardless of whether it's true or not.

Alonso waits his turnIt was worth a shot but with McLaren confirming they have no plans to make a driver announcement at Suzuka then it's fair to deduce their pursuit of Fernando Alonso has come to naught. Honda, owners of Suzuka, will just have to return to F1 in 2015 without a box-office name behind their wheel - although Jenson Button, a fans' favourite in Japan and a former World Champion, is hardly a small name, and Kevin Magnussen has plenty of time still on his side to emerge as a major player in the sport.

Alonso is nobody's fool and it would be a gamble of gargantuan proportions for him to transfer to an untested McLaren-Honda package. The sensible decision is to wait and see how the McLaren-Honda reunion performs next year while hoping that the first James Allison creation takes Ferrari back to the front in 2015. And sensible is Alonso's smartest move. As his next contract will almost certainly be the last he signs in F1, Fernando can't make a mistake - or take the gamble that McLaren are believed to have invited. But there's a risk in Alonso's procrastination too; if the Honda-McLaren package is quick out of the blocks next winter, a queue, potentially including Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, will quickly form outside Ron Dennis' office. Alonso is still holding all the cards, but the real trick is showing them when it matters most.

PG

Lewis Hamilton takes drivers' title lead at Singapore GP

Last updated at 22:49

The Singapore Grand Prix could prove to be pivotal as Lewis Hamilton turned round a 22-point gap on Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to take the lead in the drivers' world championship.

Amid the heat and humidity at Singapore's Marina Bay street circuit, Rosberg's title challenge took a hit as the electronics on his Mercedes let him down, allowing Hamilton to take full advantage and secure a lights-to-flag victory.

Here is how the story of a thrilling Singapore Grand Prix under floodlights unfolded in the words of the BBC F1 pundits, comments and tweets from the teams...

Rosberg's nightmare

Rosberg had gear selection problems from the moment he tried to fire up his Mercedes 30 minutes before the start of the race. The German had to start from the pits after failing to get off the grid at the start of the formation lap.

Unable to pass back markers, the team tried to reset the car at the first pit stop, but then he could not engage a gear, forcing the team to retire him.

Nico Rosberg's race engineer: 'The only thing working on your dash is the gear shift paddles.'

David Coulthard, BBC F1 co-commentator: 'Nico has had the lion's share of reliability this year. Drama before the start of this grand prix.'

Mercedes on Twitter : Spare a thought too for @nico_rosberg - desperate bad luck @F1NightRace but he'll be back better than ever in Japan! #F1 #SingaporeGP

Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda: 'I'm upset about Nico's car because these things should not happen.'

Safety Car drama

The safety car was introduced on lap 31 after a collision between Force India's Sergio Perez and Sauber's Adrian Sutil led to the Mexican's front wing detaching and leaving debris strewn across the track.

Hamilton saw his six-second gap over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso wiped out, and then while his rivals came in to change tyres, the leader stayed out.

David Coulthard: 'Adrian Sutil was not fully aware that Sergio Perez was there and squeezes him up against the wall and catches the front wing.'

Force India on Twitter: 'Damage to Checo's front wing - and the safety car has been deployed!'

Lewis Hamilton: 'Hey man, that was a little bit late there. I was literally going over the stuff [Perez's debris] as you told me.'

Mercedes on Twitter: 'If we could get this @F1NightRace restarted that'd be just dandy - the ol' nerves are janglin' again.'

Heat and Humidity

In hot and humid conditions under floodlights at the southeast Asian street circuit, several drivers suffered from fatigue and dehydration in temperatures touching 31C.

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen had a case of a burnt back, while Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat's water bottle failed to function because of the heat even before the race began.

James Allen , BBC Radio 5 live commentator: 'These drivers' drinks bottles are like a boiling hot cup of tea for the drivers.'

Jennie Gow, BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter: 'Magnussen is suffering from cramps - he's dehydrated.'

Magnussen: 'It was the hardest point I've ever earned. It was hot. In one word. Really tough.

Eric Boullier, McLaren racing director: 'Kevin was then subjected to severe bodily discomfort as his car's cockpit began to overheat, necessitating his holding his arms aloft, first one then the other, in an effort to direct cooling air down his sleeves and inside his race-suit.'

Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat : 'Sorry guys, but without the drink I'm dying here.'

Mikey Collier, Jenson Button's physio: 'This is the toughest race of the year for heat and humidity, but it differs from Malaysia because it has 23 or 24 corners. It is non-stop for the drivers.'

Worn tyres

Once the safety car returned to the pits, Hamilton built up a 25.2-second lead over the chasing pack as he bid to open up a big enough gap to return in the lead after his third and final tyre change. The Briton rejoined in second, just behind Vettel, but with a faster car and fresher tyres.

Lewis Hamilton: 'My right rear is getting seriously worn. I'm not sure it will explode or not.'

Marussia's Alexander Rossi on BBC Radio 5 live: 'I can't think how nuclear Lewis would go if they don't win this race.'

David Coulthard : 'If they do a perfect pit stop it is possible Lewis can come out between the two Red Bulls.'

Mercedes on Twitter: 'He's back out in P2! #VET up ahead! 8 laps to go! COME ON LEWIS!!!'

Hamilton takes the championship lead

In passing Vettel and taking the chequered flag, Hamilton claimed his 29th career victory and seventh of the season, two more than when he won his only title in 2008. More importantly, he earned a three-point lead over team-mate Rosberg, only the second time he has headed the German in the drivers' championship this season.

James Allen, BBC Radio 5 live commentator on 'Title race blown wide open as Hamilton wins and Rosberg retires in Singapore.'

Mercedes on Twitter: 'And with that, he takes the lead in the #F1 WDC by just 3 points! Game on!'