SINGAPORE — Tickets for next month’s HSBC World Rugby Singapore Sevens (April 16-17) are clearly in demand, with sales for the two-day event at the National Stadium crossing the 21,000 mark, just 5,500 shy of the target that tournament organisers have set for the first year of its staging.

Organisers also told TODAY yesterday that about three-quarters of the tickers were sold locally, while almost a quarter of the tickets sold were bought by overseas fans from countries such as South Africa, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.

Douglas Danapal, commercial manager of Rugby Singapore — the events and commercial arm of Singapore Rugby Union (SRU) — said that the brisk ticket sales are the result of the community events that were held recently to promote the sport here.

“People in Singapore are traditionally late ticket buyers,” he said. “Hence we are happy that, with three weeks to go before the event, the ticket sales are already looking good. We are on track to hit our target of 26,500.

“We have set up the stadium for 35,000 fans, and we’d love to hit that. I wouldn’t say that getting 30,000 fans on each day of the tournament is impossible.

“We have kept ticket prices affordable.”

Ticket prices for the Singapore Sevens, which the Republic will host from 2016 to 2019, start as low as S$2 for children below 12 years old for a two-day pass, to S$150 for adults in the top-range Category One seat.

Added SRU president Low Teo Ping: “We have the Tag 7s (a programme that aims to teach rugby skills to more than 14,000 students in 140 schools) that has been ongoing from September till now.

“We also have the Heroes in the Making programme (which aims to identify future sevens players for Singapore), where two of our boys are going to New Zealand for a training stint. So we are doing a lot to promote the sport to schools, and the community.

“It is an exciting year for rugby and the tickets sales are a sign of the interest in rugby.”

The World Rugby Sevens Series is making a return to Singapore after a decade-long hiatus. The Republic hosted a leg of the series from 2004-06. At the time, some 14,000 fans turned up for each day of the tournament.

Rugby has been building up its presence in Singapore since the start of the month, with two Super Rugby matches involving Japan’s Sunwolves at the National Stadium kicking off the momentum.

The matches drew an average of 8,000 fans per game.

Yesterday, organisers announced that StarHub will be the official broadcaster of the Singapore Sevens in a four-year deal.

StarHub will also be teaming up with FOX Sports to bring in Sevens rugby legend Waisale Serevi of Fiji to conduct a clinic for youth in Singapore.