Standard Chartered Bank has stepped up its hockey sponsorship, backing next month's International Hockey Federation (FIH) Junior World Cup. The company will be title sponsor of the event, which also has sponsorship deals in place with a number of other companies. It marks a rapidly increasing investment in junior sport in Singapore in advance of the Youth Olympics, which will be held there in 2010.

"The FIH Junior World Cup is a stepping-stone to senior representation and an important ingredient in the development of powerful teams," said FIH president Leandro Negre. "Many medallists of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games participated in the previous Junior World Cup and you can be sure that during this event you can spot the medal winners for future Olympic Games."

The two-week long tournament will feature the best 20 teams from around the world, and will be shown on ESPN Star Sports. Singapore Hockey Federation (SHF) president Annabel Pennefather added: "This is such welcome support for our event. In this current situation it’s not easy to secure sponsors and we're happy to have support from Standard Chartered."