Canadian Influencer Matt Kiatipis Draws Large Crowd to Lorong Lew Lian on Oct 7

Canadian basketball influencer Matt Kiatipis drew a crowd of at least 400 people to a neighbourhood court at 6 Lorong Lew Lian on Oct 7, after a previous event in Chinatown was called off due to the size of the crowd, The Straits Times reported.

Crowd Size and Police Response at Lorong Lew Lian

The 26-year-old online celebrity arrived at the Upper Serangoon facility at approximately 6.40pm in a black van, wearing a white San Antonio Spurs jersey bearing Victor Wembanyama’s name. By 5.30pm, at least 150 spectators had already gathered, with youths in school PE shirts and uniforms looking to secure viewing spots on the court and along the corridors of an adjacent Housing Board block.

As chants of MK, MK, MK echoed through the neighbourhood, Kiatipis selected players from the audience for one-on-one matches characterized by physical play and heavy trash talk. The gathering concluded at roughly 7.30pm when police officers arrived to maintain order and keep the situation under control.

Contrasting Turnouts Across Singapore Tour Venues

The massive turnout in Upper Serangoon contrasted sharply with Kiatipis’s aborted attempt a day earlier on Oct 6 at the Chinatown Complex rooftop court. During the Chinatown stop, the size of the crowd encroached into the court, forcing the creator to cancel the event in coordination with police presence.

Nihal Hamid, a 20-year-old PSB Academy student who secured a match against Kiatipis, stated that the intense crowd response was no surprise given the influencer’s following. Austyn Campbell, a 16-year-old student at Stamford American International School, remarked that he had also visited the Chinatown venue a day prior but found the Lorong Lew Lian turnout significantly larger.

Kiatipis Uses Instagram to Promote One-On-One Basketball

Kiatipis published his 7pm meetup location just six hours prior via his Instagram account, where he maintains 3.5 million followers. Reflecting on the local response in an online post, Kiatipis wrote Singapore… you filled up the entire court. You filled up the bleachers, people were watching from the (balconies) and we announced the 1v1 only six hours before.

The content creator, who played college basketball at Canada’s Simon Fraser University and later had a professional stint in Costa Rica, aims to establish one-on-one basketball as an independent sport distinct from traditional five-on-five and 3×3 formats. Following his stops in Jakarta from Oct 1 to Oct 3 and his Singapore sessions, Kiatipis confirmed plans to stage two additional one-on-one events.