It all began way back in 1975 when the first World Association of Veteran Athletes Championships (WAVA) was held in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Hari Chandra, Malaysia’s 800 metres representative to the 1956 Olympics Games in Melbourne participated in the inaugural World Association of Veteran Athletes Championships at Toronto as a Singapore Citizen. He ran the 400 metres in the 45 – 49 age group category and won a silver medal with a time of 53.8 seconds.

On his return to Singapore he began proceedings to form a veteran track & field association here. Singapore Association of Veteran Athletes (SAVA) was formed and registered with the Registrar of Societies in 1978. The first President was Mr. T. C. Khoo with Mr. Joseph Yan Kok Peng as Vice President. The honorary Secretary was Mr. Hari Chandra. This Association was formed with the older athletes in mind, athletes who had represented Singapore and who still had the avidness and verve to continue with athletics.

The first Championships were held in Singapore in 1981 and this also served as the 1^st Asian Veteran Track & Field Championships. Mr. Hari Chandra was also the Secretary of the Asian Association.

One of the notable athletes who performed well at this Inaugural Games in 1981 was our 1973 South East Asia Games 200 metres gold medalist, Glory Barnabas.

In recent years, WAVA came to be known as World Masters Athletics (WMA) and SAVA is now known as Singapore Masters Athletics (SMA). The Asian Masters Athletics (AMA) Championships are held in the even years with the world editions held in the odd years. Singapore Masters Athletics has stood the challenge of time and continues to serve as role models to both the young and young at heart.