Dragon boat racing was first introduced to Singapore in 1978 when Hong Kong invited Singapore to participate in the Hong Kong Races. In the same year, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) organized the first dragon boat competition in Singapore. The races in 1978 were confined to only local participants and attracted 25 teams.

Since then, the SSC had continued to organize the races annually with financial support from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

Currently other organizations such as the People's Association (PA) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) also play an important role in assisting in the organization and promotion of the sport. The sport has grown steadily over the last 20 years and since 1979, it has become an annual international sporting event in our events calendar.

Dragon boat racing grew in such a magnitude that it was thus necessary to form a national controlling body in 1987, called the Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA), to organize, promote and co-ordinate all the dragon boat activities in Singapore.

With a modest start of 19 affiliates in 1987, the SDBA has grown to its present strength with 41 affiliates.

Since 1989, the SDBA has taken over the organization of the Singapore World Invitational Dragon Boat Races and the Singapore River Regatta which are the two main annual events.

Singapore has been sending its national dragon boat teams for overseas competition through the generosity of the Singapore Tourism Board. Singapore would, on the average, participate in four international races a year.

Since 1979, International teams have been invited to the Singapore races. With a modest start of only two foreign teams in 1979, this group has increased to a dozen or more foreign teams in the last few years. The World Invitational Dragon Boat Races hosted by Singapore is now recognized as an major annual sporting event in the International sports calendar.