Yes MAS was once a great badminton nation but could not continue her greatness because of many, many obstacles which were discussed and debated in these columns. Hopefully MF could bring back those glory days. One thing our Sports School does is to provide both academic and sports training to its students. LKY is able to gain admission to our polytechnic not just because he is good at badminton but because his academic grades must be acceptable. And as a citizen, LKY has both privileges as well as responsibilities. He will not be a second-class citizen but will be treated equally as those born locally.
GJW mom is a responsible mother, at least she looks out for her daugther future, securing an education and letting her daughter playing her dream, that is a super deal, win-win. Play pro baddy is risky business, if she makes it to be a female LCW (that is a big 'hope' here) and bag the WC or OLY gold that a soon-to-be-once-upon-a-time great baddy powerhouse like MAS could not achieve despite having all these past GOAT coaches and managers, and Sultan of SS (but only second place WC/OLY winner), then good for her.
Loh, in the year of 2001 when Malaysia became the host nation of Sea Games, they have recorded 111 gold medals and in no.1 position, meanwhile in 2015 edition Singapore with 84 gold medals only place no.2, hence you had excessively proud of no.2 position. Please bear in mind, in this edition Singapore had introduced 5 new sports like traditional dragon boat race, floorball, ten-pin bowling, softball and water-skiing where Team Singapore are doing well, meanwhile other famous sports but Team Singapore are weaker in strength like westling, track cycling, karate, weight lifting are excluded from the 2015 edition. Countries hosting the SEA Games tend to pick sports in which they are strong in to ensure a high medals tally for the home country, thus 84 gold medals is not a big surprise at all.
I am proud too..........its a good sporting achievement........long time coming.............aren't you proud with us, since you are making a living here? Bro.........you were not surprised at Singapore's 84 gold haul?.........Thanks for your faith in singapore and support...............I was surprised.............host countries tend to pick sports in which they are strong in also becos that's where the viewers/spectators/fans are...........channelnewsasia reported that we got 44million hits on our SEA games youtube channel!!! Wow!! another good achievement..........
True, the host countries have a choice and they obviously prefer to choose those sports that they are particularly strong in. But Singapore did not choose those that are mainly considered "local", rather the preference is for Olympics-related sports, whenever possible unless participating countries object. Some of the "new" sports you mentioned are actually not new, like bowling in particular, but may have been omitted from the previous games depending on the host country's preference. Softball has never been a strong sport for Singapore as it is for the Philippines and floorball is entirely new even to Singapore. Remember when Singapore hosted the last time, her record was only 50 gold medals. Now it has spiraled upwards to 84, a 68% increase. So this is a big surprise to us. I like to see Malaysia improving on her record 111 gold medals by more than 68%, which means more than 186 golds. By the way, my retort was to indicate that Singapore kids can also play sports, although this is never a priority. For a small country like Singapore to be able to beat so many much larger countries in Southeast Asia is a great effort and a source of inspiration. Brunei is another small country which was supposed to be the next host. But it is understandable that she opted out as it is unlikely that her athletes are able to benefit in terms of the number of gold medals that can be won. So relatively speaking Singapore has done a great job in this SEA Games and I'm sure our athletes will be rewarded accordingly.
Let's not be carried too far away on GJW. No doubt she is talented, otherwise the Singapore Sports School will not be bothered to make her parents the scholarship offer when she was much younger. But as indicated by OTB, Malaysia has produced many Junior World champions before and how many of them have succeeded and survived to this day? So much has to depend on GJW herself. I don't recall that LCW was once a JWC, but his persistence, hard work and dedication had made him the World No.1 for a record time.
LoL...the gold madal tally or achievement is not calculated by percentage. Let's put it this way, if Timor Leste never won any gold medal in this edition and in the next edition they won 10 gold, do that mean 1000% improvement? Who cares if you are 1000% improved but are rank no.11 out of 12 countries.
Firstly dragon boat race, floorball, ten-pin bowling and water skiing is not an Olympic events. Secondly, Singapore is the strongest in this region for floorball, coz of proper floorball programmes since primary school and compare to other SEA countries, some of them don't even have an idea about this sport. Lastly, Softball is included in this edition of Sea Games due to it was a Summer Olympic event and SEA Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) have to include softball to make up the minimun number of 24 Olympic sports for this edition.
Yes, I will be proud too if 100% local and even if Singapore won 50 Gold medals. What to proud of with majority of table tennis players from China, swimmer from China, Shot put thrower from China, Badminton players from Thailand and Indonesia, Billiards player from UK and etc.
I have mentioned that Singapore will prefer Olympic sports whenever possible. In fact, I read that the SEA Games should also follow the Olympics sports as closely as possible so as to prepare participants. Obviously there must be a consensus, a give-and-take attitude, on the choice of sports among largely ASEAN countries - thus the differences. I don't think Singapore is strong in dragon boat race but this has been a popular sport for years among participating countries, so is bowling. My stress is that Singapore would rather not choose "local" sports that are mainly known and played principally in the host country. Floorball, although new to Singapore, is played in other Western countries and is becoming popular. I read that Singapore took the trouble to introduce floorball to the other participating countries. That's why Singapore is relatively strong in this new game because she is interested to find out more, invest and work on it. Apart from bowling, which is popular in Singapore, I don't think Singapore has a clear advantage on the "new" games. And there are other sports that Singapore is weak in, yet they are prominent in this edition, such as athletics, boxing, archery, rowing and others. Softball has been included before and is not entirely new for whatever reason. Despite such limitations as well as those on Singapore's small size, our sports associations naturally took the opportunity to "expose" as many of our young athletes on home ground. As a result, Singapore not only came in second on gold medals tally, but also topped the chart in overall total medals won, gold, silver and bronze. And apparently, a record number of PBs (Personal Best), games and national records were broken. This is a great achievement for tiny Singapore! (May I suggest to Admin to relocate discussions on the SEA Games here to its proper thread.)
Loh, you should be proud that people are trying to take potshots at Singapore. It shows how successful it is with a limitation of population Other Asian countries close by spend a huge amount on football with very little gain. Singapore sports seem to be good value for the investment judging by the medal count. But going back to the young girl in question, the family have the right to consider all offers of a better future. OTB is absolutely right. As a parent, you have to consider what is best for your child. If Malaysia doesn't put a good package in, other countries will gladly have those people. Just look at the numbers of Malaysians working in other industries around the world. Most love Malaysia but they have a better deal elsewhere. Human nature.
I am replying to my own posting now. See what I have stated above it is not important which country Goh Jin Wei is playing for. The most important thing here is her performance at the court. Once again I will say that I just found an article online and have decided to post it here. The article is written by a Singaporean okay? So there is no need to be sore here. I am just stating the facts. If I had known that such an article would have created such a huge issue I wouldn't want to post that article here. I think the debate about talent import has to stop now. This thread is for us to talk about Goh Jin Wei and not about talent import. Please I beg refrain from any more arguments. Too tired to entertain them now. Sorry.
Okay I am replying to my own posting again. See I said I went to search for goh Jin Wei particulars and found this news related to Goh Jin Wei online. SO I just post the news here as it mention about Goh Jin Wei. So again I want to stress for those who wanted to talk about talent import please do not post it here. Please create another thread for TALENT IMPORT and talk about it there.
Oh so you have an axe to grind, just because some of our athletes were not born in Singapore. Are you suggesting that we should not be proud of our forefathers and the pioneers who contributed to Singapore's success, though they may not be local-born. You sounded like a sore loser, a sour grape. In fact I'm proud that so many foreign talents choose Singapore as their home, make their contributions and eventually some become Singapore citizens. Ask yourself why did they leave their home countries in the first place to come to Singapore. Why are there so many people around the world wanting to emigrate to the USA and become citizens there if possible? Our foreign talents make their contributions not only in sports but in various other sectors. They help to uplift the standards all round. That's how Singapore is able to succeed. Of course you are entitled to your opinion. But I'm not sure how many foreign talents want to work and live in your country.
Cheung, thanks for your encouragement. I agree that OTB is just being prudent and realistic. Our Sports School has taken that into account and that is why the student's academic progress has not been ignored. On the other hand, the SS ensures that the student has sufficient time for both sports and study and the academic programme is arranged to suit the student's sports training and preparation for tournaments. Loh Kean Yew is able to study in our polytechnic after his secondary education because of the special arrangement to ensure he attains the required academic standard. And he can progress to university later. I recall reading that one SS student was able to win the prestigious President Scholarship to study in his chosen university, whether local or foreign. This is a great testimony to our Sports School.
And the above post will be the last on foreign talents in this thread as the background to it has been very clearly explained. Please keep all further posts to the player. Thanks Mod
anybody has the GJW vs Hanna Ramadhini video (i googled, cant find) or at least give insights, thoughts and comments about that game between these 2 gals?
Yes it is indeed sad to say that the match us played at court 2 and not court 1 hence there is no YouTube or video recording of the match. By since you asked foe the comments about the game I am going to write about the game here. First of all both players played very well. Both of the players refused to give up. Hence it is difficult to determine who will win the game. My friends who had the opportunity to watch it life at the stadium updated me about the game. First set is won by goh Jin Wei 21-13. Second set is won by hana 22-20. Then during the third set of the game, goh Jin Wei had some leg cramps issue which makes it so impossible for her to play. My friends said they thought goh Jin Wei would quit playing due to the leg cramps. However, she persevered on and continued playing. My goodness my friends said that she has such a good fighting spirit being so young age 15. She ignored the pain at her legs and played on. Thus she lost the third set of the game. My friends said that goh Jin Wei felt so sad after she lost in the semi finals that she nearly cried. She couldn't control her emotions. When goh Jin Wei was being interviewed by the reporters she said that if not because of the leg cramps she could have won the match. Goh Jin Wei said I came here to win at last the gold or silver medal so I felt very sad after losing out in the semifinals. Throughout the whole match with hana she played very well. She did lots of high jumping smash, smashed fast and hard, able to defend well and is very good at the net play too. Unfortunately she lost the game However, my friends said that actually Goh Jin Wei need not feel sad. Instead she should be happy. She is actually the youngest badminton player ever in the sea games history to win the bronze medals. Hence she should feel proud of herself and not sad. My friends mentioned that she is a very friendly person and even took some photos with some of her fans who requested to take photos together with her. Even when she was being interviewed by the reporters, she also answered the questions politely. My friends mentioned that her skills are very good. She is able to do lots of high jumping smash and she could also smash very hard. At the same time her defense is also very good. She is also a fast paced player. My friend said that all these good skills enabled her to win over senior players who are ranked higher then her. Her best performance is when she win over the second seeded Thailand women single. Anyway my friends mentioned that this girl has a good future to go far.
