Singapore Women's Team Asian Games Performance

Thank you Chris for remembering us during this festive time of the year.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY 2007 TO ALL OUR FRIENDS DOWNUNDER, ESPECIALLY TO ALL OUR MELBOURNE BADDY FANS IN CHRIS@CCC"

 

Thanks for that piece of information about the competition in the schools.

I think it is only a natural response by teachers and coaches of normal schools who do not have 'quality' players to take on the better ones from overseas who decided to study here. I assume many of the better players have been absorbed by the Sports School which should be the one more concerned if their trainees cannot measure up to the foreign imports. But there are always some good local players who chose not to attend the SS for various reasons. And for Montford Secondary and perhaps a few others to think of such a scheme to get good foreign players to heighten the competition and make it more interesting, they should be congratulated. Otherwise our school badminton scene will remain dull and of a low standard.

About the poll, I'm not sure whether we can confirm that the majority are against 'imported players' as nothing official has been conducted. In any case some of those interviewed chose not to have their names disclosed. Even then, over time those involved will have to accept the challenge and think of ways to do better. In a way, it is a wake-up call to those who have not performed. Fortunately, the 'anti-foreign import' view you mentioned is not shared by our government who encourages foreign talent to provide the competition and raise our own standards.

The motivated local school players found the foreign challenge invigorating as they can assess their own standards, exchange knowledge and train harder to improve themselves. Some have confessed that they have benefitted as a result.

At the national level, we can't hold the selfish view of just keeping to ourselves and hope to do the best in international tournaments. We will be slaughtered. The foreign talent scheme is meant to help us achieve international standards faster in some of our sports, badminton being one of them.

So I believe we are on the right track and those involved in our core sports should not waste time being negative but should work towards a common goal of achieving success for Singapore in the world sports arena.

 

Every time I learned that Singaporean athletes could beat the best in the world in their chosen sports and events, I felt immensely proud and happy that despite our small population, we still have it to become world champions! But I don't agree that Singapore doesn't need to import foreign talent. It depends on the situation and prevailing circumstances.

We have had world champions in sailing (as you've just indicated, this is a new achievement I believe), bowling, bodybuilding and silat, but not on a consisent basis and in a number of cases, we have to count on the 'veterans' in the latter three, which are not Olympic sports, to deliver. Quite logically, Singapore will concentrate on the Olympic sports in which it feels our athletes will have a chance to shine.

As I have mentioned before, Sailing's success is not an overnight miracle. Plans have been established long ago to create the necessary interest in our schools, to spot the local talents and to train them to the highest level with top-notch coaches and exposed them to overseas competitions. Much resources, talent and time have already been poured into this sport to ensure its continued success.

We need not import foreign talent in sailing because we have enough of the necessary local material to work with, thanks to Sailing's foresight. Quite naturally, success begets success, and sailing will attact more new enthusiasts with its new-found successes at the Doha Asian Games and world competitons.

Unforturnately, badminton and some other chosen Olympic sports,
do not have the local talent pool just yet, but badminton together with table tennis have plotted out the road map for implementation, so it will be a mattter of time when these two Olympic sports will make their impact. The Sports School will produce our major source of talent to represent Singapore in the future and I hope we have the best coaches to train and guide them.

It is likely that Singapore will get its second Olympic medal from sailing, with only one silver medal won by Tan Howe Liang for weightlifting ages ago in Rome! Although Ang Peng Siong (whom the Singapore Swimming Association and Sports Council must have spent immensely on his overseas education and training) created a world record for the short course free style sprint in swimming, we have not won a medal at the Olympics. Our latest sensational foreign talent, Tao Li, now 16, who came to Singapore at 10 years of age and initially coached by Ang himself, will likely be the lady to win the first swimming honours for Singapore.

I think Singapore's approach is well-suited to its size and available resources. I have elaborated quite at large on this and thus will not repeat myself. Therefore to solely rely on local talent at this stage of our sports development is not the way to go for Singapore.

However, one thing that I observed lacking for Badminton is that we have only one high performance local coach to work with the foreigh coaches. If we want to have a full compliment of badminton armoury, we need to attract more locals to become full-fledged national coaches that our successful neighbours, Indonesia and Malaysia, have already cultivated.

 

I wish I could agree with you that Singapore has all the resources. Although I agree that sailing is a rare exception, still we have to look towards the more experienced foreign coaches to help us achieve success. As I've said, in badminton we practically have no proven local coaches to help build the national team. Additionally, although the mindset is changing, we still need to work hard on the parents and their sports talented children to turn professional.

Yes time is of the essence and for certain sports which we lagged far behind international standards, we need foreign talent to help us narrow the gulf and create more interest among our own populace. I'm sure most of us don't desire to wait another 10 to 20 years to have a national team worthy of international standards.

Tao Li is still young and came from a different background. Personally, I think she has adjusted well and is much admired by her friends in the Sports School. She came here to learn English and now has to learn to sing the National Anthem in Malay. Evidently from the TY footages we saw, she struggled with the language but was making valiant attempts. Even among local-born Singaporeans, we still have many who can't sing the NA. Thankfully, time is on Tao Li's side and I've no doubt that she will succeed in the end.

I can't comment on our present or past foreign talent athletes who have become citizens. Some are still contributing, others have made good after retirement but some have not. Some became model citizens, others may not. This is a fact of life for all citizens, whether local or foreign born. Even some Singapore citizens emigrate elsewhere for whatever reasons. So it is not quite right for us to pass judgment. So long as they have done their part and delivered when they are most wanted, they have fulfilled their obligations and we can only hope that they will be able to continue to live happily in Singapore.

At least they are better than so-called citizens who caused death and destruction to their own people in their own countries.

 

I agree it is a rather sensitive balance for badminton in particular as all of Singapore's badminton imports are from traditionally strong Asian badminton countries.

Thankfully China and Indonesia have so many talented players that it doesn't create any dent at all to their talent pool if Singapore can offer them a place and professional training for future development.

Singapore mitigated the situation initially by importing very young talents in their early teens and not simply taking direct from their national teams. The latter would have created undesirable consequences. But Singapore seems willing to take in older foreign imports nowadays as it takes a shorter time to develop them to achieve a certain measure of international success needed to sustain local badminton interest. In this regard, Singapore seems to be more flexible but whether the foreign talent could fit in and perform is another matter.

The recent impasse of Zhou Mi, who is still keen on training for the Beijing Olympics 2008, having to give up Malaysia and trying her hand in Hong Kong as she no longer has a place in the China National Team, is a case in point. This is more acceptable to the Chinese as Hong Kong is a part of China. And many years back, when Indonesian national hero, Taufik Hidayat was dissatisfied with conditions at home and wanted to move to Singapore but later changed his mind after being convinced by the authorities.

Could you imagine what it would be if Singapore makes gestures to the Malaysian juniors to play for Singapore? Malaysians would find no difficulty in assimilating into Singaporean society and should be better adjusted than players from China and Indonesia.

Another politically sensitive issue indeed!

 

Hi saugusli,

You have some interesting information on the Indonesian players and coaches which most of us outsiders do not have. I hope though that what you know is not pure rumours or half truths.

On the age of players, it does seem that some players appear to be older than their age group because of their bigger physical size, but this can be misleading as some mature faster than others and the more hardworking can build up their muscles quicker.

Also, the better players can play in a higher age group though they may be much younger. But the reverse cannot be allowed, ie, older players cannot play in a younger age group and it appears you are suggesting this is the case with some older players in some of our age-group competitions. If so the authorities must be notified so that an investigation can be made to verify their age and to be fair to all the other genuine participants. In any case, the team managers of the other countries can lodge a complaint if they are dissatisfied.

As for the coaches' ability, time will tell whether they are up to the task. Yes I saw many new faces from China and Indonesia and some former coaches must have finished their contracts. But these foreign coaches also take the risk when they come to Singapore to coach as they must perform otherwise they will not be retained. Foreign coaches are just like any other human being. They have their own problems at home, they have their fears, they have their own limitations but when a chance is given to them to experience a new life, to prove that they can do better, why deny them that chance? And the truth will come when our national players compete with others in the SS, Satellite and team tournaments. But I can tell you that to be a winner is getting harder by the day as other countries are also improving. You should understand this better as even powerful Indonesia has not been able to retain its pole position consistently! At the last World Championships, it was an English pair that won the men's doubles! Unlikely but true.

As I have tried to make others understand, Singapore is different from China or Indonesia or even Malaysia. We are much, much smaller in size, both in geography and in population. We are at different stage of economic development where young people are more attracted to enterprises that can give them a better future in terms of career and earning power. Unfortunately badminton as well as the sports industry have notbeen perceived to reach that stage yet that could match the demands of our young talents. It is changing and the better prize monies offered by BWF in the SS series is a step in the right direction.

Actually, Singapore's sports reward attractions are not to be sniffed at. Our parents and athletes should know that the Singapore Government and the National Sports Associations (NSAs) dish out attractive rewards. $1million for an Olympic gold, $250,000 for an Asian Games gold, etc, etc. Then there may be commercial endorsements for the winner. The industry may join in to reward with their company products like property developers may give a house or an apartment as a promotion for their own products or services. Malaysia's squash queen, Nicole, should know.