Singapore Women's Team Asian Games Performance

Cheaters must be Exposed

Yes, I agree with Storkbill that age verification should be done more indepth, in greater detail, especially when there is any indication that the player appears older for his declared age.

Cheating should not be condoned just because one wants to win. In the true spirit of sportsmanship, we should send a this signal to players who bring disrepute to the game.

 

No I don't think this is the main argument.

The main argument is on the importing of foreign talents, from any country who may not have a chance to develop to their full potential in their own country for various reasons.

Some host countries, like Singapore, are willing to take the risk to adopt foreign talents and invest in their development. These host countries hope the foreign talents can not only bring honour to the country but also raise its own standards and create an on-going interest in the game which may inspire the local talents to turn professional and fill the ranks of the National Teams in time to come.

We don't call them by the names you suggested, maybe out of jealousy or other reasons because some of our foreign imports, who later became Singapore citizens by choice, have made good and win international badminton titles, big or small and are able to assimilate into local society. They are far better off remaining in their home countries where they are not treasured for their abilities and rewarded accordingly.

Just as we don't think it is appropriate to call a Chinese now residing in Indonesia a "China-export-Chinese-Indonesian". We simply acknowledge him as Indonesian and if we want to be more explicit, we can elaborate further that he is an Indonesian of Chinese descent, because his forefathers came from China. We call Americans, Americans. We don't discriminate them as Chinese Americans, Indonesian Americans, etc, etc. If we want to short-cut, we may "perhaps" say to close friends that his is an American-Chinese or an American-Indonesian, simply because we should honour the host country's name first and not the other way round.

The main point is try not to discredit what a host country has done for the 'foreign import' or to cast the host country in bad light.

 

That's why I said you have a rather myopic view.

I personally believe that our foreign talent scheme has succeeded for badminton and will continue to make contributions to fulfilling Singapore's plans and ambitions.

You may not think it significant, but I think Ronald Susilo, Kendrick Lee, Li Li, Jiang Yanmei, Li Yujia, Hendri Supatra and Xing Aiying have in various events put Singapore on the world badminton map when they win individual and team titles.

This particular thread on "Singapore Women's Team Asian Games Performance" is my way of acknowledging that our women's team had succeeded when many thought we could not. Our ladies from wherever they were before, had made Singapore proud.

Imagine, much stronger badminton countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were unable to win a women's team medal at the Doha Asian Gemes, but Singapore got a bronze. When our women's team won a place in the finals of the Uber Cup at the expense of some stronger Asian countries, it was unheard of. Of course, now the rest of the world has woken up to the fact that tiny Singapore can play badminton too!

These foreign talents have made a huge difference to the badminton scene in Singapore. They are role models to our talented young and have inspired many more school children to take up the game. Yes they serve as a foundation to the further development of the game here.

So much so that our government and our Sports Council have decided to invest further in badminton as one of the few core Olympic games that can produce Olympic medals. This accouncement was made only recently after Singapore's 8 gold medal success at the recent Doha Asian Games.

Yes, it has taken Singapore Badminton a long time to arrive at this stage, which I consider just past Foundation Stage, still early days indeed for it to grow. I don't expect too much in the next 2 to 3 years as you tried to instigate. Our Sports School is only about 3 years' old, our first real batch of a handful of local talents only started turning professional last year, so how ambitious can one be? We need more numbers, we need more to join the SS and we are waiting anxiously for the SS to provide us with local talents to be trained to represent Singapore. The last bit has not even started yet. So be patient, more reasonable and more realistic.

Just because Indonesia has so many local talents that it need not import foreign players does not give you the right to deride other countries who may not be so well endowed. As a badminton fan, you should encourage more interaction among countries and players so that we will have a more vibrant and exciting badminton industry that will raise standards all round.

I don't wish to discriminate against foreign talents by giving them different names just as I don't wish to call you Chinese Indonesian. I like to accord our citizens as Singaporeans or Singapore players.

 

Frankly, this is a free country. If one feels that one is better off residing elsewhere, it is his choice.

You are asking very personal questions for which you should not expect an answer. You should satisfy yourself by confronting those people in question. I can't answer for them.

On a similar note, you should also ask, if you are an Indonesian citizen. why are you in Singapore? Maybe some of their reasons may be similar to yours.

 

Develping badminton in Singapore is for both the public including the school children, the badminton fraternity as well as for the country, not the public alone. The country's citizens must have something to look forward to, to bond themselves, to identify with and to make them feel proud. Winning medals at important competitions such as the Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth and SEA Games is one of the ways to achieve this objective.

There is nothing wrong with imported players if we think they can help us achieve certain objectives as I have ennumerated on several occasions. Singapore is a country of imports and exports, we have been an entrepot for ages, so this is nothing new. What I take offence to is the way you try make our foreign talents look as though they are cheap, unwanted, second class, even traitors to their own country should they beat their ex-countrymen, someone whom you can ridicule at will. So it is not a "narrow-minded" difficulty to acknowledge the fact.

Why do we need to import foreign talents? Precisely because we need them to help us raise our own standards so that we can compete with the rest of the world. If a foreign talent cannot help us to do this, if he or she is unwilling to become a citizen to represent the country because certain important events like the Olympics only permit citizens to play, then why should Singapore continue to invest in and develop them? We should choose someone who is more willing.

If you are a true patriot, you should remain in your own country to impart your skills and help your own people to develop and grow.

 

I totally agree with you. Thank you.

 

Thank you chris and ctjcad for your views.

 

Since you are so insistent, just look back to what you have posted, starting with your first post, which I repeat as follows

QUOTE=jurong_twister]singapore TVs called Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait sprinter

"Kenyan imported citizen"

shouldnt we call the shuttlers?

"Chinese imported citizen"

There wont be any benefit with foreign import players. Look at the badminton, where are all the real Singaporean after more than 4-5 years?

Didnt most secondary schools complain regarding Monfort's foreign player scheme last year?

Foreign coach & foreign player are totally two different matters.[/QUOTE]

You have the intention from the very start to pass snide remarks on foreign imports in general and on Singapore's foreign talents from China in particular. You tried to prove your point by describing the unhappiness in our schools which I said is only a passing phase. It is good that ctjcad gave his positive views on foreign imports for the US and what ethnicity means.

You went on to say that foreign imports would not help our cause, which I disagreed and gave you my reasons. You said Singapore can rely on its own local talents and quoted the success of our sailors. But I explained that sailing and badminton are not the same in Singapore but even in sailing we need the services of foreign coaches. Chris has expanded it further to make it clearer for you - the short term and long term goals and how these could be achieved because your view is too shortsighted.

You kept on repeating that Singapore has no local born talents in the National Team even though we have foreign imports to help us; in other words you are trying to discredit our policies and plans as being ineffective but I explained to you that it is still too early to expect results. But the results will surely come - it is a matter of time.

You are not happy and brush off my replies as "beating about the bush".
In fact you are the one who is beating about the bush for you are harping on the same thing.

And despite the friendly call for stopping this discussion you still return to try to press your redundant views. For your information, you are not strictly contributing within the scope of this topic which is "Singapore Women's Team Asian Games Performance". You only want to take the opportunity to release your inflamed dissatisfaction over foreign imports for whatever reasons you may harbour.