Daily Lessons from Life 31 May 2010 - Singapore women's team upset China to become world champs - AsiaOne Forum

"Table Tennis: Singapore women's team upset China to become world champs - Posted: 30 May 2010 CNA

MOSCOW: Singapore's trio Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Bei Bei rocked the sports world in Moscow when they beat reigning champions and world No 1 China 3-1 in the World Team Table Tennis Championships.

It was sweet revenge for the Singapore women's team, ranked No 2 in the world, after they alost in the 2008 final and the Olympic final to the Chinese."

It is a remarkable achievement for Singapore women Table Tennis (TT) team to beat China the traditional and dominant powerhouse in this sport. There should be celebration, at least it would had the Chinese won, but not so in Singapore?

Why? Some Singaporeans took issue with the fact that the team is entirely made up of ex-PRC Chinese who migrated to Singapore and became Singapore citizen to qualify for the national team.

Lessons for me are:

1. one need to clearly distinguish between true foreign talent (FTs) who can perform at level not matched by locals and those 'fake' FTs who should never had been allowed in to cram the style of Singaporeans and take up jobs that could have easily and competently being filled by locals. Some of the objections lodged on the forum appeared to have missed this critical point!;

2. there is a distinct possibility that the rewards for the winners of World Championship and Olympic gold medals played a part in the team's motivation to win. The same can be said of Chinese winners who were showered with financial rewards and feverish admiration by fans, some of which are very wealthy and generous individuals! So, some Singaporeans pointing out the million dollar (S$) rewards for the winners in Singapore may also miss the point. However, personally for me, paying to win medal is NOT my cup of tea regardless. As long as the money come from admirers and NOT from the national coffer, I don't care. It is not necessary for a nation to be a sporting power for it to declare that it has TRULY arrived!;

3. for the New Singaporean Woman TT World Champions, the best way to put any doubt to rest is to STAY Singaporeans till the day you leave this world! Let the Singaporeans in the next 10- or 50- or 100-year from 2010 continue to recount how the Singapore Woman TT Team stunned the then world champions! Let the future generation of Singaporeans proudly and wholeheartedly said: the Singapore Woman TT Team of Singaporeans are World Champions!

May the ladies continue to win more honours for the nation.