haha my previous post was the 100th post... i think. anyway i was juz thinking bout the discussion on the table tennis paddlers. lol wanted to post but forgot then got reminded when i read eggy's blog. okay anyway on to what i wanna say.



why is it that ppl are saying that the final is juz china vs china? so what if they were originally born in China? that doesnt mean that they arent singapore PRs right now. They fought hard in the name of singapore and so what if they were born in china? so what if their originated from china? my grandparents came from china too. so did a lot more of our ancestors.. our roots are in china, if u realise. and it was merely how many generations ago? even tan howe liang, the first olympic medalist of singapore originated from china. if im not wrong either his father or grandfather came from sua tao. so is he too considered not to be a singaporean? no way! so in the same way the paddlers should be considered as true singaporeans

its not easy to come to a totally foreign country, then proceed to becoming PRs, and finally taking on the responsibility of delivering an olympic medal for singapore. we shouldnt treat them differently juz because they're from china.

yeah like the govt should spend more money developing local talents, but how many ppl really have the ability to and are willing to be solely a sportsman/woman for a career? its not realistic to have sports as a career in singapore cuz its very hard to survive. so only if you're willing to and have the ability to do extremely well in that sport will you reap rewards that can actually sustain you.

how many ppl in singapore are willing to take a risk and take a gamble at having sport as a career. surely, there are a few. but ONLY a few... and only if u focus on it as a career are you able to get medals or actually contend for titles in major sporting events. since so few singaporeans are actually developing in this area, by importing players like the table tennis paddlers from china is creating a win-win situation. these athletes whos talents arent considered good enough in china get a chance to develop and showcase their real abilities, and are given chances to compete in major sporting meets. singapore will then have higher chances of getting the coveted medals that we want.

by importing foreign talent does not deprive singaporeans of their chances. right now the government is giving a lot more to help singaporean athletes compared to lets say juz 10 yrs ago. our grooming of athletes is getting better, but up to now many are still unable to perform as well as the foreign talents. so right now we need to import foreign talents to aid us in our medal bid. but maybe when the day comes that singapore no longer needs foreign talent, the foreign talent scheme can be stopped. but right now, it is the way to go. and so we should not discriminate against those from china who come here to become PRs, playing for us and bringing glory.

well unless they are ungrateful and leave singapore to go back to china after we have done so much for them. juz like zhang xue ling. but up till now, they've not done anything like that so we should not discriminate them and make them want to return to china. should they still remain here for the next 10, 20 years we should indeed applaud them. right now they are still loyal and havent done anything ungrateful, but rather mad us proud of their achievements. there was never a need for such a debate as to whether singapoer really won the silver medal or not.

wow... thats a lot!