"Singapore's must ranked as one of the very best in terms of
rewarding its elite athletes."
Non commercial you mean. "Elite athletes" lol. More importantly
other countries dont import as MANY as Singapore.
"Mew Choo is not all conquering. She lacked consistency at the
world level. The Chinese are still too strong for her."
True but what she had done is truly amazing in 2007. Can you
imagine going to China (home crowd advantage) and beating ALL three
of their best players (which also be the worlds' top 3)?
To me, it would be like Singapore Football Team go to England
and beat Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal. Unprecedented and nearly
impossible. But SHE did it. Its a WORLD class great accomplishment
even if it is for 1 tournament.
Nicol David is more consistent - shes been WORLD number one for
some time now (with a break in between).
I am sorry if I am not politically correct, but I dont consider
bowling and snooker "sports". (Something that requires
cardiovascular effort is my defintion of a sport)
when i say elite, i am referring to athletes that tops the
standing in his/her respective sports in singapore; like ronald
susilo in badminton, li jiawei in table tennis and aide iskandar in
soccer (ok, he's retired). these are people who are on top of
their game and is well paid. today, amateurism is a thing of the
past. you need to compensate and reward the sportsmen for
performance.
i am not sure if singapore has the most local:foreigner ratio in
the team make-up. i don't keep tab nor am i be bothered to. if you
think so, you need to back it up with your claim.
your definition of sports is too narrow. you need to look at it
in a wider context so your argument is valid. you cannot pick and
choose the sports and then define it in your context to put forth
your point. singapore indeed excelled in bowling and sailing (not
snooker) internationally, helmed mainly by locally bred
singaporean. do one not need fitness, skills, temperament and
strength to excel in these sports? it is all relative. because
singapore, like others in the region, do not have the genetic
make-up to excel in sports that thrive on size and strength like
100m sprint, basketball, etc., it needs to be smart of what sports
singapore(countries in the region) can excel in.
you also need to give valid and probable e.g. singapore
cannot go to england and beat chelsea in a sanctioned tournament.
singapore can beat england.
nicol david is a bonafide #1. i agree. i saw her play in
singapore last year and she's just awesome.
i also agree that past singapore heroes like howe liang, c
kunalan (mr k) and ang peng siong were overlooked. especially our
only olympic medalist. if i were the sports minister, i will have
howe liang on the singapore payroll for life. not with a ton of
money but enough for him to live a respectable live. i have seen
him in the past manning the gym in national stadium, earning his
keeps. i think ssc ought to be ashame of itself for allowing that
to happen to one of our national living treasures.
i support your points. i think the sports council is too
generous with its monies to `lure' FTs into the sports fraternity.
i prefer home grown anytime.
