http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE5451UM20090506?sp=true
Reuters UK, 6
May 2009, Ossian Shine
Singapore
decides no one worthy of top sportsman
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The sorry state of men's sport in Singapore was
thrown into sharp focus when organisers failed to honour a
Sportsman of the Year for the first time since the nation's annual
awards began more than 40 years ago.
The judging panel considered its list of nominees but chose not to
bestow the honour for the first time since 1967 because none of the
shortlisted athletes was deemed worthy.
"We felt
that the performance of the men could have been better and decided
not to make an award this year," said Singapore National Olympic
Council (SNOC) President Teo Chee Hean.
"The standard of Singapore sports has gone up ... we do expect more
from our athletes now," he told local media.
SNOC Secretary-General Chris Chan agreed it had been a
disappointing year.
"Unfortunately, it was a bad year; none of them really achieved
anything noteworthy of the standard to be Sportsman of the Year,"
he said.
The
controversy continued when the panel also failed to name a Coach of
the Year due to internal politics and wrangling within the
city-state's sporting structure.
Former table tennis national head coach Liu Guodong would have been
all-but guaranteed to walk away with the illustrious award having
helped break Singapore's 48-year Olympic medal drought at the 2008
Games.
RESPECT
However, during those Beijing Olympics Liu was accused of
neglecting one of the male table tennis players and even though the
matter was later resolved, the coach decided not to renew his
contract with the Singapore Table Tennis Association and went to
work in Indonesia instead.
The sports award panel was unable to consider him for the award as
the Singapore Table Tennis Association had not nominated him.
"We do have to take into consideration the views of the sports
associations when it comes to these nominations," Teo said.
"Eventually, whether a person is nominated or not nominated, the
sports association has to take responsibility."
The Singapore Table Tennis Association said the decision not to
nominate Liu had been made by an in-house committee.
"The
committee felt that result was one thing, but for Coach of the Year
award, we expect much more. Coach of the Year must naturally be
well respected by all the players of the team," president of the
association Lee Bee Wah said.
Ten-pin bowler Jasmine Yeong-Nathan was named Sportswoman of the
Year, pipping two former multiple winners -- swimmer Tao Li and
national table tennis player Li Jiawei.
Li did not go unrecognised, though, and together with Wang Yuegu,
Feng Tianwei and Sun Beibei was crowned Team of the Year having won
Olympic silver at the Beijing Games.
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