what i find more disturbing is that while they heap ft with lots of money and attention they seem reluctant to acknowledge our only home grown olympic silver winner, tan how liang. it was macdonald that acknowledged his efforts by sponsoring his trip to the olympic games in sydney some time back.
Originally posted by Uncle Ver SG:"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.