Congrats to Ms. Feng Tian Wei, for showing us what talent, nerves of steel and killer instinct are all about.
In the arena of world's GDP per capita, economic well being, and standard of living, Singapore is already amongst the world's best. In the arena of sport, to be honest, Singapore is really pathetic. Many Olympics have come and gone, and we had nothing to show for it, as thousands of parents have also decided that their children's best bets in life and earning a decent and long staying job is through the pursuit of an education. So many billions of dollars are spent year in and year out to tuition, condition, and even hothousing the children to study and achieve good to excellent grades. At the expense of their sporting potential. We've all seen the athletes who excel at the SEA or Asian Games level but somehow, the sacrifice and toil of making it to the world class level is still lacking. NOT TODAY !
In 1995 when the 'foreign talent' drive started, many people were accusing the authorities of 'buying talent' from abroad to improve Singapore's image. Well, after almost 20 years, the fruits of this talent program has yielded top results especially in table- tennis, badminton,football and even some athletics. Singapore won its first Olympic silver in almost 48 years in 2008, the women's table-tennis team coming in 2nd only to powerhouses China. In 2010, Singapore stunned the world table-tennis fraternity by becoming WORLD CHAMPIONS in the table - tennis World Championships surpassing a weak China team.
Today, history is made again when our Singapore girl, Feng Tian Wei won the Bronze medal in the Women's singles, beating her Japanese opponent convincingly 4 - 0. To all those detractors who say, yeah, she was born in China, well may I remind them that almost all of our forefathers were immigrants not too long ago (most immigrants came in the early 20th century), so everybody has a place to call 'Home' and she calls Singapore 'Home'. Many netizens are no more than 'keyboard cowboys' who know nothing else better than to moan and groan behind a pseudonym, they should take this as a WAKE UP CALL. Some, talented, hardworking foreign-born people are making it good in Singapore, what about you and I ? Go out there and aim to achieve to our fullest potential.
Parents should see sports as not just as a means to build character, but as a viable, long term career, which may pay off handsomely. So let the young boy or girl try their hand or leg at football, table-tennis, tennis, sailing, squash and badminton. There are avenues for a long and profitable career. The Singapore Vision 2030 is one fine goal, and the Singapore Sports Center is primed to achieve that goal.
Parents should see sports as not just as a means to build character, but as a viable, long term career, which may pay off handsomely. So let the young boy or girl try their hand or leg at football, table-tennis, tennis, sailing, squash and badminton. There are avenues for a long and profitable career. The Singapore Vision 2030 is one fine goal, and the Singapore Sports Center is primed to achieve that goal.
Coming back to Feng, I must applaud her and the entire STTA S'pore Table Tennis Association for having the tenacity, resilience and perserverence to see through the program which has been started for more than 15 years and now, the fruits of their labour are finally taking fruit.
Feng, I salute you, and your teammate, Wang Yue Gu.The tremendous fighting spirit,the many thousands of hours of sacrifice, and the talent you have is a fantastic role model for our children. We need to emulate the same spirit of our table-tennis players, in our Singapore youth, as well as give ourselves a reminder that, with an iron will, talent, and hard work, we can and will succeed.
Its just an Olympic Bronze medal, but to me, its a whole lot more, its showing the world the Singapore Can Do Spirit which is so much more valuable to all of us, as a lesson.
Seize the Day.
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