Jacqueline Lee

Singapore table tennis team wins championship: Is there any glory?

There is indeed some glory for Singapore, but it's not the true blue Singapore hard work. It's imported foreign talent from China. They are imported in from other countries to help win a medal or two for Singapore. They are PR, permanent residents, and their purpose here in Singapore is to help us win glory and medals for Singapore.

Some Singaporeans feel that ultimately, it is still a “China versus China” competition. These people come from china and them here living in Singapore and fighting against their home country. Do they know how to sing the Singapore national anthem?

However, other Singaporean feels that winning glory for Singapore is important. Singapore does not have a strong athlete base as they are fighting against strong countries like USA and China. China’s population is 1,324,655,000 in 2008 and 307,006,550 in USA in 2009 and Singapore only has 4 million. They difference it so large, therefore they would be more people who are talented in sports and they can afford to have more athlete take part in such games.

I feel PR (china) winning for Singapore is not genuine, as it’s not the hard work of a real Singapore but a hard work and training by the mainland China. I do believe that it’s good for Singapore to win such games as it gives us some recognize that we exist and that we are just as competitive as other countries.