Musings

Or so a Dr Woffles Wu said of MP Lee Bee Wah in his letter to The Straits Times this morning. The news has been making the rounds since last weekend and online media, discussion rooms and bloggers sure have been having a heyday on this one.

What’s this about? Well, capsule version: A male Singapore table-tennis player who played during the Individual tournaments was apparently so stricken by the absence of a supporting coach he badly lost his match, and cried even. Shortly after, MP Lee, also the President of the Singapore Table Tennis Association told television that the services of table-tennis team manager Antony Lee would no longer be required.

Why I’m writing this has everything to do with Dr. Wu’s letter; specifically, one part of his letter echoes my sentiments:

As for men’s singles player Gao Ning, who started it all, what a big baby. Surely an Olympic athlete has enough training and experience to play on his own. What was the big fuss about?

Gao gave up the fight before the game was over and that was the biggest shame and disgrace for any sportsman. One wonders if he is made of the right stuff. Please don’t lay the blame on the manager and the head coach.

I mean, Li Jiawei shed tears after losing her individual tournament, and she’d given  her opponent a huge and close fight. Moreover, she’d been gunning for that Individual medal for so long now. Ok, maybe I also have a soft spot for women who cry. But to see a male national athlete in an Olympics match crying because he didn’t have the support of a coach behind him, and after losing blamed his team manager and coach… *shudder*. I don’t know about you, but I feel more embarrassed than sorry for the guy.

It’s MP Lee I feel sorry for. As The Online Citizen noted, Ms. Lee had stated she wasn’t sacking anybody, but rather Antony Lee’s contact was already expiring after the Olympics, and she’d no objection on his return / renewal. As far as I can tell from the news, apart from the, well, awful timing of her announcement on television and maybe she should have chosen the words of that announcement better, did she actually do anything wrong?

Unfortunately, that she made her earlier statements shortly after the Gao Ning incident was too coincidental for everyone else, and now you have every person with a voice jumping on her. Folks online are attacking her qualifications, her background, her country of birth, and the fact that she’s reasonably new in the post of President of the association. Someone has even written a poem on this saga and posted it on the ST Discussion Room, and it’s a hilarious read. Excerpts below:

The Dowager has shown her colour
A President who loves to display all her power
Earning the players’ trust & support, she claims, from her ivory tower
But becomes a dampener on what should have been S’pore’s finest hour

Even the chef de mission expressed his disappointment
The matter was closed, according to his statement
But LBW like a dragon lady, acting on divine appointment
Decided it’s time for her announcement – what’s wrong with after the celebrations?

So, it looks like the Olympic Games controversies are not just limited to China. Even Singapore has its own ‘little’ drama. I wonder how long it’ll be before Mr. Brown comes up with his own satire of this drama.:)