Singapore Badminton Sees A New Dawn

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Loh, Aug 3, 2004.

  1. Loh

    Loh Regular Member

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    Recently, the President of SBA, Mr Lim Swee Say, was interviewed by Sportsweb, Singapore Sports Council's Newsletter, on his vision for badminton in Singapore.

    I reproduce the article for your information:

    Two years ago, Mr Lim Swee Say was voted president of the Singapore Badminton Association. During his stewardship, Li Li won the Republic's first Commonwealth Games badminton gold medal at Manchester 2002 (where Singapore also captured a silver in the mixed team) the Women's SEA Games gold medal was achieved in 2003 while Ronald Susilo won the first Grand Prix title at this June's Japan Open.

    Mr Lim, who is also Environment Minister, was recently re-elected SBA president for another two-year term. In this interview with Sportsweb, he shares his dreams, hopes and aspirations for the sport in Singapore.

    Sportsweb: Apart from these achievements, the association also recently received a $4.2 million, five-year sponsorship deal from Yonex-Sunrise. All these augur well for the present and future of the game in Singapore. Your comments please?

    Mr Lim Swee Say: We are encouraged by the results. The players and coaches have worked very hard to get to us where we are today. Our challenge is to build on these initial successes so that we can sustain our progress for greater heights. We must continue to be "player-centric", so that all our players, current as well as the young and upcoming ones, can realise their full potential.

    Sportsweb: You once said that one of SBA's goals is not only to qualify for the Thomas and Uber Cups but to remain constantly at the top levels of the international game. Does this still hold?

    Mr Lim: Certainly. We are not looking for any one-off qualification. Our aim at SBA is for Singapore to become a top-tier nation in badminton, and to stay up there. We are putting in place a system of having three generations of national players. The idea is for the first generation team to lay a strong foundation, and for the second generation team to build on the success of the first generation team when it is time for the first generation team to retire. This will then go on for the third generation team, and so on.

    In short, our focus now is to strengthen the process of discovering and nurturing young, and younger, players in a more focus, holistic and sustainable manner.

    Sportsweb: As the SBA management committee starts another term under your leadership, what are the main agendas in your "manifesto"? What are the priorities?

    Mr Lim: In the past two years, we have upgraded our training facilities and put in place a stronger technical support team to help our players prepare and perform better. We have also improved the organisational effectiveness of SBA itself. To further enhance the competency of coaches in Singapore, we revamped the technical syllabus and put in place an accreditation system for coaches.

    In the next two years, one of our top priorities is to strengthen our ladies' squad and to re-build our men's squad. We will expand our pool of youth, junior and national players to enhance our performance both in the short and medium terms.

    Another priority is to increase mass-participation in badminton, especially in our schools and community. We will organise more local tournaments and implement a more active calendar to keep up public interest and participation.

    Sportsweb: It was expected that Li Li and Susilo would qualify for the Athens Olympics. But the pleasant surprise was that Jiang Yanmei qualified too. It was only last year that your association switched her from doubles play to singles. From non-ranked, she is now 31st in the world, the Finland International champion and runner up in the Croatian Open.

    Mr Lim: We are very happy with the progress made by Yanmei. She trains hard and is mentally strong. She is equally competent as a singles as well as a doubles player. In addition to being a responsible and committed player, Yanmei also has a cheerful disposition. Her positive altitude is what really makes her and Li Li good role models for our younger players. We hope to see more players like them.

    Sportsweb: What are your hopes and dreams for the Olympics?

    Mr Lim: We have not set any medal target for our players, and we do not intend to do so. Everyone who manages to make it to the Olympics is a world-class player. We have come a long way and our only hope is that Ronald, Li Li and Yanmei will perform to the best of their ability and potential at the Olympics. Medal or not, they will make Singapore proud by giving all they have, by pouring their heart and soul into every match.

    Sportsweb: Every now and then, there will be that voice in the wilderness crying out against the "import" of talents. When do you think complete acceptance of the new citizens will be achieved?

    Mr Lim: I am not sure if we will ever be able to achieve complete acceptance. What is important is for us to do the right things for Singapore and Singaporeans. Let me emphasise that at SBA, we do not believe in importing "established" players.

    Instead, our approach has been one of attracting young players, both local and foreign, and developing them to their full potential. By training and nurturing them from young here in Singapore, they will acquire a strong sense of association and commitment to our country by the time they gain maturity as world-class players.

    Ronald, Li Li and Yanmei are good examples. They came to Singapore when they were very young, often less than 15 years old. Whenever they win medals in major tournaments such as SEA games and Commonwealth Games, they bring pride to Singapore as well as create opportunities for our local players to compete at that high level. We will continue this approach of identifying and nurturing both local and foreign players for our national teams.

    Sportsweb: How many more foreign players are SBA planning to recruit? Also, how many "local" trainees are there in the various age group squads today?

    Mr Lim: Our aim is to achieve a good mix of local and foreign players in our national teams. Today, there are 23 players in our National Squad. 10 are local-born and 13 are foreign-born players, out of which 3 are now Singapore citizens. In our Youth Squad, we have 24 players, all of whom are local-born. In our Junior Squad, 17 are local-born, 3 are Permanent Residents.

    Sportsweb: What are your views on Singapore's sports tripartite relationship - NSAs, SSC and SNOC?

    In my two years with SBA, I can see clearly that SSC and SBA do enjoy a close relationship and productive partnership. With the help of SSC, we were able to re-visit and update our vision and action plans in a more structured manner. With the active participation of SSC in our strategic planning exercise, we are able to better align our goals and initiatives to contribute to the overall vision of Sporting Singapore spearheaded by SSC. Likewise, SSC is able to better appreciate the issues and challenges facing NSAs such as SBA. This is beneficial for both sides.

    Our relationship with SNOC revolves mainly around major competitions like the Commonwealth Games, SEA Games, Asian Games and Olympics. These are important platforms for us to bring the best out of our team of national players. We appreciate very much the strong support we receive from SNOC.
     

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