Current State of Singapore Badminton

[taneepak]

Why can't Singapore issue a Singapore passport to a FT who has already qualified as a permanent resident? Or they can amend the law to allow dual citizenship. There are some countries that allow dual citizenship, either openly or with one eye closed like in the US.
Also how much did Ronald Susilo help to improve the standard of badminton among the locals? If FTs do not build up local talent to play with them or even to replace them during the time they were playing for Singapore, then you will end up chasing FT replacements when the old ones leave the scene.

[pjswift]

Well, we have heard and discussed this many times before and unfortunately do not share your opinion.

Let me ask you, how long has badminton been played in Australia? How many of your Australian national players have won the SS titles?

Your name is rather "un"Australian. If so what better right do you have to criticise FTs who choose to become citizens of other countries?

Loh,that was just an opinion, nothing about rights or being qualified to comment.This is a forum, a discussion where the more varied the opinions, the richer it may grow.This forum is not an election where one then may have to take sides.In fact, taking sides is a bad idea to promote a discussion.
We all have different opinions because of different knowledge level on the topic,different background,different experiences(especially emotional) which colour our attitudes which predispose us to certain biases. There's nothing wrong with that.There's no right or wrong opinion. But it tells us about the person and helps us to understand the person(if one so wishes) No need to behave so territorial about the right to judge Spore's way of solving problems.
For example, if anyone wants to know about Spore here, you would be the best person to 'sell' Spore because you are so passionate about it.You are easily Spore's best ambassador and that's great.
I won't be but I can tell what's great about Sporeur fantastic Prime Minister and some(not all) of his hot Ministers and our superb, first class medical care.However our food centre and restaurant fare is dreadful,both in terms of quality and price when compared to KL(MAS).It's so dreadful I have reserved my dining out budget for KL.(Sorry, off topic)
The fact that AUS badminton hardly figures does not mean there's no talent.More an indication of lack of money to start with.ENG may start to show results because they have committed some budget to help deliver in OG2012.CHN, KOR and MAS have the money to deliver.I can't imagine how INA would sweep if they have unlimited budget like CHN.
But Spore is going under because of little money aggravating possibly bad management decisions. The fact that so many 'longtime' players left suggest something's amiss about the top.There's otherwise no good reason for both Kendrick and Susilo to go into hibernation.Maybe when there's a change of chiefs, they will return from their books.But I can't see how Kendrick's gonna go back if Susilo doesn't. Who's he gonna spar with?

[Loh]

Speak for yourself and don't try to speak for and on behalf of others and give all sorts of reasons which may just be guesswork. For all you know you're making them look bad.

If they feel I have been unfair to them, let them speak for themselves. And stay within the topic and don't stray unnecessarily, please.

[pjswift]

Obviously I speak for myself and no one else. And I do a lot of analysis and guesswork and then make a conclusion (or decision). Important point to note is no one is forced to believe me.(In business,it's not uncommon for important decisions to be made based on 'guesstimates' because the full facts may not be available.)
The part about opinions is just out of basic psychology course.No mystery to it.
If you feel strongly that my rationale makes SBA chiefs look bad, then why not offer a counter view to make them look good.
I maintain the view that not winning any SS does not mean a country's talent is short. There may be talent which may be undiscovered because there is no opportunity for that to surface for lack of money.Kevin Cordon of Guatemala showed that he is a talent because he gave BCL a fright in OG08 in spite of his highly limited chances to excel.Now imagine if he had opportunities to develop and compete regularly on a CHN budget.Without enough opportunities, it's premature to judge a player's limit.

[cheemao]

trading foreign talents using citizenship is so shameful. Especially towards local singaporeans, making them feel useless. If it takes more time to train a less talented local to play professionally, so be it. At least u know you are supporting a home grown hero, not someone from overseas with a singaporean passport.

personally i think its fine to employ talented coaches but not player. Local singaporeans can make it big also, with more support from SBA.

Shameful? Why so? Singapore is not the only country using FT in sports and this FT issue revolves around the supply and demand theory. In Singapore's case, it gives the FT a platform to showcase their talents on the international stage, a chance they might never get in their home country. It is a win-win situation for both. FT cannot force Singapore to accept them nor can Singapore force them to accept citizenship as seen in the case of Riky. Both parties have the freedom of choice.

Feel useless? How so? If an athlete feels so when a FT is recruited into his sport, then he/she has a loser's mentality. Instead the athlete should think 'I am going to work doubly hard and displace the FT. I am going to show that I am much better and the management is wrong to bring the FT in.’ For the average Singaporean, I guess they will feel more useless if they can't put food on the dinner table. Your words are pretty harsh and I wonder where you are coming from.

Why can't Singapore issue a Singapore passport to a FT who has already qualified as a permanent resident?

Permanent Resident and Singapore Citizen are 2 different entities with different benefits accorded to them in the country

Or they can amend the law to allow dual citizenship. There are some countries that allow dual citizenship, either openly or with one eye closed like in the US.

Different countries adopt policies according to their needs. What work for other countries and the US might not work for Singapore. Allowing dual citizenships will bring a slew of problems for Singapore and if Singapore gives on special cases, the mass will be unhappy with the double standards. What's more dual citizenship is an issue which will threaten the existence of Singapore. All the years, the government has been trying hard to iron out the differences, integrating the people and bonding them towards a common destiny. Should dual citizenship be allowed, all these hard work will be undone and there will be a divide with the mono and dual citizens. And there is the issue of National Service for Singapore citizens which will be further complicated by dual citizenship

[Loh]

The Straits Times
February 24 2009

A reply in the "Forum" from:

Edwin Pang
CEO
Singapore Badminton Association (SBA)

I thank Mr Murali Sharma and Mr Ace Kindred Cheong for their views last Wednesday ("Focus on local talent"). Most of their points were addressed in The Straits Times's Sport section that day.

We assure Mr Cheong that ample notice was given to former national player Riky Widianto and his father, from the time Riky was invited to join the national team almost four years ago, to deliberate on his citizenship application so he could represent Singapore in major tournaments. Further indications of the plan were SBA's support for his courses, competitions, permanent residence application and the citizenship application process which started a year ago.

When Riky refused to visit the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, we took pains to persuade him to reconsider, informing him of means, beyond salaries, to assist players financially through our Player Development Fund, player performance cash incentives and our allowing players to accept individual sponsorships from this year (which Riky took up).

However, he still preferred to play in Indonesia and we had to advise him to resign as further delay could lose him his alternative career opportunity and jeopardise the chances of his local-born doubles partners competing in the coming SEA Games and other tournaments. Moreover, financial prudence dictated that we channel our limited resources to other shuttlers committed to competing for Singapore.

We are sorry to lose a promising shuttler, but more than skills matter in representing our nation to compete against the world's best. Pride in donning the nation's colours and determination and commitment to train hard and fight hard are also needed.

These qualities enable our young foreign-born citizen-shuttlers to keep Singapore's flag flying: Olympic quarter-finalists Jiang Yanmei, Li Yujia and Ronald Susilo (also a Japan Open winner), Commonwealth Games champion Li Li, our SEA Games winning women's team, and last year's World U-19 champions Fu Mingtian and Yao Lei, and Vietnam Open winner Zhang Beiwen.

Thus, even as we asssure Mr Sharma that efforts to develop foreign-born talent were not in vain, we are glad to share that SBA has established a National Senior Team 2 comprising local-born athletes, mainly Singapore Sports School (SSS) graduates; and the National Youth Badminton Academy at SSS. National Team 1 also has many local-born players such as SEA Games silver medallist Kendrick Lee, up-and-coming Derek Wong, Ashton Chen and Riky's ex-doubles partners Terry Yeo and Vanessa Neo.

Ultimately, SBA endeavours to be player-centric, giving its utmost support to both local and foreign-born athletes committed to a common cause of serving our nation.

[Loh]

The Straits Times
March 3 2009

Stalwarts gone, S'pore will field new-look badminton team

By Terrence Voon


When the All-England Championships get underway today, it will signal the end of an era for Singapore badminton - and the beginning of a new one of young shuttlers.

Missing from the team list are stalwarts like Ronald Susilo and Kendrick Lee, who are on the verge of retirement after showing much early potential.

Women's doubles specialists Li Yujia, 26, and Jiang Yanmei, 28, are also out, with the latter having retired.

Singapore's best men's doubles pair, Hendri Saputra, 27, and Hendra Wijaya, 23, the 2007 South-east Asia Games bronze medallists, have been left out by the coaches.

Their absence points to a tough time at one of the world's oldest and most prestigious tournaments, where Singapore will not be fielding a player in the men's singles for the first time since 2000.

Said Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) high performance manager Jim Hui: "This is a squad in transition.

"As far as results are concerned, we have not pressured them. The most important thing is to give them exposure."

Susilo, Singapore's brightest hope since four-time All-England champion Wong Peng Soon in the 1950's, will call time on his career next year without fulfilling much of his promise.

The 29-year-old achieved his highest world ranking of No. 6 after winning the 2004 Japan Open. He also ousted then-world champion Lin Dan en route to the quarter-finals of the Olympics that year.

Lee, his would-be successor, was the 2002 World Junior runner-up. But, apart from winning the 2004 US Open and a silver at the 2007 SEA Games, the one-time world No. 14 did not have much success.

Still only 24, he has decided that his studies come first.

In their place, a new breed of youngsters are taking their first steps on the big stage - starting this week. Six of the seven-member squad will be making their All-England debut.

They include Thai-born youngster Chayut Triyachart, 19, who will partner Shinta Mulia Sari, 20, in the mixed doubles.

Yao Lei, 18, who won the women's doubles gold with Fu Mingtian at last year's World Junior Championships, is partnering Shinta this time round.

The other women's pair are Vanessa Neo, 22, and Frances Liu, 24.

In the women's singles, Fu, 18, will have to negotiate the qualfying rounds.

Xing Aiying, only 19 but arguably the most experienced player in the squad, takes her place in the main draw. She and the pairing of Yao and Shinta are the only players in the world's top 50.

In contrast, last year's four-member squad were all ranked in the top 50.

"This is a young team," said Hui. "Given time, they have a good chance of being as good as their predecessors."

The early signs, however, are not encouraging. The same line-up featured at last weeks's German Open and only the Yao-Chinta pairing progressed beyond the round of 16.

To make matters worse, the All-England draw has not been kind to Xing. Her first-round tie tomorrow will be against top seed and world No. 1 Tine Rasmussen of Denmark, an opponent she has never beaten in the three previous attempts.

But Xing, speaking on behalf of her young teammates, is not about to throw in the towel.

She said: "We may not have the experience of our seniors, but we have plenty of spirit."

[Superstar]

Sigh, where is our local born talent, forgotten or what!!! Spoke to a few of them and aware that SBA is emphazing on FT. I don't mind FT but still prefer local ones.................

[ctjcad]

..some pics of those "S'pore's new breed of youngsters", per Loh's post #58, above:
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/foru...ad.php?t=51689

[george@chongwei]

how come nowadays ronald susilo didnt participate in international badminton tournaments?
he retired already or what?

[Loh]

how come nowadays ronald susilo didnt participate in international badminton tournaments?
he retired already or what?

My dear George, obviously you haven't been following the Singapore Badminton scene despite the numerous postings I have made in the past.

And you also don't seem to have read the above post concerning Ronald:

"Susilo, Singapore's brightest hope since four-time All-England champion Wong Peng Soon in the 1950's, will call time on his career next year without fulfilling much of his promise."

[george@chongwei]

My dear George, obviously you haven't been following the Singapore Badminton scene despite the numerous postings I have made in the past.

And you also don't seem to have read the above post concerning Ronald:

"Susilo, Singapore's brightest hope since four-time All-England champion Wong Peng Soon in the 1950's, will call time on his career next year without fulfilling much of his promise."

thanks for telling me again..
sorry if i had missed your statement earlier actually..

[CLELY]

All England champ Luan to spearhead S'pore badminton's revival
by Low Lin Fhoong

05:55 AM Mar 06, 2010


SINGAPORE - No badminton fan will ever forget Ronald Susilo's giant feat at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where the shuttler defeated world No 1 Lin Dan in the opening round of the men's singles event.

Nor that of women's singles ace Li Li, who brought home the Republic's first badminton gold from the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

But there has been little cause for cheer in recent years.

The retirement of key players such as Susilo, Kendrick Lee and women's doubles pair Jiang Yanmei and Li Yujia have hit the national side, which failed to advance beyond the group stages at the Asian qualifiers last month for the 2010 Thomas and Uber cups.

As the squad look to rebuild, the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) have roped in a new chief singles coach, Luan Ching, to give the sport a much-needed boost. He will replace former chief coach Asep Suharno, who left the association in January to head the Vietnamese team.

Luan Ching, 51, admitted he has a tough task during his three-year tenure here, but has set his first target: Winning a medal at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games (Oct 3-14).

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*taken from TODAYonline.com, read completely -- http://www.todayonline.com/Sports/ED...intons-revival

[Ferrerkiko]

Hope brothers here dont get offended by me ,, to me Singapore badminton is good for nothing , useless!

中国队加油 ！

[OneToughBirdie]

Hope brothers here dont get offended by me ,, to me Singapore badminton is good for nothing , useless!

中国队加油 ！

Maybe Singaporeans are smart to realize that unless they can be LCW or LD, otherwise playing badminton is going nowhere so better off stick to books as the path may be more promising. At one time, UN rated Singaporean students top 3 in the world so Ferrerkiko, you are from Spore, are you good at something?

[Ferrerkiko]

I am just a normal singaporean , play badminton twice a week , and upgrading my studies too!

[OneToughBirdie]

I am just a normal singaporean , play badminton twice a week , and upgrading my studies too!

I am normal too hitting the books and sure not baddy beater except maybe beating up on the ladies on badminton night playing in Canada Just feel for those players who name is not spelled LCW or LD, having played pro baddy whole life and going nowhere and now facing retirement and need to look for a job coaching or fry 'chow kwai teoh' to make a living after baddy career is over. You are smart to hit the books.