Singapore Foreign Talent... Are they helping the country?

**koo_fan** · 01-19-2009, 04:33 AM

Originally Posted by george@chongwei

so what if he has never won a single title outside mas as #1??

as long as he is still world number 1 in badminton MS

Nothing is wrong with having LCw to win outside Malaysia.Cool down.He will rite?
Im sure Lee chong Wei is well prepared for any criticisms against him.
Jaguh Kampung and what not..Still a jaguh what..??

***Oldhand*** · 01-19-2009, 04:48 AM

The bad news for Singaporean badminton players is that the top two - Ronald Susilo and Kendrick Lee - have all but hung up their racquets.
The good news for Singaporean badminton players is that the top tier is now vacant - the current second-rung is hardly champion material.

So, Singaporean youngsters out there... get cracking!

**shuttler_8384** · 07-18-2010, 06:43 AM

Hi,

I'm currently writing my dissertation on a study on the effects of the Foreign Sports Talents scheme on Badminton in Singapore.

Please could you help me to fill out a survey at the following webpage:

http://www.smart-survey.co.uk/v.asp?i=24361xqjvk

Thank you very much for your help!

P.S. It'll be great if you could pass this on to your family and friends as well. Thank you once again!!!

**extremenanopowe** · 07-18-2010, 07:12 AM

Ok. Done.

Hope you are successful in increasing the standards of local. All da best.

**jug8man** · 07-18-2010, 09:36 AM

Cantona recently gave his opinion on the Decline of English Football.

Does the same apply to Singapore?

Not exactly apples and apples. but close enough to compare

**undeadshot** · 10-08-2010, 04:49 AM

Derek Wong seems to be okay. He will probably not make it to the top level but he has potential to be a slight threat. See whether he improves or not. Ashton Chen is another one.

**Loh** · 10-10-2010, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by undeadshot

Derek Wong seems to be okay. He will probably not make it to the top level but he has potential to be a slight threat. See whether he improves or not. Ashton Chen is another one.

I think these are the two local-born who have made good improvement after the abrupt departure of our top shuttlers not too long ago. There are other local-born who signed up about the same time to play badminton full time but are still stagnating.

However, it depends on how seriously both DW and AC want to become true professionals. Training is tough and the immediate incentives are relatively negligible unless they win big tournaments. There are other distractions and most young people still choose the easier 'paper qualifications' route to carve out their careers. But if they can make it as badminton champions and become household names, then all their effort will be well worth it! For how many can achieve this? Go, ask Datuk LCW whether it has been a fantastic journey for him.

So for DW and AC they must believe and have self-motivation to climb the road to success.

***cobalt*** · 10-10-2010, 11:20 PM

Maybe Singapore needs to inverse the process. Send the promising players from Singapore for extended periods to play and learn in other countries. This has worked wonders in many instances. Many players from India for instance (Padukone, Gopichand, etc) spent extended periods of time in Denmark, training hard with their top coaches, and their standards improved tremendously as a result.

**Loh** · 10-11-2010, 04:09 AM

Originally Posted by cobalt

Maybe Singapore needs to inverse the process. Send the promising players from Singapore for extended periods to play and learn in other countries. This has worked wonders in many instances. Many players from India for instance (Padukone, Gopichand, etc) spent extended periods of time in Denmark, training hard with their top coaches, and their standards improved tremendously as a result.

Yes you need variety, strong sparring partners and lots of competition.

If Spore were to adopt your suggestion, I believe it will be done nearer home in China and Indonesia, since our badminton links with these powerhouses have been close in terms of our coaches and players. It seems to me that our SBA will be more than happy to support talented players, especially those local born who can make the grade. From time to time, some of our selected players spend brief training stints in these countries.

**undeadshot** · 10-11-2010, 04:43 AM

Originally Posted by Loh

Yes you need variety, strong sparring partners and lots of competition.

If Spore were to adopt your suggestion, I believe it will be done nearer home in China and Indonesia, since our badminton links with these powerhouses have been close in terms of our coaches and players. It seems to me that our SBA will be more than happy to support talented players, especially those local born who can make the grade. From time to time, some of our selected players spend brief training stints in these countries.

I wish the MAS backup players can go to Singapore and learn a thing or two about fighting spirit from Derek Wong & Ashton Chen.

***cobalt*** · 10-11-2010, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by Loh

Yes you need variety, strong sparring partners and lots of competition.

If Spore were to adopt your suggestion, I believe it will be done nearer home in China and Indonesia, since our badminton links with these powerhouses have been close in terms of our coaches and players. It seems to me that our SBA will be more than happy to support talented players, especially those local born who can make the grade. From time to time, some of our selected players spend brief training stints in these countries.

Agreed in general, except for the part emphasized above.

A brief training stint is more like a short seminar, an extended period has many obvious advantages.

I also sometimes wonder if the lack of long-term commitment to the game (on the part of the player) has anything to do with the fact that players from Singapore would in general tend to be more well-off (financially/materially etc) and find that the sport cannot help sustain their lifestyle with the kind of results they obtain. This is just a thought -- I could be completely wrong, though!

**extremenanopowe** · 10-11-2010, 10:04 AM

My view is there is no physical power to push them to the next level. There have been coaches many years back but still it is not working. The other combination is also how much hardship can they take. If you see the imported players, they have been through that 'pain' and exposure cycle to consistently mix and play with the best since young.

Not to discredit the locals, its just the 'mass' which is not enough. Can't say much for denmark though.

***cobalt*** · 10-11-2010, 10:25 AM

Some good news from CWG2010...
Chayut/Yao Lei from Singapore beat Clark/Oliver(England) 19-21, 21-8, 21-12.
England have been traditionally strong in doubles.

**Loh** · 10-11-2010, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by cobalt

Agreed in general, except for the part emphasized above.

A brief training stint is more like a short seminar, an extended period has many obvious advantages.

I also sometimes wonder if the lack of long-term commitment to the game (on the part of the player) has anything to do with the fact that players from Singapore would in general tend to be more well-off (financially/materially etc) and find that the sport cannot help sustain their lifestyle with the kind of results they obtain. This is just a thought -- I could be completely wrong, though!

Yes you are right. For most Singaporean youths their parents provide for most of their material needs and hammer into their heads that a good education is the way to a good future. All the children need to do is to study hard to get at least a degree. Not that the parents' are wrong as they came up the hard way, many of whom are without university degrees. That's one reason why foreign talents from less materially endowed countries are willing to take up the challenge because the incentives from the Spore authorities are relatively attractive. In fact, the offer of a million Sing dollars for an individual Olympic gold, half-a-million for silver and a quarter million for bronze could well be a world record, yet the locals have not been committed enough to take up the challenge as professional sports people.

With more incentives and sponsorships and the government's ambition to make Spore an international/regional sports hub, things are changing a bit but the sole sports school that we now have is insufficient to produce the numbers. Therefore there are now other institutions or academies being set up to augment the sports school.

**Loh** · 10-11-2010, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by cobalt

Some good news from CWG2010...
Chayut/Yao Lei from Singapore beat Clark/Oliver(England) 19-21, 21-8, 21-12.
England have been traditionally strong in doubles.

That must be an achievement for the Sporean pair, but Yao Lei must have been experiencing fatigue for playing in so many matches. She and partner Shinta Mulia Sari almost lost to the Australian pair in the WD QF this morning.

**taneepak** · 10-12-2010, 12:13 AM

"City states" like Singapore and Hong Kong, by the very nature of their extreme urbanization, can never be strong in sports because of the lack of depth and diversity of its people. It is more like an office working environment where the sole driving need is to earn a good living. This allows little time for serious sports. Soccer is a classic example, with both the game in Singapore and Hong Kong becoming a real joke. At least HK is not disqualified from the Asian Soccer Federation but Singapore has been removed from it because of its domestic league being too "foreign".
That is why both HK and Singapore are forced to import foreign players, more for PA reasons rather than effectively building up a strong and permanent sporting culture. Such imports will continue because locals will not be effective permanent replacements.