Dear Sally, Greetings! I am appalled by those who do not know how to respect others and more so by those who believe that they have a right to judge every public figure they meet; athelete or singer. By virtue of your status, you can perform many acts of charity and kindness. Nonetheless, I cannot comprehend why wouldn't the media focus on such benevolence. Is it so difficult to accept the sincerity of a person? Is it morally crippling to allow a singer to enjoy a badminton game peacefully and to talk to anyone in good faith? I totally understand your situation because everyone needs time of their own to do things in private without having the worry of being watched constantly. Imagine one is being CCTVed all-year-round. I am really sorry that you have to go through all these mess. I do KNOW you are a GOOD person. Have a nice day and with fond regards, Wendy
Red, First of all, there is no need to say Prosti... Be a man and spell it out especially when you are calling the #1 woman's singles in the world that word. Just Come out and say it. Dont be shy !! Based on your post, you are not, so dont try to appear nice and civilized when you are obviously not. Thank you. Second of all, If you ever read some of my previous posts I usually talk about proof being crucial when you are accusing another of doing or committing something in-appropriate. In your post, there is just no proof. A simple observation in favor or not in favor of the parties involved simply does not warrant the language and words you used agsint them. Do you know anything about giving people the benefit of the doubt ?? I cant believe what you can get out of a simple meeting between a star badminton player and a star singer!! Next time I strongly suggest unless you were part of that conversation in that meeting you keep your visious speculations to yourself and your incredibly rude assumption to yourself. I have read your posts and you are obviously not living in the same world as the rest of us as you think people need to get up from their seats to show respect while overlooking the fact that if Sally stood up she would be looking into space and probably cant hear a word Xie said in an ongoing badminton Finals match. Xie and Sally, I been in USA most of my life so I know how difficult it is to promote badminton. I really appreciate your love for the sport and I hope Red has learned the facts in this meeting and I feel that we have really "troubled" you Sally to even have to come to this forum and defend yourself.
Thank you everybody for all of the contributions. There seems little further to add and I hope we can all remain friends despite our misunderstandings Let's move away and back to our beloved badminton
moderators. plz give me a chance to speak for myself hello ms.yeh, my bad! i just shouldn't make any silly assumption. i apologize for that. in fact, i should had gone straight to the point that i didn't feel comfortable with the way you met xie. to be honest ms. yeh. personally i didn't hate you and xie wasn't one of my favourite player. you were right. that's none of my business. u know. i didn't start a threat, post a picture and make an accusation against you. i took more than 10gb of images of the hk open but none of them was you and xie at that scene. not a single one of them! coz i wasn't a paparazzi. i was sick of that word and sick of what they had done! believe it or not. i had totally forgotten about that scene until i saw a picture that'd reminded me my feeling on that day once again. alright, you said that you certainly don't expect anyone to get up for you and if you were to stand you would be five feet taller than xie. ok, fair enough. you got your points. but did i say u gotta stand "laser straight" for whole time? i wonder what's gonna happen if the same thing that happen to you once again. but this time the one who stand in front of you is president hu jintao or mr. donald tsang. no matter who wanna meet who. getting up a bit for a second with a handshake is only basic stuff. i will do it when i meet a ceo of an international company. i will also do that when someone introduce me a salesman of a local department store. it isn't hard to do. is it? finally, i apologize once again for my silly assumptions and those inaccurate thinking that annoying you in the past few days. i do hope u will keep on supporting badminton central and keep on promoting such kinda great sport. regards red "the simple man"
No problem... Hello Red, I appreciate that you understand my concern to justify the situation in this forum regarding your misunderstanding. I'm glad you realise that sometimes things can get very twisted out of proportion if you don't know the facts properly. The worst thing is that other people will believe what you write or say and it becomes harmful. This is how idle gossip gets started and it is very hurtful. I'm sure you didn't realise that, but I hope you do now. To address the standing issue. I HAVE met Donald Tsang many times and many other dignitaries or important people during my career. If we are in a formal situation where we are having a meeting or a formal introduction at a dinner, there will be a need to stand up. Usually the women don't stand, only the Men if it's a dinner. I believe you will find this rather traditional fact in any etiquette book. I was brought up the old fashion way. I do stand up for my Parents friends at anytime though cos they are "the elderly". The only occassion women stand is usually when everyone is already standing, in a reception or cocktail. When I met Prince Phillip we did stand because that is a line up where he shook hands and greeted and everyone is standing and also it is protocol for Royalty. When I met Donald Tsang, he stood up to greet me cos I walked to my table which his seat was beside mine and he was already sitting at the table. He stood but his wife did not which is the norm. When I met Tung Kin Wah it was in my friends house and he plopped down on the couch in front of me and I did not stand, I just said HI. I didn't know them but we met thru friends dinners so no need for such formality. I just had dinner with Jackie Chan and Jacky Cheung last week, Jackie Cheung was already there when I arrived so he didn't stand up, Jackie Chan came in late and no one stood up. I'm not saying it's wrong that you stand though. Just sometimes not that necessary. I can tell you if Hu Jin Tao came to look for me in the badminton stands, I wouldln't even pay attention to him cos I'd be so engrossed in the games. It was only Xie cos I like her so much that I pull her over. One of the guys in the photos, the one where Cheung says looks like he's having fun. He's Indian with the green suit. That is Punch Gunalan. He is the Vice President of IBF international and he gave me my seat. He came up to greet me and I teasingly told him he was blocking my view. In Xie's case, to be honest I would not stand. Not because of who I am, but it is not a neccessity and it was a very awkward situation being that I was already very embarrassed that other people were looking. If I were to stand up, ALOT of people would stare and that would disrupt THEIR viewing of the game, and probably embarrass Xie too because she looked terribly uncomfortable walking up the stairs. I'm sure if there were some other way she could have gotten what she needed she would not look for me. Maybe the question you should ask is, why didn't XIE request that I go down to the sidelines to greet her? I think the answer is... she was being polite by coming to me to ask for help. In any case Red, she needed a favour which she thought I could help her with, and I did. It's really as simple as that. If you can keep your thinking simplistic, I think you would have much more peace within yourself. Anyways, good luck with everything and hope alot of goodness comes out of this for you. Since you are in HKG maybe we will meet on the courts one day. In that circumstance I'm sure I might be standing. I'm sorry others have to put up with this personal issue but I do believe integrity and morale plays an important role in sports too. One must have a good mental mind to play or understand a good game. I'm told sportsmanship is above all the most important element to get to the top, so, to have good sportsmanship we must all start out with healthy charactaristics. Hope you will agree. Regards, Sally
Badminton promotion Dear Jumpalot (good name!) Xie and Sally, I been in USA most of my life so I know how difficult it is to promote badminton. I really appreciate your love for the sport and I hope Red has learned the facts in this meeting and I feel that we have really "troubled" you Sally to even have to come to this forum and defend yourself. >>OH yes, I know.. but I have to take baby steps. Jacky Cheung is playing now but it took me 5 years to talk him into it! When Singers do concerts at HKG Coliseum, everyone sends flowers, but I send Badminton racquets! I just hope they will get started! I'm just trying to do what I can to promote it more to get everyone to play now. That is a start. I'm working with a Club called GGBC Golden Gate Badminton Club in San Francisco too. My friend is founder and so far it is very successful since it opened in June 11, 2005. It is a fantastic club and I urge you all to visit if you go that way. We have a site in this forum too which is at USA WEST, under PLACES TO PLAY. That is how I know of BC. Also the website www.ggbadminton.com. Please go take a look. I'm such a badminton groupie and fanatic. I will do whatever I can do tell everyone the benefits of Badminton. I get VERY excited when I play. So much so I can't sleep at night thinking of my shots and what not. Sally
Hi Sally, Punch Gunalan is a malaysian and he was once a great badminton player in his old days. Most of all, he was the team manager who managed to help malaysia getting back the Thomas Cup in 1992. Is it true that you are getting a post in IBF later? Have a nice day!
Ibf Well..there are plans but I won't announce anything until it becomes factual. I want to make sure there is something I can do. I'm not good with Politics so I really don't know how suitable I am for this type of thing. Sally
Yes, my friend, you are a fellow Singaporean who queued just behind me when I was getting my tickets for the QF and SF but was told that the Finals tickets were all sold out. How disappointed I was then but luckily another BF'er who came all the way from Brisbane, managed to get a HK$90 ticket for me through an acquaintance he made at the QE Stadium itself. As you probably know, I bought the cheaper tickets for both sessions of the QF and SF for a total sum of HK$100 and this, together with the cost of the Finals ticket, were relatively more expensive than less than S$20 for the season ticket for all matches we paid for the Aviva Singapore Open 2005. Another point to note is that whereas the Singapore Open charged on a whole day basis, the HKO charged separately for the two sessions for each day. Maybe they should get more sponsors to bring the price down to enable more badminton fans to watch at least the earlier rounds, since the Finals were all taken up much earlier, in part due to company sponsorship for clients, quite a number of whom did not turn up, unfortunately! As Sally has said, the QE Stadium is rather viewer friendly in that it is relatively small in size and capacity. Even the cheaper ticket seats are not too far different from the more expensive ones as everyone is quite close to the centre court. However, I suppose in trying to put in more seats into a small space, there is little room left for walking between seats and not a few spectators resorted to climbing over the railings to get out. In comparison, our Singapore Indoor Stadium is more comfortable and can hold much bigger crowds. The Finals of the Aviva Open this year saw a record attendance of over 8,000. So it will not be too far-fetched to shift the venue to the larger (and more comfortable?) HK Coliseum one day as suggested by Sally. But Sally, you are really a badminton fanatic and we are all proud of you and hope you will continue to enjoy being an ambassador for badminton to especially your 'famed' friends.
Yup...I was standing behind you and was in fact looking for you after I bought those tickets. Too bad, I could not find you! Wel, I am actually still an Indonesian citizen, but have been in Singapore since I was young. That's why I said that I am from Singapore too Actually, the view from my seat is also good (HK$20). I could watch all the matches. The only disadvantage is that I have to walk all the way up and when I switched seats during the match, the stewards pointed out that those seats were HK$50, so, I had to go back to my own seats. I was disappointed to see them charging tickets for separate sessions, even during the first few rounds. As far as I know, tickets for the Indonesia Open and probably Singapore Open were free to public up to the quarter-final stage. Then, you do have to pay for one session a day. Is that correct? The television coverage in HK was disappointing as well because they only have like 2 hrs telecast at TVB Pearl during the semis and final. I had to go to Shenzhen to watch the Finals at GDTV. I know I can use pplive, but, for the final, I would rather watch the matches without any delay.
hi ms.yeh, i guess i was so eager to express my feeling and anger without realizing the consequences. because of that, i m gonna make some adjustments for myself and i hope u understand. i m not that evil . if i get that chance. i will surely get down on my knees before u stand up. best regards red
Thank YOU Red! Hi Red, I think you are a great person and it is the highest of character traits to show your strength as you have. Pls don't get up for me!! Just love and play badminton and let's all try to let others know why why why we love this sport so much! See you very soon! Sally BTW. How does everyone get that little quote box in the replies? I don't know how to do that la...
you just click the reply box which is found slightly to the right and below the post. The small box to the right of the 'edit'.
Hi Sally, I'm TC Ong from Malaysia. I'm a badminton fanatic too like u.. i would be thinking of all the hits and shots to use in my next game at night prior to any game with my frens. Its difficult to get ppl to play nowadays. I'm surprise that u manage to talk Jacky into it!! How did u do it? Any advise that i can learn from u? Good Luck and All the best. Btw: i also idolize u since i'm in my teen. regards, TC Ong
