Singaporean Paralympian swimmer Yip Pin Xiu won gold at the women event of the 50m backstroke (S3) during last September's Paralympics at Beijing. For that, a moment of Singaporean pride is displayed during the victory ceremony.
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Last September could be considered the best moment in Singapore's sporting history of 2008.
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I'm not sure about the others but even though it's Paralympics , I don't think it's fair to draw a comparison since physically challenged athletics trained just as hard as their able bodied
counterparts.
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Let's not forget anyway our most recent pride: Singaporean swimmer Yip Pin Xiu had clinched the nation's first Paralympic gold and a silver medal (together with a record breaking performance in the heats) during the Beijing competitions. Fellow compatriot Laurentia Tan also brought home two bronze in equestrian.
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What joyous news to call for celebrations.
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.....which makes the celebrations so worthwhile the fact that both athletics are natural born citizens doing us proud.
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Not foreign talents.
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On the other hand, many Singaporeans still have not learned despite these.
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Just check this comment coming from an E-mail by a Ms Nadhra Aqilah, Ms Nur Athirah and Ms Grace Tan to The Strait Times' Insight column:
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"We need foreign talent to put Singapore on the sporting map."
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Oh, I do recall our famous victory at this year's Beijing Olympics when Li Jiawei and her band of China borned team mates clinched a silver in table tennis after our first Olympic medal several decades back but..... HELLOOOOOOO.
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Have we not remembered what happened last September?
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Now instead, the mindset of many Singaporeans seemed tragically aligned with the government and local sports authorities.
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Think of the policies they set in place. There was a never time like this till now that the number of foreign blooded citizens, especially those in table tennis, have completely or on the way
towards overtaking our national teams.
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In a bid to support this radical plan of 'improving' our sporting capabilities, several locals had voiced out in defense. Judging by the way their arguments went, it fell flat most of the time.
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There's those who have to remind us of our initial beginnings as a immigrant nation and who can deny that?
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So and so came from China or India to build up this young country and that's why we're able to be who we are today. Agreed. And are our immigrant fathers not humans who are also capable of birthing forth the next generation who would grow and live here long enough to wanna have a place and a say in this nation, opportunities and support as natural blooded
citizens should deserve ?
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Sadly, so much hope is placed else where but this land I'm inhabiting on. Many excuses follow along, one of it, supposedly the truth about society's pessimistic culture towards sporting careers. How about our sporting greats in people like swimming legend Ang Peng Siong and silat champion Sheik Alau'ddin Yacoob Marican ? There was once a past we're proud of and even that seemed to have vanished from memories.
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History had reminded us that the early generation of immigrants came in during ever changing times, consisting of the period before World War Two, the twilight years of British colonialism and the early days of independence.
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Understandably, those were times when we needed all the people we can find but getting more foreigners to take the place of our talent pool today does not apply to our present state the way the authorities wants us to think it. Is it really impossible to find a specific breed of natural borned who can fulfill the demands regardless of professions ? Perhaps if the guys higher up will to do more with encouragements and improving social viewpoints, we can expect a bunch of reliable local bloods to step up and who knows, they might just be our world champions.
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Yet even though a Paralympian with physical challenges had proven to us that it can be done, it may take well too long of a many years for countless able bodied locals to get the idea.
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