No World Cup, Olympic Silver Will Do!

Good as Gold and When Silver Means Gold by Chia Han Keong

Silver, but they're our Golden Girls by Marc Lim

When sport rallies a nation by Chua Mui Hoong

Medal dreams come true by Chua Chin Hon

All that glitters need not be gold by Rohit Brijnath

Why don't I get the sort of top of the world feeling that they do?

The greatest sporting thrill I had with national pride was when we won the Malaysia Cup in 1977. True blue Singaporeans like Dollah Kassim, S Rajagopal, Quah Kim Song, Mohammad Noh and Samad Allapitchay with local coach Choo Seng Quee and manager S Ganesan were the Dream Team of Singapore! We were so proud of our team and our Kallang Roar!

Table tennis of Olympics 2008 and Our Dream Team? The shiok just doesn't kick in.

Chua Mui Hoong of ST wrote, "Some cavilling Singaporeans may sneer that Team Singapore was 'bought' foreign talent - but they may want to look back into their not-too-distant ancestry to recall that they themselves are probably children or grand-children of immigrants." Hello, our ancestors were not "bought and fixed" by rich glory-seeking schemers. My grandpa was not tempted by a certain Mr Choo Wee Khiang to come to Singapore to be a sportsman. Unlike the China B Team who came by airplanes, well taken care of by the buyers, my grandpa came on a boat without life jacket not knowing what his future would be. He came on his own without carrots of $$$ attached to Olympic medals of different shades. He was not part of a 'Buy & Fix" glory scheme. So please don't insult the dead, especially during the 7th moon festival!

I'm not petty and and I'm not sneering. Neither am I a killjoy sourpuss or "blackhearted spoilsports". I'm just a little put off by the song and dance and the artificial nationalistic jig that's being put up. I'm also not against the China B Team. I wish them well and hope they enjoy the rich rewards coming to them.

I'm just uncomfortable with the sham of getting Olympic medals through the back door. As 83-year-old great-grandma says, "Bway heow kian seow. Gia lung eh kar chng beh cho bin beh." Hokien translated to English means, "No shame. Use the skin of someone else's buttock to implant on your face." And please don't tell me it's fine just because the other countries are doing it.

There are some who would even sell their own mother for a profit. Shall we follow too?

In the chase for glory during their watch, some leader wants to do World Cup, others want Olympic medals to add a feather to their cap. Does it really help people stay together and move ahead?

Will this expensive cheap thrill stops or shall we go Jamaica to shop for some sprinters? Usain Bolt and the 3 Jamaican ladies who finished 1-2-2 in the Women 100m are the hottest in the world today. Shall we send Mr Choo Wee Khiang there?

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