秋菊打官司?
you qualify for a medal even if you've dumped your fiance
Awards are meant to recognise talent and encourage others with talent to step out. We are all too familiar with the Oscars, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Olympic medals and things like Coach of the Year awards. You know what I’m getting at and if the young and naive in Singapore ever think that awards are based purely on merit and achievements, Coach Liu Guodong experiences would be a good lesson. Getting an award or not also depends on whether the boss likes you.
And according to his ex-boss Lee Bee Wah, Coach Liu was not even nominated for the Coach of the Year Award due to factors such as professionalism, integrity and respect from players. These are strong words which would have easily bankrupted an opposition politician if directed at the wrong targets. But Coach Liu must certainly understand that even though he was responsible for guiding the women’s table tennis team to an Olympic silver at the Beijing Games last year, he is fair game and not a protected species.
petty guy or man of principle?
I’m sure Coach Liu understands that, but I also understand his indignance. Can someone insult me and get away with it? I could have taken many abusive alamak patients to task if I were Coach Liu. However, most meek and obedient Singaporeans would just forget about the whole thing and move on. That could be a good thing, but such inaction will only embolden the “bosses”.
Coach Liu returns to Singapore to seek an explanation. He has stated quite categorically that he was not here to pursue the issue of him not being nominated for Coach of the Year, but to seek some clarification for his ex-boss’ disparaging comments. As any proud Olympic coach should, Liu was probably expecting some form of apology when he came to Singapore to meet the folks at STTA.
Instead, he was shown a draft letter which was to be a joint statement from the STTA and Liu, stating that the association “acknowledged the contributions of the former coach in guiding the women’s team to the Olympic silver” (How?). It also said that the STTA had the right to choose who to nominate for the Singapore Sports Awards, and that the association stood by their decision not to nominate Liu. It also said that coach Liu understood their decision (the problem is that nobody really understands).
It went on to say that comments made about coach Liu were not in any way meant to take away his contributions to Singapore table tennis, nor were they meant to suggest any acts of dishonesty on his part. The STTA hoped to move forward and put the issue behind them, as did Liu.
Would it surprise anyone with the smallest EQ that Coach Liu would never sign the document? Or perhaps they were thinking that a pink IC would automatically turn him into an obedient drone? What will he do next? Sue the person who defamed him? I would persoanlly stay out of such fights. In his shoes, my greatest satisfaction would be to see the Indonesian team beat the Singapore team.
Still, I think it’s good that we import more foreign talent like Coach Liu to teach a new generation of Singaporeans to challenge social injustice and draconism.
stay out of any fight like this
