NHG's employee thinks that STTA Hon Sec should be removed as well for his lame defence of Lee Bee Wah

STTA Hon Sec should be removed as well for his lame defence of Lee Bee Wah

Our online petition calling for removal of Lee Bee Wah as STTA president which was published by Channel News Asia has put renewed pressure on the beleaguered PAP MP for her latest faux paus plunging her association into another controversy yet again.

In spite of widespread public disaffection and fury over her shabby treatment of ex-coach Liu Guodong, who won Singapore’s first Olympic medal in 48 years, STTA is adamant that her decision was correct.

STTA Honorary Secretary Soon Min Sin said it is standing firm, both in its decision not to nominate Liu for the award as well as support of Ms Lee as president.

One key factor, though not the only one, that led to Ms Lee being elected as president last July was her passion for the sport, said Mr Soon.

She showed that she cared, and had some understanding of the sport as an ex-captain of the Nanyang Technological University team - that was what won over the majority of the “30 to 40″ representatives at the Annual General Meeting that day, according to Mr Soon.

And nine months later, she has the results to show for it.

“I think she has gelled the national team together. The players, the coaches are now a lot more cohesive than before. Even when players fall sick, she goes to the hospital to visit them. These are all behind the scenes.”

For his INCOHERENT, IRRATIONAL and NAIVE comments, Soon Min Sin must be removed together with Lee Bee Wah from STTA before more damage is done to the sports.

Soon Min Sin has more than adequately demonstrated his gross ignorance of competitive sports - that coaches and the other axillary staff are responsible for delivering results and nothing else.

Liu Guodong won a Olympic silver medal for Singapore. How many Singapore coaches, including the last winner of the Coach of the year had achieved his feat? For that alone, he deserved the award never mind his other alleged short-comings such as neglecting the male team.

Had Liu spent more time on the male team and end up winning nothing, will he be given the award based on him spending equitable amount of time and resources to develop both team?

What “results” had Lee Bee Wah got to show since she “gelled” the national team together as according to Soon? Did the table-tennis team win any medal in major tournaments during this period of time? The answer is NO!

To put it bluntly, any Tom, Dick or Harry can put up a good “wayang” to show his/her “understanding” and “passion” for table tennis and to show tender loving care to the players, but very few are able train a team to win a medal in an international tournament.

If Soon Min Sin was an ardent fan of the English Premier League, he would have known that coaches (managers) are judged solely by their results and not by the “compassion” they shown to the players.

Alex Ferguson of Manchester United is undoubtably the best manager who has graced the English Premier League. By Soon’s “standards”, he would not qualified to win even the “manager of the month” award because he once kicked a boot right into the face of David Beckham.

Soon Min Sin still has the cheek to say:

“If the public wants to start a petition, they’ve every right to do so. But what’s important is to ask ourselves ‘what is the role of STTA and are we doing our job?’

Not only do we have the right to start a petition to remove you and your President, we have every right to question the wisdom of STTA in allowing Lee Bee Wah who has created so much trouble in her short stint to remain as President of the association.

Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) is a National Sports Association affiliated to the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) and Singapore Sports Council (SSC).

Who pays for the operating expenses of STTA? And who pays for the salaries of its administrative and playing staff? Every single cent comes from the public! Why should we leave the running of STTA entirely to Soon Min Sin and his gang?

Lee Bee Wah, Soon Min Sin and the entire committee can be replaced with a new team and STTA will still not collapse. They are easily replaceable. However, a world-class coach with a proven track record is definitely not easily replaceable.

Let’s see if the table-tennis team will be able to repeat their achievements in the next Olympic game. We will expect them to win a gold medal this time.

Will Lee Bee Wah, for all her efforts to “gel” the team together help it win a medal again? Or will she castigate the coach in public for not following her orders?

The truth is: Liu Guodong stepped on her toes by refusing to obey her wishes to show her any “face”. After all, she is a PAP MP who nobody dares to offend. Now Liu is gone, no honor shall be given to him to leave him a legacy.

While Liu has his character smeared in public in spite of winning a medal, somebody who lost billions of dollars of taxpayers’ monies was given a May Day award.

That’s how meritocracy worked in Singapore. No matter how good you are, you still need to have connections with the elite to leave your mark behind.

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