No apology owed? STTA and president answerable to public

No apology owed? STTA and president answerable to public

MR THOMAS Hwang's argument in his letter on Tuesday ('STTA and its president owe no apology') is flawed.

If the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) is accountable to no one, it should reject the grants ($2.7 million in 2007 and $3.4 million last year) it receives annually from the Singapore Sports Council, other government agencies and government-linked companies.

As for Mr Hwang's view that former coach Liu Guodong did STTA and Singapore wrong and walked away without a word of apology, let me remind him that Liu was offered a new STTA contract, which is strange if STTA thought he lacked 'professionalism, leadership and integrity'.

Liu left because his contract had expired, which is not the same as 'walking away'.

Third, Mr Hwang's contention that 'coaches matter, but they are not worth their salt if they can achieve only half of what they set out to do':

What were Liu's key performance indicators at the Beijing Olympics last year? Was it Olympic gold, silver or bronze? Or were medals not specifically indicated? Liu coached the women's team to the final and brought home an Olympic silver medal for Singapore.

This feat alone deserves the Singapore National Olympic Council Coach of the Year award and possibly even the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) from the President of Singapore.

Here is the comment of Dr Tan Eng Liang, a highly respected member of Singapore's sports community and chef de mission of Singapore's 2008 Olympic contingent, on Liu's ability:

'We worked closely with the table tennis team in the 10 months before the Olympics. We not only saw Liu's ability, but also his commitment and sense of responsibility.'

Anyone who believes otherwise of Liu's quality either has no knowledge of coaching or harbours unresolved issues.

Finally, Mr Hwang, in dismissing Liu's ability as a head coach, asks why Liu bothered to train the men's team to qualify for the Olympics, only to abandon it. I assume Mr Hwang was referring to the incident involving top men's player Gao Ning.

Here is what Dr Tan, as leader of the Singapore Olympic delegation to the Beijing Games, said:

'After our investigations, we have found out that this was an unfortunate incident. Also, the issue has been laid to rest.'

The fact remains that Gao (International Table Tennis Federation rank 12 in September last year) lost to Tan Ruiwu of Croatia (ITTF rank 33) by 4-0 in a mere 24 minutes. Even 10 coaches would not have made an impact because the player lacked 'fire in the belly' to win.

I hope the STTA will do the honourable thing and provide a full public disclosure. Let justice prevail in Singapore table tennis.

Patrick Fairley Scully

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