Olympic Errors and Glory

wanted to talk about my pride for the national flag, but guess i shall leave that to some other time. im simply overwhelmed by some service errors which occurred over the past few days. when Feng Tian Wei won the "first olympic medal since independence and first in 48 years" point on friday, i cried. no, it wasnt out of national pride (thats not to say im not pride of the achievement), they were tears of sympathy for her opponent, Park Mi Young of korea. coming so close to levelling the score and sending the whole tie into a deciding fifth and final game, she served out of play while facing elimination point to gift singapore the tie. its never a nice feeling to commit a service error, but to mess up your serve and gift your opponent the winning point, which happens to be the medal point, can you imagine her agony? i like this well-taken picture. what a contrast shown. in the foreground, Feng and singapore coach Liu Guodong in estacy, and a dejected Park in the background. you can tell her dejection even though it isnt a focused shot on her. when the tv camera went on to catch her in tears later, i just couldnt bear to watch. sports is so cruel. but i had to witness such cruelty once more yesterday. however, this time round, korea was the benefitor. in the badminton men's doubles 3rd place playoff, korea vs denmark in the deciding game, match point at 20-17, the Dane served out of play. i was left speechless.

anyway, the korean women's table tennis team is still in the run for a bronze medal, playing against japan in a while at 2.30pm. i hope Park Mi Young will put behind the agony of friday and put on a good show today. all the best, Park, dont lose heart!

on another note, today is Hari Kemederkaan Republik Indonesia. (i dont really know indonesian, but i hope this is the correct way to say independence day in indonesian.) congratulations to indonesia for winning the gold in badminton men's doubles yesterday, and bronze medal in women's singles. hope they can add the mixed doubles gold and bronze medals to their tally today. these medals will the greatest birthday gift for the country! make no mistake, im not indonesian, im 100% singaporean, but i like indonesia's badminton and i do support them when singapore is not involved. i like indonesia's badminton because of the nation-wide passion involved in playing and watching the game. sports is all about passion, isnt it!

while the shuttlers are getting the best present for indonesia, singapore's paddlers are celebrating national day in our own fashion too. of course, my attention today will definitely be on the match-up at 7.30pm. table tennis women's team final, singapore against china. no doubt, china will be overwhelming favourites. some of you may point out that hey, we have a very strong team, with all three players ranked in the top 10 in the world. but let me remind you, china's players are all in the top 5. and those familiar with the table tennis scene will know that, while the world rankings may not seem to be that far apart, the china players are simply heads and shoulders above the rest of the world. and for this particular tie, i guess they will be very determined to show the world that china's best players are still in china. my heart is with singapore, but my mind says china. that said, i will be more than happy to eat my words! to the singapore ladies: lets bring on the victory pose once more!