Leah & the white tigers

You think Rory Delap is good with his long throws? Wait till you see Leah from Brazil. She shows you how she does it in Sambaland. Currently starring in Fifa Women’s U-20 World Cup.

Oh and regarding the white tiger attack in the zoo, a video is available. Warning: watching the video means you are as mentally psychotic as me. Find it yourself in DailyMotions if you are so interested.

There is no hope for humanity when people actually want to post such videos.

Won the silver, are you proud? I am, for now

Our 3 foreign ‘talent’ ladies won a silver for the country. Now, the whole country embraces them, rewards them with 750k cash reward and proudly announce our foreign talent policy a success.The issue a week ago was that Li Jiawei was dragging the Singapore flag on the ground during the opening ceremony, many pple suddenly showing patriotism and lambasted her on various blogs and forums for doing that. Now that she has won a medal for us, suddenly many pple (don’t know whether the same ones or not) are so proud of her and her achievements, happy that we finally got an Olympics medal once again.

A few points to ponder about:

• The trio are just part of the China ‘F’ team, probably not good enough to be even in the ‘B’ team, thats why the Chinese people are letting them go in the first place. There was an article in the Straits Times, where the talent scout wanted to bring Zhang Yining alongside Li Jiawei to Singapore together last time, but the Chinese refused, because they know she is better and will become the future World Champion. So Li Jiawei, and more recently the other 2 girls decide to come to Singapore. That makes them quitters (from China) ain’t it. The very same type of quitters that our government are disgusted when some of our Singaporeans migrate overseas. Why are Li and co being embraced by our government now, even though they are technically ‘quitters’ too?
• If next week, the three of them decide to go back to China, does Singapore technically lose the medal? Maybe not next week, maybe they can win another medal in the next Olympics and retire with the suitcases of cash for winning. What if they want to return to where they come from, now that they have earned their bucks and enjoy retirement. Because except for Li Jiawei, the other 2 weren’t even Singaporeans for very long (Feng only got citizenship this year I think). Does that technically mean we don’t have a medal anymore?
• Do you consider them as one of us? Is it even a question of us vs them? How do you define a Singaporean? Must you be born here, speak Singlish or show a complete lack of social empathy before you are considered one? After all, our forefathers came from all over the world, China and India etc and settled down here as foreign ‘talent’ too. At best we are only 3rd or 4th generation Singaporeans.
• Now that we have our first medal, will this help to promote sports in Singapore? Or will we start buying more talents to win more medals. 1silver medal is not enough in the next Olympics now, the standard has been raised, likely that we will want more and more. Why do we want to win an Olympic medal so much anyway, for self gratification?

My stand

• For now, I am proud of them. Because they can win a medal and I can’t. They have managed to put our country on the world sporting map for now. Not that other countries really care.
• If they decide to settle down and lay their roots here, it will be great. But if they are mecenary in nature and take the money and go back in the next few years, good for them too. They have earned it, and the money is just reward for them to abandon the country they grew up with to play for another country. But I will like to spit on them first before they go back.
• I hope this will not start an endless buying of more foreign talents into our sporting fratenity. They are supposed to raise the standards of the local sporting talents. But in the case of table tennis, we have yet to see the local ones bloom. It is just a case of bringing in more and more of them until we have a good enough team to play internationally while none of them are actually born and bred here.
• Until they show otherwise, lets celebrate their achievements and treat them as one of our own. There seems to be increasing discontent about the number of foreigners in Singapore. They are taking our jobs, and our women, and now they want our HDB flats too (read about Amit Nagpal if you do not understand). I don’t think we should be xenophobic towards them. Now the times are hard, more people are finding it difficult to make ends meet. But its not their fault ok! Don’t blame it on them, they just want to make a living too. And many of them are doing the work that people will not want. I salute people like Babu (his real name) who used to clean my HDB precint and keep it clean. Some people may get jobless, but they will rather stay jobless than want his job. Babu and his fellow foreigners are just like our forefathers too, who went to a faraway land in search of a better life, or to provide a living for their folks back home.

Dang.. Missed the national day rally writing this.. Luckily can watch on CNA later, and see how further detached our government is from the people.

Consumed by the Olympics

Been waking up at 5 am recently to watch Michael Phelps the man mountain go for his historic quest for 8 golds. Got 7 now, and the last one is pretty much in the bag unless the US team gets disqualified.

As usual, the Chinese are doing too much to impress the world. Pre-recorded broadcasts of the fireworks, lip synching of the small girl (the one on TV looks pretty scary with her ultra big eyes actually), normal Han children pretending to be from the ethnic minorities. Maybe more controversies will arise as the second half of the Olympics gets underway. The Chinese organisers are pressing the self destruct button even without outside intervention, showing that they will cheat to get things done, the perfect results at all costs even if deception is required, and being racist to other minority races. Malu sia, throw face..

Now that swimming is finishing, and Federer got knocked out once again, my attention will be turned to track and field, and the start of the BPL in 2 hours time woot..

Until then…

Arsenal Season Preview

Arsenal has just finished the 6th of their friendly games. A few more to go before we face Steve McClaren and FC Twente in the Champions League Qualifying game. So far so good, the midfield is still bossing the play as usual, but the attack lacks a bit of bite upfront. Hopefully the strikers will get sharper before the season begins.

This season’s Arsenal team is getting younger if its even possible. Well it is, considering that Cesc, who seems to be around for quite some time already but is still only 21, is already the man with the 2nd most number of appearances in the team behind Kolo Toure.

Target

The target this year will be to win a trophy. Win a trophy, Cesc will be happy to stay and we can build a solid team around him. The Premier League will be a tough one with Man Utd managed to hang on to Ronaldo, Chelski just keep getting more players in and the mugsmashers (Ha, free treat to anyone who knows why pool fans are called mugsmashers without checking the internet.) brought in Keano. We will be able to sustain a challenge if we keep ourselves relatively injury free, but with Van Persie and Rosicky in the team, that is at least 30 games lost between them. Arsenal might not last the pace, and with Wenger seldom going for any massive rotations in his 1st eleven, the league may be still out of the reach this year. A more reasonable trophy will be to aim for Champions League and FA cup, especially in the FA cup, where Wenger likes to play some fresher legs. As for the Carling Cup, maybe not, since the carling cup squad may probably get so young that Jack Wilshere and Jay Simpson may be the senior players of the team, a bit too inexperienced.

Ins and Outs

In: Aaron Ramsey, Samir Nasri, Carlos Vela, Amaury Bischoff

Promoted from reserves: Vito Mannone, Jack Wilshere (maybe)

Out: Gilberto, Aleksander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Jens Lehmann

As usual, out goes some experienced players, and in comes younger replacements. Vela and Nasri are definitely 2 exciting prospects, Ramsey pops out of nowhere while Wenger describes unknown Bischoff as a gamble. Flamini is a big boot to fill. I am not sure whether Ramsey is the one though. Out of the current squad, I will prefer putting Song (1st choice) or Diaby (2nd) alongside Cesc, although I do prefer Wenger getting a more experienced central midfielder in, Gareth Barry anyone? Hleb is skillful, no doubt. But seriously, he should have contributed much more to Arsenal than his 10 goals in 3 seasons. I am sure Nasri is more than capable to fill his boots. And there is Walcott too, so I am not too worried about the loss of Hleb.

Players to watch/get rid?

Carlos Vela plays with a similar style to our dear dudu (hope he can come back by Christmas). A natural goal scorer, hopefully he can adapt to the rough and tough of English football and make an instant impact. I foresee him being more of a substitute for Van Persie in games at least for the first half of the year.

Jack Wilshere. Only 16, he seems almost able to take on the physical challenges of the premier league already. The mere mention of his name will excite any Arsenal fan. He is the next great hope out of the academy. And hopefully, he can do what Robert Pires has contributed to Arsenal in the past.

Emmanuel Eboue. Get rid of him. Or at least just be a deputy for Sagna. I never liked him. A diver, actor and total disgrace to the football club. It is a great mystery why Wenger is still keeping him, and playing him on the right wing as first choice at times.

Denilson. Ermm.. unable to usurp Cesc’s place, and I will rather play Rosicky or Nasri in the center if Cesc is unavailable, Denilson does not fit in. His qualities are not good enough yet, but at least youth is on his side.

Bendtner, A poorer version of Adebayor. We don’t need 2 strikers with poor touches and need a zillion tries a la Andy Cole before scoring. Ade and Bendtner cannot play together, but the good thing about them is their physical size. We need some striker who can head, and Bendtner is still ahead of Ade on this count though.

Manuel Almunia. Does not have the aura a goalkeeper should have, even with his bleached hair. A good goalkeeper must always exude an aura that gives confidence in his defence or scare the shit out of the opposition. Good goalkeepers like Cech, Reina, Buffon and van der Sar all exhibit this quality. Almunia.. nah.. How I wished we managed to sign Gomes instead of Spurs and offload Almunia to Blackburn instead. Gomes is a pretty decent goalkeeper I think, and most importantly he has the aura. I hope Wenger signs some good keeper with the aura.

Looking foward to the new season!

No history making of King Fed

Viva España again. Another good news for Spanish sports when Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer in 5 sets to win Wimbledon.

Caught the whole game live on TV. A 7 hour affair including rain breaks. Never knew that tennis was so compelling. Well, this game has to rank up there as one of the greatest I’m sure. 2 amazing atheletes, so strong physically and mentally, none deserves to lose actually. Kinda disappointed that Federer lost, I supported him since he plays a more beautiful game and wears a gayish cardigan. But alas, he got OWNED and in his own backyard somemore. Looks like the wound inflicted on him during the French Open kinda affected him, he lost his composure making only 1 out of more than 10 break points. If only he could take another 1 or 2 of these important points, especially during the 2nd set, then he might have won it in 4.

Kudos to Nadal though. Amazing bullet-speed forehand and his backhand this time really impressed a lot. Time after time, when Federer thought he had Nadal on the backfoot with his backhand, he answered with a wonderful crosscourt power shot. All thanks to his big biceps, he is gonna become Popeye the Sailor at this rate, and just maybe, the best tennis player of his generation.

I shall aspire to train to have such biceps too lol. Speaking of muscles, take a look at this kid.

(image courtesy of Straits Times)

This kid, Kang Yee Cher, is a manly 9 years old. Yes, you don’t have to rub your eyes again, he is 9 years old only. Look at the muscles he have. I am just a wussy (and practically everyone else) at 9 years old. He can probably beat me in arm wrestling if we have a competition now too. Amazing kid. Look at how small the kid behind him in the picture is. That is what I will call a 9 year old though.

A Cambodian-born Singaporean, he is smashing all records in the 100m and 200m races in his age group. And many people are crying foul, accusing that he is not 9 years old, or saying that he should be competing with older kids.

Parent A: This kid is same age as my son, are you kidding me?

Parent B: Can’t be la, he so bigger size than my boy boy. Where got fair?

Parent A: Ya la, cannot let my son be demoralized. I wan complain to MOE.

Parent B: Not enough, muz also complain to MP. I tink he eat drugs, do they do urine test huh? Muz check u noe, he sure cheat one. Ban him from racing wif my boy boy.

Parent A: Later I call my loyal, sue the organizer. Waste my boy boy time, he cant get number 1. Boy boy come, mummy find you another sport where you can become number 1 k?

Applause! I still remember my Singlish. Back to the story, with the blind accusations (be it true of false), some people are traumatising the child and his family. Trying to make him feel very Naruto eh, where no one accepts him. Come on, please wake up your idea. This may be the most precocious talent that Singapore track and field may have since…i cant think of a name… who is the last great track and field athelete in Singapore anyway? C Kunalun? Cant think of a name. And no disrespect to the few good up and coming ones include Stefen Tseng and Calvin Kang. But this 9 year old can become a world beater if he keeps it up. Still a long way to go.

Viva Espana!

Firstly congratulations to Spain.

Attacking football reigns supreme again after the Greeks won Euro 2004 and Italia won World Cup 2006. My prediction almost came through too. Got the finalists correct, but the winner wrong. Guess I am like Ballack. We are the ‘almost’ people. For those of you who don’t know soccer, Ballack is the almost guy, if there is a count of the number of runner up medals a footballer gets, he surely has to rank among the top. He was in Bayern Leverkusen when they came in runner up in 3 competitions, and this year with Chelsea, he is runner up in another 3. And now you can add another runner up medal to his trophy cabinet. Too bad, but the better team won so he can’t complain too much.

And talking about Ballack reminds me of my previously stated similarities of him with Ana Ivanovic, the new French Open champion in tennis but got knocked out disappointingly in Wimbledon though. Anyone other than me who thinks the 2 of them look alike?

Now that the football is over and also having finished Forensic Heroes 2, I promised myself to do a lot of things. And that includes updating my blog more often. Well I was thinking since I want to write a blog, I should update it regularly and not neglect it. It is like cutting my nails. I should do it every week (even though my girlfriend thinks that I am crazy to cut nails every week) and not wait and wait, always delaying the writing until I really have the mood.

And lastly, something to talk about politics in Singapore and this man.

I have always reserved thoughts about him, maybe a little too stupid and extreme for his own good based on reports from the mainstream media. But my apathetic views on him and the opposition parties in Singapore were stimulated when MM Lee called Dr Chee a near-psychopath. I personally feel that is a little too overboard. If he is mad, then why are there still so many people supporting him? Are they all mad too. There is a nice article here which can express what I feel better. I personally have been a bit disappointed with the government in the last year or so. Sorry that I voted for the PAP last GE. I always thought that a government without opposition will be able to bypass all the squabbling with opposition (like in Taiwan) and implement policies efficiently for the good of its citizenry. This government system can be very useful when the policies are very necessary and may probably benefit the citizens as a whole in the long run but will not gain popularity with the majority of citizens. But when the policies are lame, such as increasing salary of civil servants, putting ERP on every road and increasing public transport costs, I realise the bad advantage of such a powerful government. Without the need to be accountable, they can just implement whatever they like, and always making it sound like it is for the overall good for the citizens.

I am sorry I made a mistake with my vote, please gimme another chance. And we probably need more Dr CSJ to come out and stand for the interests of the people. You risk going to jail though (note that CSJ has gone to jail 6 times now) and always get painted in a bad picture by the mainstream media. But I shall end this post with a quote from him: If you have truth on your side and you know your cause to be just, you need never fear your rulers and what they do to you.