REPETITIVE SPORTS ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR BADMINTON, SQUASH AND BOWLING PLAYERS.

..AND THE SPORTS OFFICIALS WHO ARE FIXATED WITH THE PROWESS OF A FEW AND FEEL GUILTY IF THEY ARE REPLACED WITH BETTER ALTERNATIVES AND SUCCESSORS SO SOON.

By Mansor Puteh

…They lose sight of the game.

What is there to shout about judging from the millions that are spent a year, they only take part in sports which are not widely taken up?

This is the problem with the sports associations in Malaysia: they are fixated with the top sportsmen made them lazy to find new talent.

They are happy if someone can distract them, so they sit back and relax while the person brings in the medals and trophies which occasionally happens.

And they find it sinful to replace them unless if the person himself gets tired of the game or is too old to continue playing, before the sports officials are alarmed and start to try and do something to get his replacement.

That’s how the badminton and squash including the bowling players get to go on with their style for so long.

It’s not that they are good; it’s just that the sports associations do not want to discover new talents.

When can Malaysians create sensations in more prestigious sports instead those sports which many in the world do not find interesting and which are very much independent on what the others say and which are purely based on a person’s merit and where sponsorship runs in the multimillion dollars?

The sports or games such as golf, tennis, sprint events, motor racing and so on.

These are real sports, where the champions can claim glory for being their own persons and not mascots of their respective associations.

These are really the sports that matter, while the others are mere social ones which most countries do not find interesting to develop. They depend on how much the leadership of the respective associations can garner sponsorship and support from the government and publicity in the media without which the sportsmen and their sports do not exist.

It is with this that there are only few sports which are highlighted and not the many others including.

So Malaysia ends up taking up those sports which are not popular and win against those who are lame ducks.

Even China is not good with badminton anymore. The reason being they do not find it fascinating anymore now that their sportsmen are into the more serious ones.

Even Siam has world-class tennis players and golfers.

So no wonder they are not into badminton like they used to before.

I do not wish to put a damper to the excitement some Malaysians are having over the Wong Chong Wei-win in the All-England.

I was in this country when it happens. And I can tell you that there was nothing in the papers on this win or the tournament which is touted as the most prestigious badminton games in the world, much less on television.

What many in Malaysia want to find exciting is to me quite expected as they are all hoping to get some diversions.

That the win happens when badminton has been conveniently neglected by many countries in the world which were once into it.

This caused a Japanese to go to the finals.

That the All-England is not like it was before when some of our badminton players won fighting the best in the world.

Chong Wei's win, has to be seen in the right context, that he had won the game to a lesser player from a country which has not been known to be a major mover in the games.

Therefore, some rain should be allowed to fall on the Chong Wei parade as it deserves it, that he had won at the wrong time to the wrong player.

Worse, I hate to say it that his win is nothing but a repetitive sport achievement which we can do without. My senses are not especially thrilled.

Malaysia is known to be good in this game. It has produced great badminton players with some having won in the major tournaments.

So what else is new this time?

* * * * * *

Contrary to what many have written, the sports achievements of the few are basically repetitive sports achievements which are boring.

Okay so they can play badminton and squash and what else is new?

They go around the world at the country's or rakyat's expense and bring glory? What glory?

National unity in any country does not depend on the achievements of their sportsmen.

Besides, the sports which Malaysia are said to be good at are those that the other  countries do not want to develop.

I was in England during the All-England and there was no news on it.

And Malaysian sportsmen can only win in this tournament and maybe in the Olympics gold medals for badminton not because they are good, but because the other countries had rejected the sport.

No wonder Japan was in the finals in the last All-England.

Isn't it too much to provide for the badminton players to achieve personal glory in guise of national glory?

They are lucky to have been in these two sports but not in the others where there is stiff competition.

I say, let the other sports associations bring out the best from Malaysian athletes and sportsmen in other sports such as the sprint events, etc, where it matters, and perhaps golf, where the best golfers do not need to look at the association because they are able to get more in sponsorship and product endorsement.

Malaysian badminton and squash players are still parasitic in that they are still beholden to the charity of others.

May 13, 1969 happened not too long after the collapse of the Old Malayan Cinema. One of the factors which came into play was the chauvinism Hong Kong films promoted in their films which started to be shown in the cinemas in Malaysia prior to that.