By Jan Lin
Liu Guodong did not get nominated by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) for the Coach of the Year Award and despite the recommendation from the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) that the STTA reconsider, the national sports association refused.
It is the cultural norm in socialist China for team mates to “sacrifice” for the country’s glory. It is not unusual for Chinese players to be instructed to lose to their team mate in the semi-final, if the coaches believe the team mate has a higher chance of winning the gold against a foreign opponent in the final.
In Singapore’s case, it is therefore unsurprising that Liu and his coaching team employed similar principles because to them, at that level of competition, the country’s glory takes precedence over individual preferences.
If both the men’s and women’s teams had come in fourth at the Beijing Olympic Games, the Chinese mindset would consider it a failure because national glory has been compromised for individual interest. This is against their system.
The Chinese see international sport competitions as a mission. Liu came in 2006 with the mission of achieving a medal at the Olympic Games. He fufilled his mission and so will not concede that he has done anything wrong.
So for Liu Guodong, favouring the women’s team because of their higher medal potential was in keeping with this philosophy. Lee Bee Wah’s public rebuke of Liu after Singapore’s number one men’s player Gao Ning was left to lose his first singles game without a coach, seems to reflects a different approach.
The public rebuke did not go down well with the Singapore public who felt it was ill-timed and ungracious. Sports minister Vivian Balakrishnan had to step in and Lee Bee Wah finally had to make a publicly apology to the nation. Liu was offered a new contract and higher salary but called the new offer “insulting” and left to coach Indonesia.
The recent statement by STTA that explicitly stated his integrity was a reason for not nominating him sent Liu flying back from Beijing to pursue a resolution and defend his honour. The matter remains unresolved.
If we disagree with China’s sporting principles, values and coaching methods, then we shouldn’t even hire them in the first place. We should not fault Liu or dismiss his system of accomplishing the mission after Singapore gained glory through these methods.
If the NSA has gone the extra mile to hire and bring in Chinese coaches, it is considered culturally disrespectful to then completely dismiss their coaching principles inherited from their Chinese sporting system and to impose our system onto theirs.
STTA chose to assert its independence by not nominating Liu. It was a glaring omission given that they did nominate the women’s team of Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu.
Perhaps the SNOC was also making a statement of their own by not giving the award to anyone. After all, the SNOC did ask the STTA to reconsider and it was remarkable that the NSA chose to snub a committee chaired by no less than the deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean.
A no-award decision was perhaps the committee’s way of telling Liu that senior Singapore sports officials recognise his contribution and consider the Olympic silver medal the epitome of coaching achievement in Singapore last year.
Perhaps, as in many situations, it may just boil down to a clash of personalities. Head coaches are generally not wallflowers. They have their own way of doing things. When a new president comes in with a different way of seeing things, there is only ever going to be one outcome.
Perhaps the the Liu Guodong versus STTA saga is best understood as a best-of-seven finals.
Game 1: The women’s team wins silver medal at the Beijing Olympics – Liu 1 STTA 0
Game 2: Gao Ning is left without a coach, Lee Bee Wah scolds Liu and the media reports it – Liu 1 STTA 1
Game 3: Public turns against Lee Bee Wah and sympathises with Liu – Liu 2 STTA 1
Game 4: Minister Vivian Balakrishnan intervenes and Lee Bee Wah apologises – Liu 3 STTA 1
Game 5: STTA offers new contract with improved terms to Liu – Liu 4 STTA 1
Game 6: Liu leaves after saying the salary offer is insulting – Liu 4 STTA 2
Game 7: STTA nominates the girls team but not Liu Guodong – Liu 4 STTA 3
With Liu Guodong considering his options, including the legal route for what he considers an attack on his character after having achieved the silver medal, there will probably be an eighth game.
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I think Liu Guodong was open and honest about focusing more on the girls who stood a better chance of winning a medal. Others may have done the same thing but not voiced it. Gaoning’s case was an unfortunate incident(he was not asked to sacrifice)but really at that crucial point, nothing should distract from the girls’ match. Look at the big picture. Winning the Olympic medal serves as an inspiration to the Singapore youth sportsmen and women.
If there’s an award for the Most Unsporting Sportsperson Wannabe, I’m pretty sure the STTA Prez will get it.. and it will go to show that this is not what we all want in Singapore if we were seriously thinking about growing a sporting culture here.
Jan, the point about the clash of sporting cultures was insightful. I don’t know any more than what I see in the press but it would make sense that that must account for some part of the friction.
Yes, I agree with Dawn. Never occurred to me before to look at it this way.
Chinese Singaporean (or in the case of the STTA president, Malaysia-born Chinese) does not immediately equate to a mainland Chinese.
We may look alike but we do not think alike.