Heart Bleeds: A Gold Too Far...

In year 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, all Malaysians regardless of colour and creed, huddled together in front of screen whether big or small to cheer for our badminton player, Dato' Lee Chong Wei while he was fighting a great battle on the badminton court. Yesterday nite, it was a bitter sweet victory in the Wembley Arena in London. 


We were having dinner after our amateur badminton session. I was actually rushing to go home after dinner so that I can bake the rainbow cake. I have a serious problem in managing my time when I am baking. Will talk about that further in another post. So, yesterday when we were at the coffee shop I thought there was no television but there was one small television where I felt like stuffing my whole head into the screen to see properly who's winning the game, who's shuttle cock got whacked and didn't make it over the net. We were cheering for Dato' Lee Chong Wei, our homegrown Malaysian champion, whenever he made a smash that Lin Dan could not twist his body fast enough to save. We cheered when Lin Dan smashed our Dato' Lee Chong Wei but it was an OUT. We cheered when Lin Dan made a mistake. We cheered when Dato' Lee Chong Wei scored. Our heart bled when Dato' Lee Chong Wei made mistakes. 


As the television screen was so small and we couldn't even see the score, we knew Lin Dan won the match as my mama said Lin Dan and his 'si lang khuan'.. bad habit of removing his shirt when he won. He's so proud. Pride before a downfall, Lin Dan. It's your gold to chew for this one, don't be so proud. 

No, you don't have to be sorry. We should be sorry that we did not pray hard enough for you. Those who cursed you and hoped that you lose should be sorry for sending all the negative vibes. Those who ridiculed your loss in getting a gold medal ought to be sorry for thinking that they are better than you and they could win if they were at the badminton court. I was really sad and disappointed that he didn't get the gold medal but all in all, Dato' Lee Chong Wei is the pride of the nation. And to those racist people who always asked the Malaysian Chinese to pack our bags and go back to where we came from, know this in your heart, without Malays, Chinese and Indian, there's no Malaysia. You see that flag stitched on Dato' Lee Chong Wei's shirt? It's our Jalur Gemilang and we're not labelled as Chinese. We are MALAYSIANS and proud to be one no matter how dirty the politics are. Politics are well-known for it's dirtiness. Okay, put that aside. 

He cried. He is a man to shed his tears as he has sacrificed so much and one will never know whether he is playing in pain or not as his ankle injury has not completely heal. I hope that he will not drown in depression after the country has put so much mental pressure on him for winning a gold. We have not seen a gold medal for a very long time but if only the eyes will be opened. Malaysia itself is a country flowing with milk and honey. It's gold in our own backyard. If not people will not want to flock to our country. Even those from China would come to our country illegally. So that proves that Malaysia has everything everybody wants. 


Now, SPM questions for Bahasa Malaysia essay loves to come out with the question on how to improve the country's quality in sports. As if whatever the students' ideas will be taken seriously. Now, anyone in authority who stalks my blog or happens to stumble upon this piece of post should consider this seriously in hope to hold a gold medal in the coming Olympics 2016. 


I happened to watch the TV1 interview on our Malaysian cyclists in Olympics. There are a few things that I would like to highlight. Can you imagine them having to work the office hours and then they have to trained on their own after work. Wouldn't they be dead tired after working such long hours and they have to coach the younger ones. What positive action should the country take to improve their qualities? Look at China. Their players are practicing from the moment the sun rises to the time when the moon appears. That's what they do. There is this thing called social obligations where private sectors are carrying out. It is as simple as ONE company adopting ONE national athlete, pay the adopted athlete a monthly salary such as paying an employee WITHOUT having the adopted athlete to clock in to office at all. It's paying them to play and play and play. They don't have to worry about clocking into the office to work. But once they retire from sports then they will have to work in the office like it or not with the salary increase accordingly as the cost of living hikes up. In that way, they do not have to worry about setting up a family and feeding the family and at the same time play for the country. It's not paying millions it's just adding one more person to the pay list. Will the company go bankrupt in doing so? No, it won't. That's ridiculous. A company goes bankrupt because of lack of intelligence in many different areas not because of adopting an athlete. Under the 1Malaysia call, even schools have the 1Student, 1Sport so why not have the 1COMPANY, 1 ATHLETE programme? The government should seriously look into this so that our athletes don't come back empty-handed, defeated, ego-smashed into pieces and the name Malaysia doesn't even appear on the list of medals gained. This should be carried out as soon as possible in preparation for the coming Olympics.


No more suggestions as the main concern is of what mentioned above. Our athletes need to concentrate and be consistent by practicing day in and day out. It's their JOB to play for the country so why should they be burdened with an 8-5 job and then need to muster whatever energy that's left to practice after work? In the office they have to use their brain and after work they have to use their physical strength. At the end of the day, they will not have anything left for their love ones. No wonder our players cannot win. 


After the players retire from work, they should be automatically be included in the government pay list to get a penchant every month. Only that would be fair because when they played, they played with all their might for the country.