SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

Just as some Singaporeans are still (feeling) euphoric about Feng Tian Wei’s bronze medal win in the ongoing Olympics games, our female table tennis team comprising Feng Tian Wei, Wang Yue Gu and Lee Jia Wei were defeated by their Japanese counterparts in the semi-finals today (2 a.m today) with no winning game at all in the match as consolation.

I read on yesterday's Straits Times that our Singapore atheletes have headed off to London for the Olympic games with no interviews granted to the media, in accordance with a Media blackout imposed on the team. I wonder why is there a need for such a media blackout? I believe it might have to do with the fact that our Olympic team may not want to raise expectations of Singaporeans on the team so as to give the team less pressure so as to perform well.

I felt disappointed Singapore conceded 2 goals to Iraq. We spent so much time and money on our players however they could not even win against players from a country which is beset with the aftermath of battles and riots!

I walk fast naturally. I think walking fast helps save time. In countries like Africa, the people do not have many commercial modes of transport, hence they rely on running to get from one point to another.

What is to Singapore Onsens is to Japan? True, Singapore does not have the luxury of onsens (hot springs) found in Japan but I reckon Singapore does have its equivalent of onsens.

The dust over the screening of all the 64 soccer matches of the World Cup 2010 has finally settled. Singaporeans will be able to view these matches live on Singapore TV on paid channels while Mediacorp will show selected matches of the Soccer tournament! It is a great news for football fans to view these not-to-be-missed soccer matches which occur every 4 years! I am truly excited and the momentum of World Cup Soccer manaic will begin now with World Cup kicking off on 11 June! I am not a fan of English Premier League or other major soccer leagues , neither am I a fan of Manchester United Football or Chelsea Football but I truly want to catch some great matches of World Cup 2010 !

Central Square at Clarke Quay yesterday night was a sea of red and blue as Manchester United’s and Liverpool’s (Football Club) turned out in full droves to watch the live screening of the clash between the two football clubs that could well determine the winner of the English Premier League this season. The Football Channel's studio was set up at Clarke Quay's Central Square for yesterday 'live' telecast. Presented by Joe Morrison & guests Peter Reid and Nigel Spackman, the ‘live’ telecast commenced at 8.40pm. My Dear and I were among the throngs of crowd at Central Square. We were not football fans but we happened to be ‘in the right place, at the right time’, so as to speak, hehe. The atmosphere at Central Square last night was overwhelming though we did not stay for long to watch the show. The results (everyone should know by now): Liverpool-Manchester United: 4:1. I believe Liverpool fans spent the night celebrating though I was not sure whether there was a braw...

I have my second attempt at archery today. It was fun firing arrows right into the target boards! Archery uses a different arm muscle for which I do not really train, thus my arm muscles do feel strained after the archery stint. I have the great opportunity to learn from the top professionals on this island on the fine pointers of archery and what impresses me most was the amicable and approachable demeanour of these top shooters of this island. We become friends and chatting buddies shortly. The shooting skills of these top national players are unparralled.. just look at the picture above, and you can marvel at the preciseness and accuracy of their shooting. My shooting can still be improved further as I have only shot for 2 times in my life before. Shooting arrows is much fun than shooting rifles in National Service. I can still remember Orlando Bloom pumping arrows in such fashion and style at all the villains in the movie, Lord of the Ring. Instead, 'arrows' are nor...

Though I was not out there like thousands of Singapore today at Marina Bay to 'catch' a little of the action of the Grand Prix rehearsal, nevertheless I watched it on Channel 5. It was AMAZING! Never imagine such a great piece of action could actually happen here and right in the heart of CBD! This was the first time I actually watched a F1 race-related show and to watch my first F1 race-related show in Singapore F1 is real meaningful! As expected, Singapore has done a GREAT job in creating the first ever F1 night race, delivering the project in 10 months whereby other countries would need 2 years to complete the same scope of work! This is what makes Singapore tick: efficiency and effectiveness.. these traits are now synonymous with Singaporeans. Actually, the sounds of machines emanating from the speed devils could be heard everyday.........wat I mean is some really ignorant folks manipulating their motor machines and tearing down the streets, to the anger of many, polluting ...

The Brazil soccer team is coming to Singapore to get acclimatised to the tropics and warm up for the Olympics. Singapore is fielding a team of S-League Players for a friendly match with the soccer titans. The result of this friendly should be quite obvious, however it would be more laudable if our country fields our National team to pit against the soccer giants for it is such a rare chance that Singapore, a country which has spent time and money grooming its young lions for that seeming elusive ‘2010 dream’ pits itself and faces off with the samba kings. The lesson gleaned from this face-off with the Kings of soccer would be invaluable for our national players. The venue for this match? National Stadium again! It seems umpteen times that ‘last matches’ have been played at National Stadium before it closes. So is this last match with Brazil really the last one for the Stadium? I suggest the authorities make this match the last at National Stadium, for it is symbolises Singapore must re...

I feel sad that Mediacorp, the leading local television channel in Singapore is not screening the live telecast of the final of Eurocups. Mediacorp, in my opinion, is silent on the needs: the fact that many of its viewers do really crave, wish, aspire, want to watch the Eurocups final live on one of its many Channels, such as Channel 5. I believe viewers do not mind if Mediacorp does not broadcast all the pre-semi final matches of the Eurocups; and when Mediacorp still does not broadcast the semi-finals of the Euro-cups, viewers still try to forgive, thinking that Mediacorp would at the very least and last, broadcast the grand final; but now Mediacorp is not broadcasting any live telecast of the final of the Eurocups at all! Yes, one can say that with the proliferation of the internet, it is no big deal, one can just watch the Eurocup tournaments free on the internet. Also there are the Singapore Cable Vision, (SCV) channels that viewers can explore; but this option is limited only to ...

Today is Friday once again, the most coveted day of the weekend finally arrives once again; and its time to rest, relax and do the things that we want during the weekends. This weekend would be fun, especially to soccer fans as Germany would face off with Spain in the final of the Euro-cups on Monday early morning. I have not checked out whether TCS would be broadcasting this final, I would not be surprised if it doesn’t as even the semi-finals of this great event were also not broadcast o this particular channel. Anyway, we are living in the 21st century where information flows freely and unrestrictedly in a host of high tech devices like the internet and viewers all over the world are now entitled to watch the Eurocups live from the internet at absolutely no charges. I would be expecting quite a number of panda eyes for those working and studying when Monday comes.

At this time of writing, the Eurocups has almost come to an end. Germany has defeated Turkey in the first semi-final and tonight, Spain will make a date with Russia in the second semi-final. Spain is hotly tipped to defeat Russia and face off with tournament’s favorite Germany. I predict Germany would win this year’s Eurocup at the commencement of the tournament and my prediction is gathering shape.

This year’s Eurocups were marked by winnings by underdogs. In today’s quarter-final match, the seeming omnipotent Netherlands was sent packing home by the underdog Russia. In the match one day before this, Croatia fell prey to Turkey. At this juncture, only Germany has upheld its traditional powerhouse status, slaying off Portugal in the first quarter-final. The ball is round and both Spain and Italy shall have an equal opportunity of winning today’s quarter-final though personally I prefer Italy and would like to see a final between Germany and Italy. The striking and stunning performance by the underdogs is what makes this year Eurocup special. It is exactly for the same reason that pundits lose their hard-earned moneys; for seeming easy- to-predict match like the Netherlands and Russia today (where the widely tipped-to-win team was the former) deviate from their strong beliefs. It is a good sign that some countries who are not traditional winning favourites in the Euros are having a...

Finally after 2 weeks of battling, the quarter-finalists of Eurocup 2008 finally come to the fore. The quarter finals kick off today with Portugal vs Germany. In a nut shell, the quarter finals would be fought as follows: Portugal vs Germany Croatia vs Turkey Netherlands vs Russia Spain vs Italy I predict Portugal would triumph over Germany, while Croatia will slaughter off Turkey. Netherlands will easily win over Russia and Spain will be no match for Italy. Portugal would then face Croatia and win over Croatia in the first Semi-final. Netherlands will then meet Italy and easily triump over the latter. Finally, Portugal will come face to face with Netherlands before lifting off the championship trophy.

I braved fatigue yesterday midnight to watch on the internet the Eurocup Group A match between Croatia and Germany. That was the first match of the Eurocup soccer tournament 2008 that I watched as I wanted to validate my belief that Croatia would triumph over one of the tournament’s favourite teams. Prior to watching the matches, I have read many news and sports articles which prophesied that Croatia was definitely going to be run down by the Germans in this match; some of these predictions were also written by renowned local soccer players. The whole nation has many believing that the Germans were clear winners, with the odds at Singapore Pools for Croatia to win at this game starting at 6.00 and jumping to 6.50 just few hours before the commencement of the match (conversely, odds for Germany opened at 1.6 and become lower as the match drew closer). Alas, my belief was right: Croatia won against the Germans by 2:1 ! For soccer matches, personally I believe there is no really much anal...

The Eurocup fever has fantasised the world for close to a week already. On the onset of the competition, I have predicted that Portugal and Germany would be facing off in the finals of the competition. At this juncture of the competition, my guess may still be correct as these two countries are at the tops of their individual groups in the results so far. Europe seems a nice place to travel to. Though I have not been to Europe myself, I have heard of how nice the place is, how friendly the people there are and the slow but quality pace of life in Europe in terms of work, life and leisure balance. Europe is also a beautiful place with iconic attractions, blessed with the beautiful four seasons, with friendly people too. But I have to experience Europe myself too as seeing is believing.

The Singapore Pool outlet at my place extended its opening hours till 2200 hrs in order to facilitate the placing of bets by punters on the matches of the Euro-cup. Major soccer matches like the World Cup, the Euro-cup often draw a mix of genuinely soccer fans and the punter fraternity who are only interested in getting a dose of the thrill in rooting for their favourite teams. Thus I wonder do the scores of Singaporeans who stay till the wee hours to watch the Euro-cups really have an interest in the games or just to find out firsthand whether their bets have won? It may be a case of both too.

I predict Portugal and Germany would be meeting each other in the finals.

Singapore has lost 3-7 to Uzbekistan just last week, smashing the little island’s dream of qualifying for World Cup 2010. The Singapore Sports Council has employed bio-mechanists to spend hours analyzing the move of its Uzbekistan opponents in their previous matches, with the assistance of highly sophisticated scientific and technological instruments, to present a finding on the opponent’s formation, its Achilles’ heel, etc to the Singapore soccer coach. Alas, that does not help much, for the opponents easily triumphed over the Lions. Singapore team has not performed well in the international soccer arena despites funding and intense training of the National team, the introduction of S-League to boost the standards of the team, etc. Why is it always so? Why are the Lions not as good as other international teams despites the efforts and funding spent to train and nurture the players? What has happened to our vision of Singapore 2010? Is soccer in Singapore really a matter of nature vs ...