Holding inquiry first would have been decent thing to do, says chef de mission of S'pore team
By
Marc Lim, Sports Correspondent
and
Peh Shing Huei, Senior Correspondent
Most Singapore sports officials contacted in Beijing are puzzled by the timing of STTA president Lee Bee Wah's shock decision over team boss Lee and head coach Liu. -- ST PHOTO: ALBERT SIM
BEIJING: Earning the players' trust and support may have been her main aim.
But in wanting to be the 'players' president', Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) president Lee Bee Wah has inadvertently put a dampener on what should have been one of Singapore sport's finest occasions.
Team Singapore officials in Beijing told The Straits Times that while Ms Lee may have had the interests of the players at heart, they questioned the timing of her revelation that team manager Antony Lee's services were no longer required by the STTA.
Mr Lee and head coach Liu Guodong, whose future is also under a cloud, had helped the team win a silver at the Beijing Olympics, Singapore's first Olympic medal since weightlifter Tan Howe Liang's silver at the 1960 Rome Games.
Mr Lee, Mr Liu and the rest of the table tennis team were part of Singapore's contingent at yesterday's closing ceremony. The team will arrive home this afternoon and are scheduled to go on an open-top bus ride through Singapore's heartlands before stopping for a reception at Raffles City Shopping Centre.
Said Singapore chef de mission to the Beijing Games Dr Tan Eng Liang yesterday: 'I'm really disappointed with the timing. Any bad news could have waited until after the celebrations.'
Mr Lee drew criticism from Ms Lee after a coaching fiasco involving Singapore's top men's player Gao Ning (see box on facing page).
Dr Tan added: 'When the incident happened on Thursday, I issued a statement to say the matter was closed. I had accepted the team manager's explanation and felt that it was just an unfortunate incident.
'If the STTA president wanted to act further, the decent thing to do would have been to conduct an inquiry.
'It would have been the proper thing to do, given that she has been in the sport for only over a month, with an inexperienced committee.'
However, when asked by The Sunday Times if the Gao Ning incident had prompted the decision to let Mr Lee go, Ms Lee said no. The MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC added that since the association would be having a new CEO and technical director, selection of the team manager would be left to them.
She also revealed that Mr Liu's future at the STTA would be left up to a 'coaching committee'.
Yesterday, media reports quoted Ms Lee as saying that the decision to let Mr Lee go had been made before the Olympics. When asked by The Straits Times to shed more light on this, she declined to comment.
Mr Lee, who is seconded from the Singapore Sports Council, said that no contract had been signed on his term of service with the STTA. It had been assumed that he would carry on after the Olympics.
An official, who asked not to be named, commended Ms Lee for looking out for the players' welfare, but still questioned the wisdom of revealing such a major shake-up so soon after the medal success.
'She is the president and it is her prerogative to make decisions she thinks will benefit the sport,' said the official.
'But surely, she could have waited a week, a few more days even, before dropping this bombshell that the successful team will be disbanded.'
Other officials The Straits Times spoke to also wondered why a decision had to be made so soon about the team manager's future.
Even Singapore National Olympic Council president Teo Chee Hean was unsure about what prompted the chain of events in the last few days.
Said Mr Teo, who is also the Defence Minister, at the Safra Singapore Bay Run and Army Half-Marathon yesterday: 'I don't have possession of all the facts, so I won't be able to say very much about the decision of the president of the table tennis association.
'I assume that she has the facts of the situation to make the decision that she did.'
