On the flip side, our women's table tennis team consists virtually of foreign-born talent and some have labelled the squad as 'China Team B'. This gives our local-born athletes a very limited chance to play for Singapore.

A vicious circle may thus result. Our budding local athletes may be less motivated because of the slim chances of being selected. This will contradict our calls to encourage young children to take up sports. Consquently, we will have an even smaller pool of promising local athletes. We will have to import even more foreign talent and the circle goes on.

I hope not to see the day when the entire team Singapore is made up of foreign talent. Granted, our chances of victory may be reduced if we were to introduce a cap on foreign sports talent. But, as the cliche goes, it's the participation and not the results that matter.

I am sure Singaporeans will be as proud of local athletes who do not win but who have given their best. Furthermore, sporting success or the lack of it does not directly affect our economy, unlike other fields, like biotechnology.

Previously, we had local sporting heroes such as soccer star Fandi Ahmad and swimmer Joscelin Yeo. Now, I am struggling to pick out household names from our current crop. The closest I can think of is world champion bowler Remy Ong.

But, with due respect to Remy, he does not have the same iconic status as Fandi and Joscelin in the hearts of Singaporeans. What is further interesting to note is that there is currently no foreign talent in Singapore bowling.

Calvin Ng

FORUM NOTE: The national associations of bowling and sailing share the same policy of selecting and grooming Singapore-born athletes only.

SWIMMERS: THE RIGHT MIX

'The women's swim team, with Tao Li at the helm, is a prime example of how the foreign talent scheme should work.'

TABLE TENNIS: THE WRONG COMBO

'Our women's table tennis team consists virtually of foreign-born talent and some have labelled the squad as 'China Team B'.'