Tributes

2009 is coming to an end, good riddance many would say. Right now the SEA games is bringing back fond memories.

SEA Games - Water Polo

I could remember vividly the then SEAP Games in 1973. Singapore has a spanking new National Stadium at Kallang and right where I used to live in Toa Payoh, they had just completed new point-block flats which were used to house the athletes and if you walked around the town centre you get to see all the athletes from different countries identifiable by the country emblazoned on their track suits. Our swimmers have always been great - Pat Chan, Junie Sng, Joscelin Yeo and all. Now we have Quah Ting Wen. Each time when they played Majulah Singapura you feel a great sense of pride. There were a great many achievements and no achievements could be had without the sacrifices of the sportsmen and sportswomen and the most amazing feat to me is the traditional of our super winners - the water polo team which has just won their 23rd Gold. Not only that, they always get to win the first Gold of the Games. In other words, they had never lost or not won Gold in every SEA Games. Others are constantly striving to be better and yet we kept plugging away. It is not easy to be in the water polo team simply because at each SEA Games you go into, you have the potential to be the first Singapore water polo team in history not to win Gold. That is the pressure. Kudos to them for the invincibility!! Keep going. However, the same cannot be said when Singapore withdrawn as host nation for the next SEA Games. What a shame!

Michael Owen

Michael Owen seems to have been around a long time and yet he has just turned 30 and gave a timely reminder of his scoring prowess when he hit a hattrick for Mancheser United versus German Champions Wolfsburg. If not for the long list of injuries he suffered he would have long surpassed Bobby Charlton's record of 46 goals for England. As an 18 year old, Owen scored that wonder World Cup goal against Argentina in 1998 that set the soccer alight. Receiving a good pass from David Beckham, Owen wearing no. 20 escaped the attention of two opponents closed by, made an accelerated dash forward.

As he was moving towards goal, you could see Roberto Ayala reading himself sure-footedly with springs on his heels to stop him. Owen was so quick that the moment they were both near, Owen has left Ayala for dead as he went to his right and you could see 2-3 defenders rushing towards him. At that very point,as the goalie too rushed out, Owen unleashed that shot to the top of the far right post. It was delirious!

I hope Fabio Capello is watching his progress as England needs a great finisher to have better hope at the World Cup, someone in the mould of Gary Lineker, Ian Rush and yes Michael Owen. Owen could be used sparingly like David Beckham for the last 20 minutes of a game especially when England is trailing or level and going for a win. The threat to Owen now is Spurs forward Jermaine Defoe who's in the form of his life having put five goals past Wigan a few weeks back and is now leading the scorer's chart. I hope Owen is fit and gets a final selection.

Dean Ashton

Dean Ashton was an up and coming striker playing like a typical and traditional old-fashioned English centre-forward. He was starring for West Ham and was selected for England. Unfortunately, he has been ravaged by injury. After recovery, he suffered a few setbacks. He would have been a very good target man for England as besides the knock downs this guy can really score some great goals unlike Heskey. Sometimes, life is just so cold and cruel. This is why I have always advocated that the rest of us ought to be mostly happy if you can't be happy at all times. If you are having it good, be contented and count your blessings. Few people do this.

These are my tributes to Singapore's water polo team for our 23rd Gold and their relentless pursuits in future, to Michael Owen who's not just such a prolific soccer ace and goal-scorer but also a single handicap in golf, to Dean Ashton, who is still not that well-known and cruelly injured and never able to play pro soccer again. As we look for and towards success, sometimes inevitably there will be failures and sometimes not through your own fault. Ever so often we only read about success stories. While this is good as it provides inspiration, we must remember that perhaps for every success, there were a thousand failures. This will give a balance perspective. The problem is that when you are second, nobody remembers. Who is the second man who landed on the moon? Surely we must fail sometimes in order to succeed the next time. I failed to play golf the way I wanted last month. This month and forward, I intend to succeed. Well, not just golf but many other things.