A Million Ringgit Carrot
15th Aug - I remember seeing this cartoon by the famous cartoonist Lat (now a Dato’) It shows a man with his 2 sons, each holding a badminton racket, passing by a Proton car showroom. The car salesman invited him in to have a look at the Proton car. The man replied, “it’s ok, my sons are taking up badminton.”
The joke was at that time, badminton players who won any tournament were given a Proton car. Then later on they were also given a condo or house and also a piece of land.
But now, they are lured by a one million Ringgit carrot if they could win a gold medal in the Olympics. The carrot is getting more and more expensive these days. Could be due to the fuel price hike and the food price hike.
And looks like our shuttler Lee Chong Wei is the only hope for a medal and is not far from being a millionaire (or is he a millionaire already?) And probably a datukship to go with it. WILL HE MAKE IT?
Our Best Hope ( The Sun)
UPDATED: 12.15am 16th Aug - So Lee Chong Wei made it to the final by beating South Korean Lee Hyun-il. He will meet China’s Lin Dan for gold, and if he wins he will be a millionaire. Well, even if he loses, he will still have 300K. But of course there is a vast difference. 700K diference!!! Let hope that he will make us proud by bagging the first Olympics’ gold ever for Malaysia.
UPDATED: 1.18am 18th Aug - It’s so sad for Malaysia’s No 1 shuttler Lee Chong Wei. Looks like the gold medal has eluded Malaysia again. I’m not a badminton fan and for that matter I would say I know very little about the game. But then from what I saw in the match between CW Lee and Lin Dan, Chong Wei was not much of a match to Lin Dan. I can see that Chong Wei made a lot of mistakes that cost him precious points. Chong Wei looks nervous.
I was at a mamak stall and the place was packed with people watching the match. Many just parked their bikes or cars on the roadside and stand there watching. It would be such a wonderful atmosphere if Chong Wei were to win the gold medal. Many left feeling disappointed and sad.
Anyway, I hope Chong Wei would lift his head high and be proud that he got the silver medal. He gave his best. We are proud of you, Lee Chong Wei. You tried and you did well.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Not forgetting a 22 young archer too!
Hope both will make Malaysians proud:)
August 18th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
After watching the match with China, did anyone notice that the Chinese player was not the least bit exhausted but Chong Wei was out of breath? This is because apart from practising the game itself, the Chinese also pays a lot of attention on Qi-gong which trains them to have good stamina and sufficient breath!!!!!!