More beautiful moments

More beautiful shots taken and traditional games continued to be competed at the games with one of them known as Sepak Takraw, a game which athletes got to kick a ball over the net like volleyball except that hands are not allowed and the material of the ball is different. A close shot of the grace of diving was also shown and a clearer picture of how the medal of the games is like is also featured.

Singapore's Momammed Zahari bin Karim (front) hits the ball during the Vietnam - Singapore Sepak Takraw match. - AFP Photo

Malaysia's Cheong Jun Hong and Pandelela Rinong clinch Gold in the Women's Synchronized 10m Platform Final. - AFP Photo

Malaysia's Lim Wen Chean displays her three gold medals and one silver medal at the end of the Rhythmic Gymnastics events. - AFP Photo

Beautiful moments at the games

These are some beautiful moments at the games where one can see the concentration of the athletes and the grace of some of them at the events such as gymnastic and diving. They have really displayed their posture nicely at the games.

With golden fireworks, music and traditional Thai dancing, the biennial event drawing 11 countries closed its curtain on 15 December. - AFP Photo

Indonesia's Husni Uba (L) tries, and fails to block Thailand's Parbchompoo Rawat in the Sepak Takraw Final, allowing Thailand to clinch Gold. - AFP Photo

Singapore's Tabitha Tay (above) & her identical twin both won Gold in the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around. - AFP Photo

Sheila Perez of the Philippines scores 315.75 points to win the Women's 3m Springboard Dives Final. - AFP Photo

Orlando Tacuvan (R) of the Philippines and Myanmar's Yan Naung Soe fight in the Feather 57kg Men's Semi-final. - AFP Photo

Success comes not that easy

Success for Singapore in the sea games is a mission not easy to accomplish but they have indeed always show that they can managed to achieve it. 43 Golds in the sea games is a good performance shown by Team Singapore although they did not meet the targeted golds of 45, they still showed improvement from the last games.

Their strong sports table tennis and swimming as usual has proved themselves once again to be the strongest in the region. Especially for table tennis they have won all seven golds in the games. For swimming although previous gold medalists such as swimming queen of the region Josceline Yeo has retired, new swimmers managed to produce good results at the pool making the nation still reigning the sport. Tao Li, Singapore most potential swimmer at the current moment did not failed the nation's expectations by winning four golds at the games.

However at the next games, some sports such as sailing will not be included and sailing is one of the sports that gave Singapore a number of golds. This would mean that it is time for Singapore to concentrate on other sports that did not managed to win golds at the games.

It is good no doubt to concentrate on sports that produced the golds but if Singapore wants to increase their ranking in the medal tally table, the golds from the few good sports is not going to do the job. Such as in the case like some sports, golds expected were not won and these golds could be compensated by other sports.

Still, we must always not neglect the sports that have always been consistent in giving our golds and we celebrate and salute them for their on-going wonderful performance that enable our dreams to come true.

Singapore's Quah Ting Wen, Tao Li, Shana Lim and Nicolette Teo set a new Games record in the 4x100 medley relay team event.




Singapore's table tennis stars show off their spoils after a successful week. - TODAY photo

An overview of sea games 2007

The 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games ended 15 December with hosts Thailand top at the medal tally table with 183 golds, Malaysia clinched 68 golds to rank second and Vietnam came in third with 64 golds. I would seriously think that Vietnam has been progressing so quickly to be third and it is indeed an incredible feat to do so.

Indonesia was placed fourth with 56 golds and Singapore took home a haul of 43 golds at fifth place. It was Singapore's best performance yet at the SEA Games with one more gold medal than the showing in the Philippines two years ago. Meanwhile, former champions Philippines were at sixth place.

There were more than 6,500 athletes and over 2,000 officials from Brunei, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam at this year's sea games.

The next 2009 sea games will be held at Laos. Looking forward to it and will Singapore continue to improve its number of golds? It is also time for Singapore to develop on other sports to get more golds at the same time maintaining the sports that has been delivering the golds.

More on the Sea games

The host has so far won more than 100 Gold medals and some records has also been broken at this year's games. Singapore has pretty well at the start winning some golds in the shooting which was not expected on their Gold list. Other sports event like sailing, table tennis and swimming has usual done well producing the golds for Singapore. Although the so called best swimmer at the Sea games, the golden girl of Singapore who has helped won 9 gold at one time has retired from the scene, gladly Singapore still has Tao Li to help Singapore to rein in the pools.

Sea Games 2007

SEA Games has been commencing for the past few days and this year's host is Thailand. Sea Games which stands for Southeast Asia Games is competed among the countries in the region in sports which most of them are also Olympic sports. At each games, the host can choose to include whichever sport they want to as well. For this year, they have included Muay Thai in it which is founded by Thailand.

Olympic Kung Fu competition is on but shaolin monks are not to be in it

Shaolin Wu-Shu Warriors perform with swords during a Chinese State Circus rehearsal in London, April 4, 2007. The circus will run from April 5-15. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Despite the announcement that Wushu, known in the West as kung fu, would be showcased alongside the Beijing Olympics, Shaolin Temple, China's most renowned home of martial arts, has said its monks will not be taking part.

Shaolin Temple itself would not send people to take part in the2008 Beijing Olympic Wushu competition because Chinese wushu belong to competitive sports, whereas Shaolin wushu belongs to traditional martial arts. The two have different natures, standards and connotations. In ancient times, people practiced Shaolin wushu to resist outsiders, not for competitive purposes.

Shaolin Wu-Shu Warriors perform with swords during a Chinese State Circus rehearsal in London, April 4, 2007. The circus will run from April 5-15. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

But still Shaolin will send representatives for the opening ceremony if they have received an invitation letter. Shaolin monks kung fu skills are really impressive as depicted not only in the movies but displayed at the stage in grand concert halls when they show the power of breaking cements and agility in using weapons.

Kungfu gets the Olympic ticket

Chinese Olympic Committee Vice-President Zhang Faqiang has officially confirmed that wushu will be featured at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the China News Service reported yesterday. But Wushu or kungfu, will neither be a medal sport nor a mere demonstration. Instead, the event featuring it will be named the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Wushu Competition.

The event won't share the demonstration status that taekwondo enjoyed at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and is not going to be included as an official sport for the Beijing Games. But its debut has an extremely important significance for its entry to become a competitive event one day.

For those who like Wushu or want to know more about it, perhaps you can catch the best of them in the Olympic stadium next year