National pride

China A vs China B (Singapore)Because the remote control was too far away, Naomi and I found ourselves watching the semi-final of the women’s table-tennis competition at the Asian Games on Channel 5, played between Singapore and North Korea.

It made for pretty good viewing, and we became mindlessly engrossed in the first match until Naomi asked me, ‘who’s that yelling, and what’s she yelling?’.

I said I didn’t know what the player was yelling, and because I didn’t know what the yelling was, it had to be the North Korean player that was yelling.

Turned out it was the Singaporean player that was yelling something at every point she won, and I hadn’t recognised what she was yelling probably because the Singaporean player, Sun Beibei, like almost every teammate of hers, hails from the People’s Republic of China, and was probably yelling something that People’s Republic Chinese yell when they play table-tennis.

The Singaporeans defeated the North Koreans, who, with their dowdy haircuts, were the defending champions of this competition. The semi-final was exciting enough for us to tune in to tonight’s gold medal match against the People’s Republic of China. A match, which I’m sure more than a few have quipped to be ‘China A versus China B’.

China B lost, of course.

(OK, I have just been scolded for revealing the scores when Naomi’s still watching the match on tv).

iTunes is playing an illegal copy of China from the album “Little Earthquakes” by Tori Amos of which I have the original CD.

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10 responses to “National pride”

  1. Lincoln Avatar

    And I was about to watch it.. chay

  2. Lincoln Avatar

    And I was about to watch it.. chay

  3. sin Avatar

    as a past (but unpro) table tennis player, I thought I should clarify the “yelling something that People’s Republic Chinese yell when they play table-tennis” part..well, it’s not something only the Chinese will do. It’s a sort of relief for each player, especially when the pressure is rising during the game and it varies, really. It can be just a shriek, a one-word-syllable-scream to boost your own morale. 😉

  4. sin Avatar

    as a past (but unpro) table tennis player, I thought I should clarify the “yelling something that People’s Republic Chinese yell when they play table-tennis” part..well, it’s not something only the Chinese will do. It’s a sort of relief for each player, especially when the pressure is rising during the game and it varies, really. It can be just a shriek, a one-word-syllable-scream to boost your own morale. 😉

  5. phreak Avatar
    phreak

    well i thought it was china B too but guess what, there was 01x true-blue singaporean in it…

  6. phreak Avatar
    phreak

    well i thought it was china B too but guess what, there was 01x true-blue singaporean in it…

  7. Brendyn Lim Avatar
    Brendyn Lim

    So who is a REAL Singaporean… NO IMPORTS PLEASE. Who is the REAL (original) Singapore in the team???

  8. Brendyn Lim Avatar
    Brendyn Lim

    So who is a REAL Singaporean… NO IMPORTS PLEASE. Who is the REAL (original) Singapore in the team???

  9. uncle sha Avatar

    Brendyn you beat me to it

    we need foreign imports lei, coz the locals CMI

  10. uncle sha Avatar

    Brendyn you beat me to it

    we need foreign imports lei, coz the locals CMI

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