// an Olympic Silver for Singapore? //

Though yesterday marked the end of a 48-year medal drought for Singapore, the debate about foreign talent is never-ending.
Perhaps this medal the table-tennis team has won for Singapore would shut the skeptics up, but my guess is that, it would not be for long.
It seems to me that only the country's leaders are excited and joyful about this occasion, as shown by ministers turning up for the matches and PM Lee doing away the live telecast of the National Day Rally (the finals against China was shown instead).
On the other hand, many people in the general population are still sceptical of the win and some may even not feel any joy or happiness.
I can understand those feelings.
Afterall, the ones who represented Singapore are not born and bred here.
However, on the other side of the coin, if the foreign talent policy did not exist, Singapore may have to wait 60, 80 or even another 100 years to win another Olympic medal.
This brings me to the question why is this so.
It's not that we don't have the local talent.
It's simply because we do not develop our homegrown talents.
There is always an opportunity cost to incur when we favour to do one thing over another.
In our society, sadly, the chase for paper and material gains has caused our sporting talents to be under-developed.
No matter how good one is in a sports, the tendency is that one would follow the society's invisble command to take on a 9-5 job, taking sports as a recreation activity.
That shows how practical Singaporeans are.
Exactly how many out there are playing sports as though it's their life?
Therein lies the difference between great athletes and average ones.
In my opinion, if you like sports, you do it for it's own sake.
You don't train for the money.