Sporty citizens

So we won the gold medal for women's table tennis at the 2006 commonwealth games.

But who really won at the women's table tennis? The top competing teams were dominated by players of Asian (and to be more precise, Chinese) decent. Of course, it being the commonwealth games means that besides england, every other country is basically a migrant country with few or no true "locals".

To what extent would a person be considered "from" a country? Or rather, what qualifications would it take for a person to represent the nation that they're representing? Would citizenship be enough?

It's hard to say and the debate's been going for quite some time here. Trouble is, with globalization, everyone's migrating to where-ever they feel that there are greener pastures. It's almost like as if we've gone full circle and have become nomadic again.

We started as hunter gatherers like a billion years ago without any technology and now that we've "arrived" technology-wise, we've become hunter/gatherers again. What is happening to the world? But I digress...

Of course I should be congratulating the winners for a fantastic effort and all the hard work that they've put in. Yet I can't help but keep thinking, would we be here if not for our foreign talent which we've welcomed with open arms?

After all, if she (or they) had remained in her (or their) home country, success might not have come as easily and the rewards that she's(or they've) reaped here so far wouldn't be as lavish had she(or they) remained behind.

Well, whatever the outcome, with Singapore being such a global city, I can only say that I'm proud of our achievements.

Well done Team Singapore!