The Olympics this year so far has been full of upsets, some controversy and a whole lot of great badminton! Below are two Tokyo Olympics Controversies that I have in mind. I will follow this up with a round-up of badminton in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics once we know the medalists. So stay tuned for that! My Predictions for badminton in my previous posts have all gone downhill thanks to unexpected upsets, so I won’t predict any more outcomes!!
Tokyo Olympics Controversies
Access To Games
I’m going to label this as controversial as a British person because BBC has traditionally held the rights to the Olympic Games. They did a great job at ensuring we had access to all the events and providing commentary for the matches we wanted to watch. I’m not sure how it works in other countries but we were lucky enough to enjoy full coverage of the games. And anyone from abroad could use a VPN and access BBC Iplayer for themselves. Basically, it was globally accessible.
Only this year, BBC does not have the rights. Discovery+ does. Now my issue here is that we are still facing a global struggle to fight off the coronavirus – or at least live with it. The Olympics was a time to bring us all together in Sport and create unity between countries. We needed this now more than ever, and even the word “Together” was included in the Olympics motto this year, reflecting this sentiment.
Pay To Watch
So for Discovery+ to put the Olympics basically behind a paywall seems not only disingenuous but also hypocritical of the Olympic Committee. The Olympics happens once every four years. It brings community spirit, through home pride, and bringing countries together. I believe the Olympics should be accessible to all people. Especially this year’s edition of the games.
At the end of the day, we know why the rights were granted to Discovery+. Money. But I’m not asking something for nothing. We British, we pay a TV license fee which goes to BBC content & services. Surely they should have fought harder for the Olympics games. I am really disappointed with the overall coverage. I think many who paid the subscription fee have also been disappointed in live streams. They have suffered due to technical errors and lack of commentary on some of the events they did want to watch.
From a badminton point of view, I could only watch Badminton initially if team GB were playing. And finding that in itself was difficult as the sports were not always separated clearly. Often badminton would sit in the middle of a number of other sports. Honestly, with badminton seen as having lower popularity in the UK – the BBC probably can’t afford to give the event the same airtime as the other “bigger” sports.
Politics
I hate it when politics comes into sport. They should be completely separate. Whatever happens outside the Olympics is their respective government’s issue. But do not push your agenda in the Olympics or any other sporting event for that matter. Government’s at most should show full support for the athletes that represent their country.
So when Ng Ka Long took to the court wearing black in his group stage match, he probably didn’t think anything of it. The fact is, he’s playing an Olympics Games, didn’t have a sponsor, so he wore what he felt comfortable in. I think anyone would have done the same. Some people were curious when he took to the court in a plain black T-Shirt. Understandable as badminton players are usually in some over-designed, colourful and branded clothing. And he even explained he just wanted to wear something comfortable. And didn’t have time to focus on the aesthetics of the outfit. The IOC also confirmed his outfit met the requirements.
But idiots on the internet and perhaps an even bigger idiot Nicholas Muk (teacher/politician), were outraged that he would wear black without the Hong Kong Symbol. This was the colour adopted by the 2019 protesters and therefore has political affiliations with pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong. So what was initially an innocent outfit choice, attracted criticism from the aforementioned idiots who claimed that he did not want to represent Hong Kong.
Now to cover my own back, I’m not sure that the black had anything to do with the comments specifically. But Nicholas Muk is well known as Pro-Beijing. He also included a hashtag that read: “Wearing a black shirt and black pants to compete is laughable.” So make of it what you will. But if he is trying to push a political agenda to suck up to the powers of Beijing, it’s greatly backfired.
In Support Of Ng Ka Long
First of all, if you want to criticise your own athlete just because they didn’t have time to arrange their own clothing due to the pressures and time constraints of competing, you’re even less representative and supportive of Hong Kong than you claim Ng Ka Long to be.
Ng Ka Long is currently without sponsorship and doing the best he can in the circumstances. He shares a message on Instagram below, thanking people for their support and saying he will be back, but it will take some time.
Secondly, yes Ng Ka Long is proud to represent Hong Kong. He has never publically denounced Hong Kong and represents them all year round at tournaments. Just because the emblem is missing from his jersey does not mean he was actively rejecting the idea of representing his country. Don’t jump to conclusions just because you’re offended. If people are curious, just ask but don’t assume!
Lastly, as much as these athletes love representing their country, remember they are also individuals with their own dreams. A gold medal for Ng Ka Long is as much a gold medal for himself as well as his country. And for people such as internet lowlifes and Nicholas Mak to publically out him as some kind of villain not only puts additional pressure on him as an athlete but affects his mental game and creates unnecessary stress. How can you claim to be supportive of your athletes while hampering their performance? Their individual goals are to the benefit of their country.
Backfired
Luckily, many common-sense people spoke up against the likes of Nicholas Mak. So much so that he was forced to shut down his Facebook account. Although one article says that he subsequently apologised, this is what they quoted:
“I was supporting the Hong Kong Badminton team in front of my television that day, and to my surprise, I saw Mr Ng, different from other Hong Kong athletes, wore a jersey without the SAR emblem, which is surprising. It is a very rare occasion to see the Hong Kong team competing on the Olympic stage, and show the world our Lion Rock Spirit, therefore I was too emotional and failed to weigh my words.”
I did not see the word sorry or anything remotely similar to an apology. And specifically did not mention Ng Ka Long personally. Ng Ka Long wants to put this saga behind him. He claims that the reason he lost was due to his own performance and not the issues surrounding his jersey. It would be easy to see for any athlete or any person that the additional worry of this pointless controversy would have affected his game.
Unfortunately, his loss to Kevin Cordon means his Olympics is over. On paper, Ng Ka Long was the better player. But let’s not take anything away from Kevin, what a fantastic achievement for him. But I can’t help but think, “what if?”
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