SO Lee Chong Wei failed to capture a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Winning and losing are part of the game. He can't be blamed for it.

However, I think we would have secured a gold if squash had been an Olympic sport. Our Datuk Nicol David is not only the world No. 1 but also one of the best players in the world.

If racket games like table tennis, lawn tennis and badminton can find their way into the Olympics, I fail to understand why squash has been left out.

Squash is a universal sport, which requires mental and physical fitness.

There are not many games where you have to train as vigorously as in squash.
Squash is played in more than 75 countries with 125 national bodies affiliated to the World Squash Federation but, yet, it has no place in the Olympics.

One wonders how baseball and softball, games played in far fewer countries than squash, could have worked their way into the Olympics schedule before the decision to bump them out of the 2012 Games was made in 2005.

Perhaps squash was denied entry into the Olympics by the Americans in retaliation for the vote on baseball and softball at the International Olym-pic Council.

The Olympics is the Mount Everest of sport. It is the dream of every athlete to climb its peak, so to speak.

To share the prestige of standing shoulder to shoulder with the best in sport at the Olympics is a dream come true for any athlete. So, too, for Nicol and our country.

The nearest she got to the Games was when we voted for her to be one of the torch-bearers in the Athens Olympics.

She has won all the medals and trophies in squash the world had to offer. Winning an Olympic gold would say it all, for her and for the country.

Malaysia should lobby IOC members to get the green light for squash in the 2012 Games.

DR A. SOORIANSeremban

Easy to talk

I FIND it annoying when people like Lt-Col (R) Rizal Abdullah of Taiping say what Lee Chong Wei should or should not have done at the Beijing Olympics.

It's easy for people watching the game to tell a player what he should have done.

Do you think Lee doesn't know this?

Rizal also said that he played like a schoolboy, and that he believes the best way to play is the attacking game.

Well, pardon me, but the coach didn't think so.

Many Malaysians are supportive of Lee, and I think that support is deserved.

It's easy to say he played badly, but let's not forget how amazingly well he played to reach the final.

At the end of the day, he brought home a silver medal and made Malaysia proud.

T.A.J.Taiping

Proud moment

IT was disappointing to watch Lee Chong Wei play against China's Lin Dan in the badminton finals of the Beijing Olympics.

Nevertheless, it was also a proud moment for the nation because Lee was playing under tremendous pressure as he was not only playing against the world No. 1 but also against a partisan crowd.

I am sure that Lee did his best. So I was happy to see him getting a hero's welcome at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

It was good to see that the nation had not deserted him. The show of support indicates that we are mature enough to accept defeat graciously when one has given his best.

I felt even prouder when the prime minister and his deputy granted him an audience at Parliament House.

It was touching to see Lee grinning from ear to ear with all the attention given to him.

I would not be doing justice if I did not shower some praise on his coach, Misbun Sidek.

My four children, who watched all of Lee's matches, were full of praise at the cool and relaxed attitude of Misbun. He has proven to the nation that even a local coach can bring success if we put our heart and soul into it.

I was never really fond of Misbun as a player because of his antics.

But on Sunday, he proved that we do not need to depend on foreign coaches who demand high salaries.

JAYARAJ K.G.S. Sitiawan

Disappointing

LIKE many Malaysians, I was hoping that Lee Chong Wei would bring home an Olympic gold medal for badminton. After all, he had given us many reasons to believe he could do it. His only setback would be a lack of mental toughness but I thought that problem had been taken care of.

Unfortunately, we had to witness Lee's embarrassing defeat in Beijing. I'm not disappointed that Lee lost to Lin Dan. But I am disappointed at the way he lost to Lin. It makes me even more upset to find out that Lee was given a hero's welcome home by Malaysians.

What is there to celebrate? The silver medal is the least that he should deliver. Malaysia has spent taxpayers' money to fund him and the badminton team to bring home a gold, not a silver. Are we so desperate that even losing should be a reason for us to celebrate?

If we do not put a stop to this "loser" mentality, Malaysian sports will never produce another world champion or an Olympic gold medallist.

I hope this experience will open the eyes and minds of all to the fact that winning starts with having a winning mindset. There is no point in toasting the second best and treating them as heroes.

Lee should be given a pat on the back for a job done but not a hero's welcome.

Y.A.K. Kuala Lumpur