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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Jan 4, 2009
The Sunday Profile: Liu Guodong
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>He came, he won, he left - without fanfare
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>But Liu Guodong, who coached the Singapore women's table tennis team to an Olympic silver medal at Beijing 2008, prefers it that way - he dislikes goodbyes </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Terrence Voon
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Liu Guodong waving goodbye at the Budget Terminal departure gate to Singapore coaches Zhang Yong and Guan Liang - the only ones who saw him off. -- ST PHOTOS: SHAHRIYA YAHAYA
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->It was New Year's Eve and Liu Guodong, the man who led Singapore to its first Olympic medal in 48 years, needed a ride urgently.
There were no cabs in sight at the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) headquarters in Toa Payoh and the phone lines to the taxi companies were jammed.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>FACTFILE
Name: Liu Guodong
Birthdate: April 17, 1974
No grudges
'I hold no grudges against anyone. I have given Singapore an Olympic medal, the happiest moment of my life so far. There is nothing to regret.'
LIU GUODONG, on his Singapore stint
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Unless he reached the airport quickly, he could miss his flight to Shenzhen, where his wife was waiting to usher in the New Year with him.
In desperation, he dialled for help from a most unlikely source.
'Who says journalists don't have a heart?' he joked, as he hopped into my car 15 minutes later.
It was a rare moment of mirth from a man whose reputation as the Republic's table tennis head coach was hewn from the same iron fist he wielded in training.
He seldom smiled in public and on most days, his demeanour was as cold as a table tennis bat left overnight in the freezer.
But this was no ordinary day for Liu. It was his final day in office.
His contract with the STTA had just expired, and he was heading home to China.
There was no fanfare, no big send-off party, and most definitely no tears for the 34-year-old - only a simple lunch attended by a few STTA officials. He liked it that way.
'I don't like goodbyes,' he confessed. 'When I came here three years ago, no one made any fuss. It's apt that I'm leaving the same way I arrived.'
Even Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei, two-thirds of the historic trio who smashed and volleyed their way to a silver medal for Singapore at the Beijing Olympics last August, did not get a personal farewell from him.
Yet, for someone who eschews dramatics, Liu certainly had a taste for controversy during the last six months of his reign.
First, there was his high-profile criticism of woman paddler Wang Yuegu's attitude in the lead-up to the Olympics.
Then, there was his role in the blunder that led to the absence of a coach for Gao Ning - and his subsequent exit - in the men's singles event in Beijing.
The Gao debacle resulted in Liu's public vilification by STTA president Lee Bee Wah, though the issue was later resolved.
But when a new contract was put on the table, he attacked the association, saying the salary offer of $6,300 a month was 'insulting' and 'insincere'. His monthly salary then was $4,500.
In the end, the contract was left unsigned. Instead, he penned another one earlier this week, to take charge of Indonesia's national team.
In an interview a day earlier, I asked him if he had any regrets about how his Singapore tenure had panned out, and if he had anything more to say about the controversial contract. He did not.
'I've accomplished all that I wanted to do here and I hold no grudges against anyone,' he said.
'I have given Singapore an Olympic medal, the happiest moment of my life so far. There is nothing to regret.'
When prodded as we headed closer to the airport, he frowned - and finally spoke with some candour.
'I think president Lee was ill-advised by some people around her,' he said. 'There were people who didn't want me to stay, and they conspired to remove me.
'She meant well, but they succeeded in creating friction between us.'
Liu did not want to elaborate further, saying that would make it impossible for him to rejoin the STTA in future.
Yes, he wants to return some day.
Despite the alleged politicking and the ill-will generated by all the bad press, Liu claimed his heart was torn into two equal parts - one for the country of his birth, and the other for the country that allowed him to scale Olympian heights as a table tennis coach.
'Singapore is my home,' he said. 'When people in China see me now, they refer to me as coach Liu, the Singaporean, not coach Liu, the Chinese citizen.'
For the record, Liu is a Singapore permanent resident. But he is a citizen in spirit, he insisted.
During his free time after training, he could be found at his favourite coffeeshop in Toa Payoh Central, washing down a bowl of his favourite dumpling noodles with a bottle of beer.
'The noodles taste even better than China's,' he said.
He also loved shopping at 'pasar malams' (night markets), and even ate durians despite their strong pungent smell.
Should the STTA come calling again, he would 'return in a heartbeat'.
In the meantime, Liu is answering a call of a different kind: fatherhood.
His wife, Ma Ping, is three months pregnant with their first child, whose name he has already picked.
He said: 'If it's a son, I'll call him Liu Ding. If it's a girl, her name will be Liu Ding Ding.'
Naturally, his child will be schooled in the art of table tennis.
Born in Xinxiang, Henan, Liu is the elder of two children, both of whom were coaxed by their father Liu Zhansheng into picking up a bat before they were six.
By the time Liu was 10, he was a junior member of the Henan provincial team. He joined the national squad when he was 18, albeit as a sparring partner.
He switched to coaching soon after, with stints at both Chinese and Japanese clubs.
'My father always told me if you want to be a player, aim to be a world champion,' he said. 'If you can't be one, aim to groom world champions instead.'
He took that advice to heart, along with many of the tough lessons he learnt as a child.
Leaning forward in his seat, he pulled back the mop of hair on his forehead, exposing a whitish, two- centimetre long scar.
'My father hit me on the head with a bat once when I played badly in a junior tournament,' he revealed. 'Some people ask me where I got my discipline and my desire to win. This is my answer.'
Still, his achievements pale in comparison to brother Guoliang's, a double gold-medallist at the Olympics and a former singles world champion.
His brother is now the head coach of China's national team, though Liu insists there is no jealousy on his part.
'I respect what he has done and I am proud of him,' he said.
As with most journalists, I kept my most awkward question for last.
Just as the car pulled into Changi Airport's Budget Terminal, I asked him point-blank if there was any truth to rumours that his relationship with paddler Li extended beyond the professional realm.
His reply was swift and sharp: 'I have never heard these rumours. There is no such thing.'
Soon, it was time to go.
As he tugged his luggage towards the departure gate, he chatted with the only two people who came to see him off: fellow Singapore coaches Guan Liang and Zhang Yong.
There were no tears, not even hugs - only stiff handshakes and a brief wave.
'Look me up the next time you guys are in Beijing,' he said, before vanishing quickly through the gate.
Liu Guodong has no patience for failure - and, it seems, for farewells too. [email protected]
The Sunday Profile: Liu Guodong
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>He came, he won, he left - without fanfare
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>But Liu Guodong, who coached the Singapore women's table tennis team to an Olympic silver medal at Beijing 2008, prefers it that way - he dislikes goodbyes </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Terrence Voon
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Liu Guodong waving goodbye at the Budget Terminal departure gate to Singapore coaches Zhang Yong and Guan Liang - the only ones who saw him off. -- ST PHOTOS: SHAHRIYA YAHAYA
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->It was New Year's Eve and Liu Guodong, the man who led Singapore to its first Olympic medal in 48 years, needed a ride urgently.
There were no cabs in sight at the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) headquarters in Toa Payoh and the phone lines to the taxi companies were jammed.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>FACTFILE
Name: Liu Guodong
Birthdate: April 17, 1974
No grudges
'I hold no grudges against anyone. I have given Singapore an Olympic medal, the happiest moment of my life so far. There is nothing to regret.'
LIU GUODONG, on his Singapore stint
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Unless he reached the airport quickly, he could miss his flight to Shenzhen, where his wife was waiting to usher in the New Year with him.
In desperation, he dialled for help from a most unlikely source.
'Who says journalists don't have a heart?' he joked, as he hopped into my car 15 minutes later.
It was a rare moment of mirth from a man whose reputation as the Republic's table tennis head coach was hewn from the same iron fist he wielded in training.
He seldom smiled in public and on most days, his demeanour was as cold as a table tennis bat left overnight in the freezer.
But this was no ordinary day for Liu. It was his final day in office.
His contract with the STTA had just expired, and he was heading home to China.
There was no fanfare, no big send-off party, and most definitely no tears for the 34-year-old - only a simple lunch attended by a few STTA officials. He liked it that way.
'I don't like goodbyes,' he confessed. 'When I came here three years ago, no one made any fuss. It's apt that I'm leaving the same way I arrived.'
Even Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei, two-thirds of the historic trio who smashed and volleyed their way to a silver medal for Singapore at the Beijing Olympics last August, did not get a personal farewell from him.
Yet, for someone who eschews dramatics, Liu certainly had a taste for controversy during the last six months of his reign.
First, there was his high-profile criticism of woman paddler Wang Yuegu's attitude in the lead-up to the Olympics.
Then, there was his role in the blunder that led to the absence of a coach for Gao Ning - and his subsequent exit - in the men's singles event in Beijing.
The Gao debacle resulted in Liu's public vilification by STTA president Lee Bee Wah, though the issue was later resolved.
But when a new contract was put on the table, he attacked the association, saying the salary offer of $6,300 a month was 'insulting' and 'insincere'. His monthly salary then was $4,500.
In the end, the contract was left unsigned. Instead, he penned another one earlier this week, to take charge of Indonesia's national team.
In an interview a day earlier, I asked him if he had any regrets about how his Singapore tenure had panned out, and if he had anything more to say about the controversial contract. He did not.
'I've accomplished all that I wanted to do here and I hold no grudges against anyone,' he said.
'I have given Singapore an Olympic medal, the happiest moment of my life so far. There is nothing to regret.'
When prodded as we headed closer to the airport, he frowned - and finally spoke with some candour.
'I think president Lee was ill-advised by some people around her,' he said. 'There were people who didn't want me to stay, and they conspired to remove me.
'She meant well, but they succeeded in creating friction between us.'
Liu did not want to elaborate further, saying that would make it impossible for him to rejoin the STTA in future.
Yes, he wants to return some day.
Despite the alleged politicking and the ill-will generated by all the bad press, Liu claimed his heart was torn into two equal parts - one for the country of his birth, and the other for the country that allowed him to scale Olympian heights as a table tennis coach.
'Singapore is my home,' he said. 'When people in China see me now, they refer to me as coach Liu, the Singaporean, not coach Liu, the Chinese citizen.'
For the record, Liu is a Singapore permanent resident. But he is a citizen in spirit, he insisted.
During his free time after training, he could be found at his favourite coffeeshop in Toa Payoh Central, washing down a bowl of his favourite dumpling noodles with a bottle of beer.
'The noodles taste even better than China's,' he said.
He also loved shopping at 'pasar malams' (night markets), and even ate durians despite their strong pungent smell.
Should the STTA come calling again, he would 'return in a heartbeat'.
In the meantime, Liu is answering a call of a different kind: fatherhood.
His wife, Ma Ping, is three months pregnant with their first child, whose name he has already picked.
He said: 'If it's a son, I'll call him Liu Ding. If it's a girl, her name will be Liu Ding Ding.'
Naturally, his child will be schooled in the art of table tennis.
Born in Xinxiang, Henan, Liu is the elder of two children, both of whom were coaxed by their father Liu Zhansheng into picking up a bat before they were six.
By the time Liu was 10, he was a junior member of the Henan provincial team. He joined the national squad when he was 18, albeit as a sparring partner.
He switched to coaching soon after, with stints at both Chinese and Japanese clubs.
'My father always told me if you want to be a player, aim to be a world champion,' he said. 'If you can't be one, aim to groom world champions instead.'
He took that advice to heart, along with many of the tough lessons he learnt as a child.
Leaning forward in his seat, he pulled back the mop of hair on his forehead, exposing a whitish, two- centimetre long scar.
'My father hit me on the head with a bat once when I played badly in a junior tournament,' he revealed. 'Some people ask me where I got my discipline and my desire to win. This is my answer.'
Still, his achievements pale in comparison to brother Guoliang's, a double gold-medallist at the Olympics and a former singles world champion.
His brother is now the head coach of China's national team, though Liu insists there is no jealousy on his part.
'I respect what he has done and I am proud of him,' he said.
As with most journalists, I kept my most awkward question for last.
Just as the car pulled into Changi Airport's Budget Terminal, I asked him point-blank if there was any truth to rumours that his relationship with paddler Li extended beyond the professional realm.
His reply was swift and sharp: 'I have never heard these rumours. There is no such thing.'
Soon, it was time to go.
As he tugged his luggage towards the departure gate, he chatted with the only two people who came to see him off: fellow Singapore coaches Guan Liang and Zhang Yong.
There were no tears, not even hugs - only stiff handshakes and a brief wave.
'Look me up the next time you guys are in Beijing,' he said, before vanishing quickly through the gate.
Liu Guodong has no patience for failure - and, it seems, for farewells too. [email protected]
