Coach Liu: Lee Bee Wah did not retain me
All it took was for one phone call to ruin a contract.
Two days ago, Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) President, Lee Bee Wah had said in a media statement that she had tried to retain national table tennis head coach Liu Guodong.
However, in a new twist of events, Liu told Lianhe Wanbao that Lee did no such thing.
Previously, The Straits Times reported that Liu turned down a new two-year deal offered by the STTA, calling the deal "insulting and insincere."
The 34-year-old had also told Lianhe Wanbao that not only did he not get a salary equivalent to that of a "consultant", there were also discrepancies in the work policy that the STTA had set out for him.
According to sources, Liu was drawing a salary of about US$4,000 before the Olympic success, reported The New Paper.
Under the new contract, it is believed that the STTA had given Liu a pay rise of between US$1,200 and US$1,600, but he was not satisfied, continued the same report.
As such, he made a call to Lee on Saturday to see if there was any room for discussion.
He told Wanbao: "I called (STTA president) to ask if the contract can still be changed, but she replied saying that the contract details were no different from what we had discussed before and that it was up to me to decide if I wanted to continue on with the contract."
After hearing Lee's words, Liu then replied: "If it's like this, I won't sign the contract."
He continued telling Wanbao: "I felt that her attitude and tone weren't very good...it didn't come across like she had any intention of retaining me. So I didn't see the point of talking further, after all this (referring to phone call with Lee) was a very unpleasant conversation."
When asked about his feelings towards working together with Lee, Liu said: "I feel that she is a person who does not understand table tennis. I have nothing else to say."
Lee had previously said in a media statement: "I tried to persuade him to stay, but have to respect his wishes.
"I thank him for his great work at Beijing 2008 and wish him well in his future endeavours.
All it took was for one phone call to ruin a contract.
Two days ago, Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) President, Lee Bee Wah had said in a media statement that she had tried to retain national table tennis head coach Liu Guodong.
However, in a new twist of events, Liu told Lianhe Wanbao that Lee did no such thing.
Previously, The Straits Times reported that Liu turned down a new two-year deal offered by the STTA, calling the deal "insulting and insincere."
The 34-year-old had also told Lianhe Wanbao that not only did he not get a salary equivalent to that of a "consultant", there were also discrepancies in the work policy that the STTA had set out for him.
According to sources, Liu was drawing a salary of about US$4,000 before the Olympic success, reported The New Paper.
Under the new contract, it is believed that the STTA had given Liu a pay rise of between US$1,200 and US$1,600, but he was not satisfied, continued the same report.
As such, he made a call to Lee on Saturday to see if there was any room for discussion.
He told Wanbao: "I called (STTA president) to ask if the contract can still be changed, but she replied saying that the contract details were no different from what we had discussed before and that it was up to me to decide if I wanted to continue on with the contract."
After hearing Lee's words, Liu then replied: "If it's like this, I won't sign the contract."
He continued telling Wanbao: "I felt that her attitude and tone weren't very good...it didn't come across like she had any intention of retaining me. So I didn't see the point of talking further, after all this (referring to phone call with Lee) was a very unpleasant conversation."
When asked about his feelings towards working together with Lee, Liu said: "I feel that she is a person who does not understand table tennis. I have nothing else to say."
Lee had previously said in a media statement: "I tried to persuade him to stay, but have to respect his wishes.
"I thank him for his great work at Beijing 2008 and wish him well in his future endeavours.
