article taken from sphnewslink - http://newslink.asiaone.com/user/OrderArticleRequest.action?order=&_sourcePage=%2FWEB-INF%2Fjsp%2Fuser%2Fsearch_type_result.jsp&month=08&year=2008&date=25&docLanguage=en&documentId=nica_ST_2008_9793144

Let's move on, says Lee

Section:	Prime - Table Tennis Shocker
By:	PEH SHING HUEI, MARC LIM
Publication:	The Straits Times 25/08/2008
Page:	A5
No. of words:	349

BEIJING: Mum's the word when it came to the controversy. There were no further comments on the future of team manager Antony Lee, who has been released by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA), nor other members of the STTA.

There were also no comments about why she felt the need to decide the fate of Mr Lee so soon after he had helped Singapore win a table tennis women's team silver at the Beijing Olympics.

Instead, STTA president Lee Bee Wah, who is in Beijing, would only talk about her plans for the sport yesterday.

A day after she revealed that team manager Lee's services would no longer be required, and that head coach Liu Guodong could face the chop as well, she declined to say more about the matter.

"What we need now is to let Singaporeans know the STTA's plans for the future. We want to move on," she said.

Top of her list is to realise the full potential of the current crop of national players.

She had told the media earlier that she will have one-on-one meals with the players in the coming weeks, to see how she can help them become even better. She also wants to groom capable successors to the team.

Also in the pipeline is a scholarship for national players, to support the paddlers in pursuing a university degree after retiring from the sport.

But more than the elite squad, the new ping-pong chief – who took over the presidency just last month – wants to broaden the base of table-tennis players in Singapore.

There are plans to introduce the game to children at the kindergarten level. She said that the PAP Community Foundation, which is in charge of the People's Action Party's kindergartens, has given in-principle approval.

An age-group league is also in the works to sustain interest in the sport throughout the year and to engage students regularly. She also wants to set up a business league, where national players can represent companies and improve their marketability.

PEH SHING HUEI and MARC LIM