When silence is Golden.

No, I wasn't referring to Lee Chong Wei's hit back at National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Zolkples.

oh I just love the headlines!

But rather the comments NSC DG had given to the press on LCW not attending the National Sports Awards on Tuesday.

Below are the extracts of Zolkples' comments in Harian Metro's Betulkah Demam?

“Mungkin hadiah RM20,000 itu tidak bernilai bagi orang yang berpendapatan RM2 atau RM3 juta setahun tapi bagi atlet lain seperti Pandelela Rinong yang pendapatannya kurang daripada RM50,000 setahun, nilai itu cukup besar. Mungkin kita kena naikkan nilai hadiah menjadi RM200,000 baru Chong Wei mahu hadir,” katanya.

“Saya tidak mahu kata sama ada Chong Wei sudah besar kepala atau tidak. Jika Pandelela boleh balik dalam keadaan tidak sepatutnya kerana menganggap anugerah ini penting, terpulanglah kepada anda semua untuk menilainya. Ini bukan kali pertama Chong Wei melakukan perkara begini, suka hati tidak datang ke mana-mana majlis."

Sigh!

Those comments should not have come. To compare with other athletes, not professional. Treat matters on a case to case basis la.

Yet, when LCW - optimistically speaking - comes back from London with the Olympic gold medal these same people will be idolizing him.

Anyway I take my hats off to LCW opening up and giving comments to Mailsport senior reporter Haresh Deol. Not often we see athletes berani buka mulut for negative matters. But when they do, it's more often than not an interesting story to write.

"Bukan saya mula, dia yang mula dulu," said LCW 

"Banyak event saya tak pergi kerana letak event pukul 3, 4 petang. Mana dia boleh blame association. Saya training la bro, macam mana mau pergi. Saya profesional atlit, saya kena train. Kalau saya tak perform atau kalah diorang first untuk hentam saya.

 Much more was said. Read Foul! for the detailed conversation

Btw, I was privy to the conversation between Haresh and Chong Wei.
LCW clearly sounded pist!

I hope more athletes would be daring and speak up against any wrong doings, be it by NSC, their association coach, etc