It
is August again, our National Month when we will celebrate our National Day. And
there is even more reason to celebrate as we welcome back our National Team
from the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, UK.
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Poster for the Badminton episode of
We were Champions
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Many
of our family members – though separated by distance – were closely connected (by
WhatsApp!) as we watched the live coverage of the games, particularly
badminton, as we supported and cheered on our national heroes.
To
me, every one was already a winner.
As
we celebrate new sports heroes, it is also good to remember the achievements of
our former champions, including that of my Aunty Sylvia who, in a 1997 news
report, was dubbed (and I quote), “the darling of Malaysian badminton.”
Aunty Sylvia was National Women’s
Champion six times until 1980 when she retired from international competitive
sports. For her outstanding achievements, Aunty was voted as Sportswoman of the
Year twice, in 1975 and 1978.
So
let me share with you, the chronology of events…
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Sylvia Ng
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In
a message from my friend with The Iskandarian, the official newspaper of
Iskandar Malaysia, I learnt that Gerard Benedict of Code Computer Design in
Kuala Lumpur had reached their news desk in an attempt to track me down.
Gerard
had stumbled upon a feature published in the My Johor Stories page in The
Iskandarian and was keen to discover more details about my story because he was
planning on making a documentary on this very same subject.
[The
hardcopy issues of The Iskandarian had a page dedicated to My Johor Stories
from 2013 to March 2020.]
It
was June 2020 when I was finally connected with Gerard, the creative driving
force behind the team’s documentary projects, the man who wears multiple hats
in the role of producer, writer and director.
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Aunty Sylvia on her 21st birthday celebration
cutting her birthday cake at porch of No. 154
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In
the course of our conversation, he mentioned that he was currently working on a
Sports documentary, which was proposed to be aired during the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics.
He
went on to say that he just met with Sylvia Ng for an interview and had shot
some scenes at the home of her sister, Polly.
I was
amused because he was pleasantly surprised to discover that Lucy, my mother,
was their eldest sister and Sylvia and Polly were in fact, my aunts.
Visitors
at Aunty Polly’s know that the hall in her home was a virtual gallery of
photographs, mostly of her children and grandchildren who lived abroad.
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A framed-up newspaper cutting that
has a place of pride at Aunty Polly's
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In
the room used by our late grandmother, Aunty Polly had posted my full-page and
centerspread articles with my family stories and photographs, that were published
in The New Straits Times newspapers.
When
Gerard learned that I was the niece of the Ng sisters and writer of those
newspaper articles he saw posted on the “home gallery”, the My Johor Stories
blog offered him another resource to obtain old photographs and information on
the famous badminton family in the South.
When
Gerard looked at my collection of family stories stored in My Johor Stories
(www.peggyloh.com) that shared the Ng family’s passion in badminton, he
discovered more about Aunty Sylvia and the badminton heritage in this family.
In
fact, one of my earliest published stories about growing up in grandfather’s
house located at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng was, Where champions were born
(New Straits Times, Johor Streets, September 2008).
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| The 1997 newspaper cutting... |
When
grandmother celebrated her 100th birthday, I shared a special
feature aptly titled, The Real Champion (The New Sunday Times, May 2012)
to celebrate her eventful life.
Not
only was she a badminton champion in her own right but our grandmother was also
the mother of national and international badminton champions.
These
precious memories are documented in my 2017 MPH Non-Fiction Bestseller, My
Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage.
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Aunty Sylvia featured with her family
when she was expecting her second son
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For
Father’s Day in 2013, Forever Fathers (NST Streets Johor, June 2013), a
story on our grandfather, Ng Ngoh Tee, was published in his memory.
While
staying in grandfather’s house as a school-going child, I was aware of the
badminton training that went on almost every evening on the badminton court in
our compound.
But
I was not yet fully aware of how well Aunty Sylvia excelled in her game.
At
that time, I only treasured the souvenirs she brought me when she returned from
tournaments that were held abroad.
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Nona magazine featured Aunty Sylvia
with her family at home
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These
included the 1969 South East Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games held in Rangoon,
Myanmar, the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, and from her 1971 World
Tour that covered Russia, China for friendly games and also to England for the
Uber-Cup and All-England tournaments.
In
fact, I did not know much about the family’s link to the late great Wong Peng
Soon until 2015 when a local film-making company contacted me because they read
my family stories stored in My Johor Stories.
They
were making a documentary that featured the Malayan badminton team who, against
all odds, won the Thomas Cup in the inaugural games in 1949 and secured a
prestigious place in badminton history.
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Family photo captured on the badminton
court at No. 154; Sylvia is standing Far Left
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Wong,
grandmother’s cousin, was among the team members who represented Malaya in the
inaugural Thomas Cup tournament held in Preston, England, and was recognized as
one of the greatest Singles badminton players in the early post-war period.
Just
as Gerard did, these film-makers (also based in Kuala Lumpur) tracked me down
for more information about Wong Peng Soon because they read that our
grandfather – four-time Johor state badminton champion – was Wong’s trainer.
Grandfather
had passed on in 1980 but the one who had trained alongside Wong was mum’s
eldest brother, Uncle Roland, a friend and contemporary of the late Eddy
Choong.
Uncle
had a memory like the proverbial elephant because he could recall full names of
the badminton players, the specific tournaments and the years these games were held,
and even – wait for it – their game scores.
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Lighting the cauldron at the SEA Games 1989
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As
I listened in while the interview with Uncle was being recorded, I heard valuable
nuggets of information, otherwise still unknown to me.
Later
on (after it was completed), Uncle and his wife had the privilege to watch a
preview of, The Forgotten Men of 1949, a documentary which was produced
for the Busan International Film Festival.
The
valuable details that Uncle shared about our link to the Wong family in Johor,
was documented in, Family Ties, a story under Memories in my book
sequel, My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People.
To
commemorate International Women’s Day in 2018, I published a My Johor Stories Exclusive,
Celebrating Women: Our very own Sylvia Ng, a piece that marked the
launch of a video by BFM Radio that featured an interview with Aunty Sylvia.
Fast-forward
to June 2020 when Gerard told me about his project to produce a series of
sports documentaries planned to be aired on local television during the Tokyo
Olympics 2020.
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Aunty Sylvia still plays badminton
for exercise
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For
this documentary project, he and his team had proceeded with research, met with
people and conducted interviews with Malaysian sports celebrities to produce
the series called, We were Champions.
When
the Tokyo Olympics was delayed until 2021 due to the global pandemic, it was
also an opportunity for Gerard and his team to fine-tune the documentary series
and ready it to be aired later.
When
Tokyo 2020 was confirmed to happen in July 2021, Gerard was delighted to share
more updates about the sports documentary project with me.
He
explained that Episode Six for Badminton will feature two badminton champions, Rosalind
Singha Ang and Sylvia Ng, with interviews, old photographs, newspaper cuttings
and footage from archive sports newsreels.
It
was interesting that in the 1973 SEAP Games, Aunty Sylvia played Women’s
Singles against Rosalind Singha Ang as an opponent and also partnered with her
for the Women’s Doubles to win Gold in both games.
The
formidable Women’s Doubles pair of Rosalind-Sylvia continued to score wins for
the nation when they participated in subsequent tournaments like the 1974
Commonwealth Games held in Christchurch, New Zealand, the 1975 SEAP Games in
Bangkok, Thailand and the first SEA Games in 1977 held in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Then
when Gerard asked if I would like to have a sneak peek of the Badminton episode,
my reply was of course, “Yes, please!”
A
few days later, I received the link to watch an exclusive preview of this
episode and I had the pleasure to share it with my mother.
We
laughed at some of Gerard’s choices of old photographs picked to portray the Ng
family. One in particular of the badminton court at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng, showed
cousin Catherine skillfully kicking a capteh bulu ayam while two others
looked on.
This
scene was typical of how we, the youngsters, were allowed to play on the court
in the evenings before serious badminton training started.
We
also saw a favourite studio shot of the entire Ng family with 11 children – one
which I also used with my story, Painful visits to the photo studio –
when Aunty Sylvia was a toddler and given a plastic toy fish to coax a smile
out from her.
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Family photo captured on the badminton
court at No. 154 with the older grandchildren
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I
laughed even louder when we saw another family photo captured to a backdrop of
the badminton court. This family shot included the eldest daughter-in-law and
two sons-in-law with the children of our grandparents’ oldest three children,
Roland, Lucy and Lily.
My
sisters and I were also in this shot, seated on the court Far Right in the
front row. It was easy to identify me among the three: That restless girl who
was scratching an itch in her ear…
Even
though this episode of the documentary was still in draft-form, I could
anticipate a tastefully produced final version where each of the champions
interviewed, shared their thoughts and reflections in a comfortable
conversation.
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Sylvia Ng with her medals
Commonwealth Games
Edmonton, Canada, 1978
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Clearly,
a great deal of work went into the making of this series of documentaries. Thanks
Gerard, for the privilege to preview this episode and for giving photo credit
to My Johor Stories.
To
commemorate National Day on Aug 31, let us take a walk down Sports Memory Lane
with the documentary series, We were Champions, slated to air on RTM’s Sukan
Channel at 10.30pm from August 25 to 30.
Repeat
telecasts are scheduled on the same channel, at 8.30pm from September 11 to 16.
Please
note that the Badminton episode will be telecast at 10.30pm on August 30 with
the repeat telecast at 8.30pm on September 16.
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan and Selamat Hari Merdeka 2022, to
fellow Malaysians.
For
more info about Code Computer Design, check out their corporate profile at:
www.codeproductions.yolasite.com
P.
S. My books, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage
and My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, are
available from MPH bookstores nationwide and online from mphonline.com
Look
out for the soon release of Book Three, My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor,
Then and Now, that will complete the trilogy of My Johor Stories. Don’t
miss my recollections on Growing Up in Grandfather’s House and Badminton
Glory Days.
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