Sports Documentary: We were Champions

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.

 

Poster for the Badminton episode of
We were Champions

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…

 

Sylvia Ng 

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.

 

Aunty Sylvia on her 21st birthday celebration
cutting her birthday cake at porch of No. 154

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.

 

A framed-up newspaper cutting that
has a place of pride at Aunty Polly's

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).

 

The 1997 newspaper cutting...

When grandmother celebrated her 100^th 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.

 

Aunty Sylvia featured with her family
when she was expecting her second son

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.

 

Nona magazine featured Aunty Sylvia 
with her family at home

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.

 

Family photo captured on the badminton
court at No. 154; Sylvia is standing Far Left

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.

 

Lighting the cauldron at the SEA Games 1989

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.

 

Aunty Sylvia still plays badminton
for exercise

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. 

 

Family photo captured on the badminton
court at No. 154 with the older grandchildren

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.

 

Sylvia Ng with her medals
Commonwealth Games
Edmonton, Canada, 1978

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.