Much less for asian sporting heroes. The few names I can call to mind are Joseph Schooling, Yip Pin Xiu, Tan Howe Liang and Fandi Ahmad, then the brain goes blank. Worse still when it comes to other sports
Last evening, I managed to catch the biopic of one of our neighbour's greatest sporting stars - Datuk Lee Chong Wei.
Storyline wise, it's a rags to riches story of a boy having dreams of being the best in the world. The film captures the story of the challenges he faced on his journey to becoming a champion.
Technically, as a film it's a done-to-death formula.
Challenging growing up environments? Check
Child prodigy? Check
Wise mentor that opens his door to a whole new world? Check
Finding motivation from within to attain success? Check
It's in the same mold as Goal (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380389/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
The movie could have been better if the pace was faster. That said, the action scenes during the badminton games were well edited, keeping you at the edge of your seat (only if you didn't know the results beforehand)
Yet, in an otherwise exhausted genre, this film stood out for me. I believe this film is something that any Malaysian or Singaporean can relate to. His successes in placing South East Asia, particularly Malaysia on the world map in badminton is something that all of us South East Asians can be proud of. It gives me a renewed sense of hope that our small corner of the globe is also capable of producing talents that can stand tall and against the legions of caucasian, african and latino athletes.
Lee Chong Wei held the world number spot in badminton for a whopping nearly 200 weeks, that's nearly 4 years', thus being the first Malaysian who attained that record. Despite this, there virtually no website who acknowledge shuttlers' achievements, much less an Asian from an insignificant part of the world.
Therefore, this film comes as a big encouragement to fellow South East Asians that we can be better if not as good as the pro-athletes from around the globe. Just ask Joseph Schooling, just ask Yip Pin Xiu - our duo gold medalist in swimming. These are giants not because they had easy, they are giants because of the hard work and sacrifice that were demanded from them and their family to be where they are today. South East Asia... Time to take back the world.
This film, if anything, sums up Edison's quote. "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"
