Ng Ming Wei

Ng Ming Wei (Chinese: 黃名緯, born 20 November 1994) is a Singaporean taekwondo athlete. He won a Kyorugi gold medal in the 2017 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships Men's -58 kg, becoming the first Singaporean to do so.[1] He also won a bronze medal in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games Men's Under 54 kg.[2]

Ng Ming Wei
Personal information
BornNovember 20, 1994 (1994-11-20) (age 26)
Singapore
Height176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
Medal record
Men's taekwondo
Representing  Singapore
Southeast Asian Games
2015 Singapore54 kg
2019 Philippines58 kg
ASEAN Championships
2011 Cambodia51 kg
2015 Ho Chi Minh54 kg
2017 Perlis54 kg
Commonwealth Championships
2017 Montreal58 kg
Canada Open
2017 Montreal58 kg
Riga Open
2019 Riga58 kg
Gyeongju Korea Open
2014 Gyeongju58 kg
2016 Gyeongju58 kg

Taekwondo career

During the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, Ng represented Singapore,[3] attaining a bronze medal in the Men's -54 kg.[4][5]

In 2016, Ng represented Singapore in the Asian Taekwondo Olympic Qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics in April 2016, where he lost 7–4 to Sergio Suzuki from Japan in the last sixteen and did not manage to qualify.[6]

During the 2017 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships, Ng won gold in the men's -58 kg category, against competitors from more than 13 countries.[7] Ng also claimed a silver medal in the Canada Open International Taekwondo Championships that same year.[8][9]

In 2019, Ng represented Singapore[10] in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Men's -58 kg Kyorugi category. Ng obtained a silver medal, achieving Singapore's best results for Men's Kyorugi since 1999.[10]

Social media presence

In an effort to attract sponsors to fund his dreams of competing in the 2020 Olympic Games, Ng has been using Instagram to gain media coverage.[11] His Instagram account, featuring videos applying his skills in taekwondo to other sports, such as table tennis, bowling and basketball, has gained a following of 47,500 people on Instagram. His presence in social media was featured on Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times, as one of Singapore's most followed athletes.[12] Ng has also started using China's popular video sharing app Tiktok to "get more young people interested in taekwondo",[13] and to share his love for sports through educational content.[14] His creative videos won him the All-Star Southeast Asia 2019.[15][16] He has been immensely popular on the app, amassing followers to become Singapore's top Tiktok creator having become the first to achieve a whooping 1 million followers.[17]

Obstacles towards Tokyo 2020 Olympics

In an article by Singaporean community news website Mothership.sg, Ng's obstacles in his bid to compete in the 2020 Olympics Games were detailed.[18] He faced challenges by Singapore's national governing body for Taekwondo, Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) who allegedly called his achievements "paltry". Faced with the lack of support by the STF and a lack of a national team coach for more than a year, Ng had to finding his own opportunities, training with the South Korean, Norwegian and Taiwanese national teams. The STF claimed to have approved a sponsorship of S$30 thousand in November 2018 for Ng to take a year away from studies to train full-time. However, STF did not deny that Ng had only been informed of the sponsorship in January 2019 when it was too late to excuse himself from full-time studies. Ng's carding status, which puts him under Sport Singapore's Athlete Support Scheme, had been revoked.[19] The decision was based on various sources such as input by the STF. There was also a delay of his application submission, allegedly due to the STF's failure of a prompt response. Following the articles, other national team athletes have stepped up to share their grievances about their training under STF, including the inadequate coaching and lack of safe avenues for feedback.[20]

In a subsequent article by Lianhe Zaobao,[21] it was further revealed that with the lack of adequate financial support from the STF over the years, Ng's father was resigned to fund Ng's aspirations, spending in excess of S$120 thousand over the years. Furthermore, Ng claimed the STF also tried excusing themselves of fault by claiming that Ng's father could afford it. When confronted, the STF denied this, but was contradicted with a validated transcript, which stated clearly that they did indeed make such a statement.

Resolution

It was reported[22] that international governing body, World Taekwondo (WT) had found evidence of Lim Teong Chin (then General Manager of STF) and Wong Liang Ming (then Secretary General of STF) in violation of several articles in the WT code of ethics. In particular, Wong found to have violated Article 6 (Ban on harassment). WT also place the STF under preliminary suspension as its affiliate,[23] and sought the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) to review the situation.[24] The SNOC suspended the STF as its affiliate as well.[24] Wong and Lim had since left the STF. The SNOC appointed to an interim committee to oversee the STF and implement recommendations made by SNOC and WT to improve the management of the association.[25] On 27 September 2019, Ng announced that matters have been resolved,[22] with a statement on the STF's website that Ng was a "commendable athlete whose athletic performance should not be downplayed".[26]

References
  1. "Ng Ming Wei Taekwondo Data". Taekwondo Data. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  2. "NG Ming Wei ActiveSG Profile". Sport Singapore. Archived from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  3. "SEA Games: 749 Singaporeans chosen to represent nation at upcoming Games". Red Sports. 2015-05-05. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  4. "Taekwondo exponents Sim and Kang get a big kick out of fans". The Straits Times. 2015-06-13. Archived from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  5. "Chelsea ends hosts' 16-year wait for taekwondo winner". The New Paper. 2015-06-13. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  6. "NTU student gears up for this year's SEA games". Nanyang Technological University. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  7. "Best results ever for Commonwealth Championships". Singapore Taekwondo Federation. 2017-09-29. Archived from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  8. "2017 Canada Open Day 3 Official Results" (PDF). Taekwondo Canada. 2017-09-29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  9. "Another successful outing at the Canada Open". Singapore Taekwondo Federation. 2017-10-05. Archived from the original on 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  10. "SEA Games: Ng's silver a ray of hope in dark year for Singapore taekwondo". The Straits Times. 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  11. "The perks of being Insta famous". Nanyang Technological University. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  12. "Taekwondo: Ng Ming Wei aims to cash in on Instagram fame for Tokyo 2020 dream". The Straits Times. 2019-01-21. Archived from the original on 2019-01-22. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  13. hermes (2019-05-14). "China's TikTok video app takes off in South-east Asia". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
  14. Bosporus (2019-11-15). "I changed my mind about TikTok". Medium. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  15. "TikTok announces winners of All-Star Southeast Asia 2019". Manila Bulletin Technology. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  16. "TikTok ประกาศผลผู้ชนะสุดยอดครีเอเตอร์ All-Star Southeast Asia 2019". www.newsplus.co.th. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  17. hermes (2019-12-29). "What makes TikTok tick?". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  18. "S'porean Taekwondo champ has 5 gold medals abroad, but faces uncertain journey to Tokyo 2020". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  19. "S'pore Taekwondo athlete Ng Ming Wei loses carding status after 8 years of being carded". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  20. "Dissatisfaction & fear: S'pore taekwondo athletes open up about experiences in national squad". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  21. "跆拳国手不获赞助：夺五金还算差？". 早报. 2019-03-29. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  22. "Ex-S'pore taekwondo national coach & general manager face charges of violating world body's ethical code". Mothership.sg. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  23. "WT Preliminary Suspension Of Individual Members". stf.sg. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  24. "Singapore Taekwondo Federation suspended by SNOC and world body". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  25. "Extraordinary General Meeting (19 May 2019)". stf.sg. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  26. "Joint Statement by STF and Ng Ming Wei". stf.sg. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
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