So... with Ronald Susilo's defeat to Boontak Ponsana in the badminton men's singles quarter-finals, Singapore's first real Olympic medal hopes in 44 years have vanished. And while you might scoff at how Ronald's two wins shouldn't have raised the nation's hopes so high, the thing is... he did beat the world no. 1 Lin Dan decisively in their encounter a few days ago. Despite the fact that I have never followed badminton and that personally speaking, I have never rated Singaporean athletes much accord, the mere fact that he was just three people away from a possible gold medal did get me excited. I am Singaporean after all. This is my country and my home. No matter how much I want to escape from this place, I do love it. And I, like all of my countrymen, was, until a while ago, behind Ronald, willing him to go the distance. We all wanted the world to see that even a small, tiny, minuscule country like mine, with pathetic training programmes could produce someone with the mere potential to win a medal.

I'm not making very much sense, I realise. In any case, Ronald, you've done us proud. I apologise for rubbishing you to my colleagues a few days ago. Much respect to you, mate.