My deepest condolences to Dominique Sarron Lee’s family

The report:

This appeared in the newspapers today:

NSman and former Sports School sprinter dies after training exercise

(TODAY, 18 April 2012)

by Ian De Cotta

SINGAPORE – A full-time National Serviceman died yesterday after experiencing breathing difficulties during training.

Private Lee Rui Feng Dominique Sarron (picture), 21, a former sprinter at the Singapore Sports School, was participating in a platoon exercise at the Murai Urban Training Facility in Lim Chu Kang.

TODAY understands that the incident happened after he took part in a training activity which involved smoke grenades.

Lee’s parents, Mr Matthew and Mrs Felicia Lee, were distraught. Mr Lee told Today: “This has all come as a sudden shock to us. He was healthy … and we only know that he got into trouble after inhaling smoke during training and we are still trying to come to terms that he is no longer with us.”

According to the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Lee experienced breathing difficulties at 12.30pm. Three minutes later, he lost consciousness. A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) medic attended to him immediately.

At 12.46pm, he was evacuated via a safety vehicle to Sungei Gedong Medical Centre, where an SAF doctor attended to him at 12.52pm.

At 1.03pm, he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National University Hospital (NUH), with an SAF doctor continuing to resuscitate him en route to the hospital.

Lee arrived at the NUH at 1.22pm. He was pronounced dead at 2.05pm.

In a statement, MINDEF said: “The Ministry of Defence and the SAF extend our deepest condolences to the family of the late Private Lee. MINDEF is assisting the family in their time of grief and is investigating the incident.”

Lee, who celebrated his birthday last week, won a silver medal at the 8th Thailand Inter Sports School Games in 2005.

Last night, his Facebook page was filled with hundreds of tribute messages from friends who remembered him as an active and cheerful person.

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My thoughts:

I write this with a heavy heart.

Former Singapore Sports School student and sprinter Dominique Sarron Lee died yesterday during national service training. He was 21, having celebrated his 21st birthday just last Wednesday (April 11).

Dominique was part of the pioneer batch of 100-odd students who joined the Sports School when it opened its doors in 2004. A former student of Griffin Primary, I remember being told by my Sports School contacts how excited they were at his potential talent and his strapping build.

He was the fastest student from Griffin, and there had been among the Sports School coaches and administrators that he would go on to become a fine national sprinter.

But Dominique eventually found that there was a limit to his sprinting talent, and he did find himself being  overtaken by other sprinters like Calvin Kang and Yusof Azhari. According to his friends, his asthma also played a part in limiting his development.

Still, he  remained an important member of the school’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay squads.

He then went on to Temasek Polytechnic where he not only became a member of the polytechnic’s athletics team but also showed a huge talent for music, and for playing the guitar. He apparently turned out to be a pretty decent footballer too, and even became the goalkeeper for S-League club Geylang United’s Under-18 team.

Judging from the messages that Dominique’s friends have left on his Facebook page (search Dominique Lee Sarron), and on Twitter (#superflydom and #ripdom), it is clear that this young man was very much a treasured friend, who touched many people with his outgoing personality, big heart and character.

My deepest, deepest condolences to Dominique’s family for their loss. I can only hope that time will heal the pain and heartbreak they must be feeling. As a parent myself, I can understand the grief they must be experiencing. It is not right that parents have to see off their children.

Rest in peace, Dominique.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

Point to ponder: why a Singapore Selection team, and not a full Lions side, against Brazil?

The reports:

There has been a flood of reports in the newspapers on the Brazil Olympic team in Singapore and their match against a Singapore Selection side at the National Stadium tonight (you can click here and here for some reports).

The Brazilian team arriving at Changi Airport (Picture taken from http://www.cctv.com)

Understandably so.

After all, this is the most exciting team to play in Singapore since Manchester United and Liverpool came a-visiting back in 2001.

And football fans will not only be getting a glimpse of future World Cup players in action, they will also be getting the rare chance to see established stars like Ronaldinho, Pato, Lucas Leiva, Diego and Anderson in the flesh. 

However, there was also an interesting letter which reader Chong Wee Jin sent to TODAY last week week (see here) which brought up a very pertinent point.

Wee Jin wrote to TODAY to express his disappointment that it will be a Singapore Selection and not the Lions that will be taking on the Brazil Olympic team.

“…the team spirit and understanding that have been forged by coach Radjoko Avramovic over the years make them a strong unit than any other (S-League selection) squad,” he argued.

My thoughts: 

I must say that I’m in two minds about this argument.

On the one hand, I feel that Wee Jin is right – why shouldn’t it be the Lions taking on Brazil? 

Since international friendlies are so hard to come by, why didn’t national coach Raddy Avramovic use this opportunity to give his Lions another competitive match to further gel his squad or to test out some new players or combinations?

Why the decision to go for an S-League Selection side now? After all, we did field a fully Singapore side against Manchester United and Liverpool back in 2001. 

Was it a condition forced upon him by the match organisers or the FAS? If the latter, then was it to give the S-League some publicity by displaying some of its better foreign talents?

Or was it Avramovic’s own decision to pick Home United’s Japanese defender Kenji Arai, his Cameroonian teammate Valery Hiek and Geylang United’s Slovakian midfielder Miroslav Latiak?

Maybe he felt that they were needed to strengthen the areas weakened by injuries (Precious Emuerajaye, Noh Rahman and Shi Jiayi are injured), so that Singapore can be more of a match for the Brazilians?

I felt it was a pity that our newspapers didn’t pick up on this point when the Singapore squad was announced. For all you know, there could be a very simple reason for this. I just wish we didn’t have to second-guess what it was.

The good news though for Singapore fans is that the Singapore Selection is still a predominantly Lions side as 18 of the 21-strong squad were Lions who played in Singapore’s recent World Cup qualifying campaign.

And if fielding a Singapore Selection side was indeed a condition laid down by the organisers or the FAS, then, as a fan, I would have much preferred it that the three Brazilians playing in the S-League – Geylang United forwards Luiz Mechado and Rivaldo Costa and Home United midfielder Peres de Oliveira – had been selected instead.  

It would have been a nice gesture and show of solidarity with the Brazil Olympic team for the three S-League Brazilians to be fielded against their own countrymen. Similarly, I think the trio would also have been really fired up for the occasion.

And I think it would have been particularly meaningful for the 34-year-old de Oliveira who has been one of the most exciting players to ply his trade in the S-League since he first came to Singapore as a Home United player in 2002.

Peres de Oliveira in action for Home United (picture taken from http://www.sleague.com)

In the past six years, de Oliveira – who played for Home from 2002 – 2005 and Tampines Rovers from 2005-2007 before rejoining Home this year – has won two S-League titles, four Singapore Cups and an Asean Football Federation Cup.

He was also named the S-League’s Player of The Year in 2003 and also snared the Top Scorer award that season with his 37 goals.

Selecting him for this game and allowing him to play the full 90 minutes would have made for a nice tribute to a player who has been a wonderful model of consistency and excellence in the S-League. By the way, here’s a piece of S-League trivia: de Oliveira is currently fifth in this season’s top-scorers list with his eight goals.

All I can deduce from Avramovic’s selection choices, without knowing why it is a Singapore Selection side and not a full Lions team, is that he has little time for sentimental or romantic gestures.

Instead, his choices leave me to conclude that he is really taking this game seriously – by plugging holes and strengthening areas in the Singapore side which he feels could be exploited by the Brazilians if left unattended.

Well, whatever the case, I hope the Singapore Selection side acquits itself well against the Brazilians. I hope there won’t be a thrashing (I have a feeling Brazil will win 3-0 though) and I also hope that there will be louder cheers for the Singapore team than for Brazil throughout the game.  

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan