Well, ya, according to the Chinese, the number “8″ sounds like ‘Huat’ (Hokkien) and ‘Fatt’ (Cantonese) which basically means “to prosper”. And on such an auspicious day, you will expect many couples tying the knot (even Singapore Pools is jumping onto the bandwagon and offering an S$8 million draw!).
(Photo thanks to carinasuyin)
Is it any wonder then that Beijing will be conducting the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics 2008 at 8:08pm today, the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008? Even though Singapore may be a small country, we are still sending 25 of our best athletes to compete in six of the sports categories: Athletics, Badminton, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming and Table Tennis. Singapore last won an Olympic silver medal in the weightlifting category by Tan Howe Liang in Rome in 1960. But we came really close to winning a medal at the last two Olympics (Sydney, 2000 and Athens, 2004).
Thus the hot Singaporean athletes to look out for:
Badminton – Ronald Susilo will be facing off Malaysian Lee Chong Wei (world number two) in the opening match and Li Yujia will be facing the Americans.
Swimming – Tao Li may be new to the Olympics, but she has won 4 Gold medals at the 2007 SEA Games and became the first Singaporean female swimmer to reach a World Swimming Championships final, finishing 7th in the 50m Butterfly earlier this year.
Table tennis – High hopes and pressure will also be on Li Jiawei in table tennis as she came in 4th in the Women’s Singles at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Even though I generally love watching the Diving, Synchronised Swimming and all the Gymnastics segments, I will also be rooting for our local sportsmen and sportswomen. So cheers to Singapore! (Good thing the Olympics is held in Asia, so we can safely catch the matches without incurring eye bags the next day! 
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