Ng Ming Wei

Ng Ming Wei (Chinese: 黃名緯, born 20 November 1994) is a Singaporean taekwondo athlete and internet personality. 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
Born20 November 1994 (1994-11-20) (age 28)
Singapore
Height177.4 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
Medal record
Men's taekwondo
Representing  Singapore
Southeast Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place2015 Singapore54 kg
Silver medal – second place2019 Philippines58 kg
ASEAN Championships
Silver medal – second place2011 Cambodia51 kg
Bronze medal – third place2015 Ho Chi Minh54 kg
Silver medal – second place2017 Perlis54 kg
Commonwealth Championships
Gold medal – first place2017 Montreal58 kg
Canada Open
Silver medal – second place2017 Montreal58 kg
Riga Open
Silver medal – second place2019 Riga58 kg
Gyeongju Korea Open
Bronze medal – third place2014 Gyeongju58 kg
Bronze medal – third place2016 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]

On 24 March 2019, local news network Mothership published an interview with Ng Ming Wei. Ng was dissatisfied with the level of support he had received from Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF), Singapore's national governing body for taekwondo, despite winning several medals at international competitions. In response, the STF stated that Ng's achievements were "paltry".[10] As a result, Ng subsequently arranged his own training with the South Korean, Norwegian and Taiwanese national teams. STF clarified that it had approved a sponsorship of S$30,000 in November 2018 for Ng to take a year away from studies to train full-time but only had informed Ng in January 2019 when it was too late to excuse himself from full-time studies.

Shortly thereafter, Ng announced that his carding status with Sport Singapore had been revoked. Ng stated in an interview with Mothership on or around 8 April 2019 that he did not know why his carding status had not been approved. He also stated that to the best of his knowledge, it was Sport Singapore that decided on carding based on input from the STF and its athletes.[11] There was also a delay in his application submission, allegedly due to the STF's failure to respond promptly. Following the articles, other national team athletes also stepped up to share their grievances about their training under STF, including inadequate coaching and the lack of safe avenues for feedback.[12]

In a subsequent article by Lianhe Zaobao,[13] 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$120,000 over the years. Furthermore, Ng claimed STF also tried absolving themselves of blame 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.

On 27 September 2019, Ng announced that matters had been resolved,[14] with a statement on the STF's website that Ng was a "commendable athlete whose athletic performance should not be downplayed".[15]

In 2019, Ng represented Singapore in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Men's -58 kg Kyorugi category.[16] Ng obtained a silver medal, achieving Singapore's best results for Men's Kyorugi since 1999.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18][19]

Ng had also started using China's popular video sharing app Tiktok to "get more young people interested in taekwondo",[20] and to share his love for sports through educational content.[21] His creative videos won him the All-Star Southeast Asia 2019.[22][23] He became popular on the app, amassing followers to become Singapore's top Tiktok creator having become the first to achieve 1 million followers.[24]

He was unable to compete in the 2020 Olympic Games, but however had attended the Games as a social media advisor for World Taekwondo.[25]

References
  1. "Ng Ming Wei Taekwondo Data". Taekwondo Data. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  2. "NG Ming Wei ActiveSG Profile". Sport Singapore. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  3. "SEA Games: 749 Singaporeans chosen to represent nation at upcoming Games". Red Sports. 5 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  4. "Taekwondo exponents Sim and Kang get a big kick out of fans". The Straits Times. 13 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  5. "Chelsea ends hosts' 16-year wait for taekwondo winner". The New Paper. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  6. "NTU student gears up for this year's SEA games". Nanyang Technological University. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  7. "Best results ever for Commonwealth Championships". Singapore Taekwondo Federation. 29 September 2017. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  8. "2017 Canada Open Day 3 Official Results" (PDF). Taekwondo Canada. 29 September 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  9. "Another successful outing at the Canada Open". Singapore Taekwondo Federation. 5 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  10. "S'porean Taekwondo champ has 5 gold medals abroad, but faces uncertain journey to Tokyo 2020". mothership.sg. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  11. "S'pore Taekwondo athlete Ng Ming Wei loses carding status after 8 years of being carded". mothership.sg. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  12. "Dissatisfaction & fear: S'pore taekwondo athletes open up about experiences in national squad". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  13. "跆拳国手不获赞助：夺五金还算差？". 早报. 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  14. "Ex-S'pore taekwondo national coach & general manager face charges of violating world body's ethical code". Mothership.sg. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  15. "Joint Statement by STF and Ng Ming Wei". stf.sg. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  16. "SEA Games: Ng's silver a ray of hope in dark year for Singapore taekwondo". The Straits Times. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  17. "The perks of being Insta famous". Nanyang Technological University. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  18. "Taekwondo: Ng Ming Wei aims to cash in on Instagram fame for Tokyo 2020 dream". The Straits Times. 21 January 2019. Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  19. Hermes (22 January 2019). "National taekwondo exponent Ng Ming Wei banking on Insta-Fame | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  20. hermes (14 May 2019). "China's TikTok video app takes off in South-east Asia". The Straits Times. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  21. Bosporus (15 November 2019). "I changed my mind about TikTok". Medium. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  22. "TikTok announces winners of All-Star Southeast Asia 2019". Manila Bulletin Technology. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  23. "TikTok ประกาศผลผู้ชนะสุดยอดครีเอเตอร์ All-Star Southeast Asia 2019". www.newsplus.co.th. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  24. hermes (29 December 2019). "What makes TikTok tick?". The Straits Times. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  25. "How Singapore athlete Ng Ming Wei's TikTok stardom helped him make it to the Tokyo Olympics - and why he's not actually competing". AsiaOne. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
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