People's feelings come first

Women's badminton pair Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang reclaimed the Uber Cup for China on May 26, but it was wrong to conceal from Wang the death of her maternal grandmother to ensure she stayed focused on the game, says an article on eastday.com. Excerpts:

Some news shouldn't be hidden, one of which is the death of a person's close relatives. It was cruel for Wang, who was brought up by her maternal grandmother.

There have been similar cases in the past: Cao Lei, the women's weightlifting champion at the 2008 Olympic Beijing Games didn't hear of her mother's death until two months after she died.

If such news is concealed, one cannot help but ask why.

Now we have an answer, as Shi Wei, a sports official in Wang's home province, who persuaded Wang's mother not to tell Wang of her grandmother's death, said that the national team's interests came first.

Yet we should take people's feelings into account. Setting people's loyalty to their country and filial piety against each other is out of date and no longer appropriate. Ignoring people's feelings in this way should no longer be tolerated.

Life is more important than winning a game, otherwise we might not understand the essence of the Olympic Games.