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With only two days of competition to go, the 29th Olympiad in Beijing is coming to a close. And what a close it will be, with the organisers promising to put on another stunning visual feast during the closing ceremony.

For Team Singapore, the last event of these games will take place tonight with Li Jiawei fighting for a bronze medal in the singles event of the table tennis competition. Earlier today, Li featured in the semi-final against world number one Zhang Yining of China. Despite her best efforts, she could not overcome the Chinese player's superb control, dexterity and rapid fire style of play.

It's amazing how quickly the days have flown by. We depart Beijing for Singapore tomorrow and tonight we will beam back via satellite, our last stories for transmission. It's been an amazing experience for all of us and look forward to meeting up with the rest of our colleagues back in the studio in Singapore on Sunday.

It was a slow start to the week, with Team Singapore not featuring much in any competition on Monday and Tuesday. The table tennis players are in action today in the singles competition starting today though. Hopefully, some of them would be able to go the distance and pick up Singapore's second medal at these games, which would be sensational.

China, undoubtedly, are the team to beat. Table tennis, you see, is a national obsession. This morning, while on our way to work, we passed a local recreation centre (sort of like a fitness park) and in the courtyard there were almost ten tables where ordinary Beijingers were smashing and rallying like there was no tomorrow.

They take pride in the game. One local player was quoted in the local press as saying that "this is our sport, we simply cannot lose". It's this mindset that produces winners I suppose.  

American swimmer Michael Phelps has become the most decorated Olympian of all time with 14 gold medals and two bronze medals to his name.

This morning, at the "water cube", Phelps supassed Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics meet by clinching his eight gold medal in the men's 4 X 100 individual medley event at these games.

It was indeed a privilege to be there to witness a historic moment. It didn't matter whether you were American, Chinese, Australian, or Tunisian; everyone at the aquatic centre roared their approval and adulation for Phelps as he recieved his medal and a special token from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in recognition of his achievement. Someone quipped earlier that Phelps should have his own placing on the medal tally, having won more medals that most countries!

Singapore will witness a little piece of history of its own tonight when the women's table tennis team takes on China in the finals and deliver an Olympic medal the country has been waiting 48 years to savour. Singapore last won an Olympic medal in 1960 with Tan Howe Liang clinching a silver medal in weightlifting at the Rome games.

Everyone on the team here will be at the Peking University Gymnasium this evening. We'll be there to interview the players, officials and VIPs to bring you a special report on the womens table tennis team and to cheer them on, of course! 

It was a slow day yesterday and so some of us went off in the evening to catch the basketball match between the USA and Greece. The match was at 8pm and we got there around 7. We thought we might be late to get some of the seats that are usually reserved for the broadcast media. To our surprise, the stadium was quite empty.

We asked one of the volunteers where the seats were and she directed us to a few rows of white chairs right beside the court! We were literally two metres away from NBA stars like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Chris Bosh. 

Also in the audience for the match were actor Chris Tucker and boxing legend Evander Holyfield. Some of us had never been to a basketball match before and this was surreal to say the least. And the "Dreamteam" did not dissapoint, displaying all their magic as they slam dunked their way to a victory against the Greeks. 

Day 5 kicked start the Table Tennis competition in the Peking University. It was homecoming for Miao Miao, who is representing Australia in the competition.

Her father was a table tennis coach and she started playing the game when she was nine years old. When her father got a job as coach in Poland, her whole family shifted to Poland. She represented Poland when she stayed there, which explains why she speaks Polish, English and Mandarin.

After the Australian's Women's teanm played their game against, a family reunion was arranged for her secretly. Once she saw her family members, she ran to them and they all exchanged hugs. It was a moment to cherish for her, and I was touched by this.

One of the highlights for us at these games must surely be the visits to the local restaurants. Not only are they cheap and very tasty, but they are thoroughly entertaining as well. We are often left in stitches when reading the menus because the English names of the dishes are literal translations of the Mandarin names of the dishes.

Examples of these include:

The wild mushroom cooks the stupid chicken!

Tofu Portfolio (?)

German morley cooks the live fish (what the...)

Does the pot rip the chicken??

 After a long day at work, laughter is definitely welcome.

I read in the local paper last night that an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member had complained that the police and army personnel in Beijing were too "stone faced" and were scaring away tourists from these games. This morning, on the way to the International Broacast Centre (IBC), we saw a tank parked outside. Classic.

But seriously, overall, we have found the officials, volunteers and even police to be quite friendly. Most seem eager to please and practice their English by communicating with foireigners as much as possible. Some seem too earnest at times but who can blame them. Who knows when the Olympics will come to China again? Everyone here is making a concerted effort to pull off a successful Olympiad. That includes ordinary Chinese citizens who even stand around our host, while he's recording his pieces to camera, to offer words of encouragement when he fluffs up his lines!

 Beijing Jia you!

The Chinese government declared a three-day public holiday for the people leading to the Opening Ceremony. Those who were fortunate enough to get tickets and passes to the highly aniticipated event had to make their way to the Bird Nest as early as 5pm. All shopping complex closed early as the locals all wanted to get home and spend this historical moment with their families.

Requesting the driver to bring us to a location where we could chill and watch the Opening on the telly, he brought us to the district where all the embassies are location. There was a row of cafes and pubs, and just around the corner we saw The Cage. Walking towards it, we realised Adidas was having an exhibition, having set up a cage for the public to test their skills at penalty kicks. At the other end, there was a partial track laid down for us to test our taking off. Those who go below 0.5sec for their taking off gets a free pin, which we redeemed at the Adidas store.

A big screen was setup for those who wanted to watch the Opening Ceremony. The square was filled with people who wanted to share this special moment with others. Some brought food and drinks, prepared to stay till the wee hours of the night. As for us, we went back to the Media Village before the Ceremony end, and managed to catch a glimpse of the fireworks and the west gate of the Village.

After three Olympics, the journey of the Olympic torch has never failed to amaze me. Today, we managed to catch up and follow a part of the torch relay.

Arriving at the north-west corner of Tiananmen Square, a huge crowd has already gathered along the road. The traffic police and the volunteers had a tough time at controlling the excited public.

The media has picked their spots. Some were ready to just run along side.

When the big moment arrived, the crowd cheered the runners on and just outside the Tiananmen Square, Zhang Yi Mou took over as the torch bearer for a moment. And there is our moment with the famous film director.