Tour a family affair for Lee and relatives

THERE may be 7,000 miles between Ireland and Singapore but it’s much closer to home for Wexford star Lee Chin.

Called up as a replacement for the PWC All-star tour, Chin will play in today’s exhibition in The Padang between the 2016 and 2017 teams.

But he travelled east a few days earlier than the touring party and met with his grandparents and wider family in Malaysia, where his father hails from. He explained: “The original plan was to go for four or five days but unfortunately my father was unable to travel.

“It’s difficult to stay in touch with them because there’s a language barrier with the communication. They don’t have much English and I don’t have any Chinese.

“It’s very hard to communicate with them so it’s hard to keep in touch. Obviously my father keeps in touch with them an awful lot and gets home once a year. And, look it, I should have been back home there before this year with him.

“It’s 13 years since I saw my grandfather, naturally every year you grow you grow apart. It was great to see them the other day. I got to see two cousins of mine that I had never seen before. One is 15 and the other is 16.

“It was great when they came around because in the school they would learn a lot of English and they had a lot of it so I was able to communicate with them.”

They are vaguely familiar with the game that Chin plays and he helped bring them up to speed.

“It was funny, my grandfather stood up off the chair and picked up a stick and basically acted out how to strike a ball for them (cousins).

“I’d imagine my father tells him an awful lot and he probably gives them stuff to go and research about what it is that I do back home.”