WINNING an Olympic medal has its perks.

Monetary awards, recognition and public adulation are all part of the deal.

But how about fan clubs?

Table tennis player Feng Tianwei now has a fan club on popular social networking site Facebook, and her fans were out in full force yesterday.

Joan Lim, the creator of the fanpage, was at the Ang Mo Kio NTUC FairPrice outlet with '10 to 20' of Feng's fans yesterday for the autograph session with the women's table tennis team.

'I wanted to create a platform for people who admire her to find out more information and events concerning her, as well as to discuss and share photos taken of her,' said the 18-year-old student.

'I have always liked her because she has a lot of self-confidence,' she said. 'I also feel that she is not getting enough attention, even though she has made many contributions as well.'

Since marking its presence in cyberspace earlier this week, some 648 people have become 'fans' of the 22-year-old paddler.

And yesterday, Lim was the first in line to greet the paddlers, having waited outside the storefront since 7.30am.

'I heard last night that some people were going to camp overnight,' she said. 'So I was worried that I would not get a place in the queue, since the session was only limited to 100 people.'

Not that they whiled their time away while waiting for the women to appear.

Armed with newspaper clippings, photographs and assorted stationery, Lim and her friends were hard at work, making placards for Feng.

Idol

So how did her idol react when presented with the placard?

'She didn't say much except 'thank you' and a smile for us,' said Lim. 'I think she was pretty shy and didn't know what to do.'

On one placard, Feng wrote: 'Hope everyone continues to support me and the table tennis team. Thanks, once again!'

On another, she penned: 'Thank you everyone for your support. I will continue to work hard for Singapore and fight for glory.'

The one-week-old fan club is also currently collecting birthday wishes for Feng and hopes to present the card to her today, her birthday.

'I asked her during the autograph session, but I am not sure if she would turn up or not,' said Lim, declining to reveal the time and location of the appointment.