Today is Friday the 13th. And the battle starts today. Singapore vs. Indonesia, and Thailand vs. Malaysia.
I woke up a 630am and headed for the hotel's buffet breakfast. When i arrived, all my team mates were already eating.. Breakfast was nothing special, just your usual international buffet spread. We boarded the bus and headed to the racket sports club at 8am..
Upon reaching the club, we were stranded outside together with the other country contingents because the person in charge with the key had not arrived yet. Best..
we waited for about 15 minutes before the doors opened.. Everyone streamed in.. did the usual settling down, stretching before someone started to gather everyone for the safety briefing..
This was followed by group photo taking with the badminton players from all 4 countries.. Indonesian players in blue, Malaysians in red and coincidentally, both Thai and Singaporeans in orange.. I must say this year's attire sucks.. So ugly.. don't think i will wear the tee-shirt again!
Here are some pictures of my team, and the only 3 female badminton players in the Singapore team.. The girl on the right is my partner for the ladies' doubles.
The Singapore team managed to trash Indonesia 5-0 for all 5 matches: Ladies doubles, 2 Men's doubles, mixed doubles, and veteran above 45 men's doubles. It was a good start. We had lousy chicken rice and muffin for lunch, then headed to the nearby Jusco shopping mall to walk around before the next half with the Thailand team. We had like 2 hours to rest. I spent less than 30 minutes walking around the 2 storey complex. Totally boring. Ended up buying a McFlurry Oreo from MacDonald's, and then taking a nap on this really comfortable couch at Starbucks where the guys had gathered to chit chat.
So when our lunch break was over, i was totally rested and geared up for my 2nd match with the Thais. I was worried, for i knew the Thai ladies doubles are very strong. And me and my partner were no match for them, plus we had no chemistry between us. Anyway, we got trashed by the Thais. 15-0 and 15-2. Totally no mercy from their end. Sigh!! So that kinda ended my play for the day. The rest of the team did well, and we won Thailand 4-1, the 1 being my fault..
The ride back to the hotel was uneventful.. My room mate and I took our showers and then headed down to the function room for the Opening ceremony event.
We saw the huge-ass champion trophy for the first time during the opening ceremony dinner.. Some big shot did the official opening by striking the gong thrice, and then there were lots of cultural performances by some professional Malay dancers..
Dinner was actually yummy.. Fragrant tomato rice with side dishes presented in a huge stainless steel plate. There was chicken and beef rendang, spicy prawns, sweet & sour fish, pan fried vegetables and white rice for those who didn't want the tomato rice.
Dinner ended around 10pm, after which i headed back to the hotel room to sleep and prepare myself for the next day..
I woke up a 630am and headed for the hotel's buffet breakfast. When i arrived, all my team mates were already eating.. Breakfast was nothing special, just your usual international buffet spread. We boarded the bus and headed to the racket sports club at 8am..
Upon reaching the club, we were stranded outside together with the other country contingents because the person in charge with the key had not arrived yet. Best..
we waited for about 15 minutes before the doors opened.. Everyone streamed in.. did the usual settling down, stretching before someone started to gather everyone for the safety briefing..
This was followed by group photo taking with the badminton players from all 4 countries.. Indonesian players in blue, Malaysians in red and coincidentally, both Thai and Singaporeans in orange.. I must say this year's attire sucks.. So ugly.. don't think i will wear the tee-shirt again!
Here are some pictures of my team, and the only 3 female badminton players in the Singapore team.. The girl on the right is my partner for the ladies' doubles.
The Singapore team managed to trash Indonesia 5-0 for all 5 matches: Ladies doubles, 2 Men's doubles, mixed doubles, and veteran above 45 men's doubles. It was a good start. We had lousy chicken rice and muffin for lunch, then headed to the nearby Jusco shopping mall to walk around before the next half with the Thailand team. We had like 2 hours to rest. I spent less than 30 minutes walking around the 2 storey complex. Totally boring. Ended up buying a McFlurry Oreo from MacDonald's, and then taking a nap on this really comfortable couch at Starbucks where the guys had gathered to chit chat.
So when our lunch break was over, i was totally rested and geared up for my 2nd match with the Thais. I was worried, for i knew the Thai ladies doubles are very strong. And me and my partner were no match for them, plus we had no chemistry between us. Anyway, we got trashed by the Thais. 15-0 and 15-2. Totally no mercy from their end. Sigh!! So that kinda ended my play for the day. The rest of the team did well, and we won Thailand 4-1, the 1 being my fault..
The ride back to the hotel was uneventful.. My room mate and I took our showers and then headed down to the function room for the Opening ceremony event.
We saw the huge-ass champion trophy for the first time during the opening ceremony dinner.. Some big shot did the official opening by striking the gong thrice, and then there were lots of cultural performances by some professional Malay dancers..
Dinner was actually yummy.. Fragrant tomato rice with side dishes presented in a huge stainless steel plate. There was chicken and beef rendang, spicy prawns, sweet & sour fish, pan fried vegetables and white rice for those who didn't want the tomato rice.
Dinner ended around 10pm, after which i headed back to the hotel room to sleep and prepare myself for the next day..
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March 23, 2009 at 1:03 PM
really is very big trophy.