Wow~! So much was discussed here in my absence! I was away for the All England from Tuesday till Sunday and just got back. I was the official linejudge (in red sweatshirt, black cap) throughout the championships. Yannie will definitely shriek with joy when I share with her my encounter with the Chinese team, if I see her on MSN that is. Congrats to Jason for getting LinDan's black tshirt~! I got his training shirt when I asked him for it while he's walking in the tunnel. I will share this experience with you by categorising it into a daily event. Some pics will follow suit as well~ so stay tune!

Wow~! So much was discussed here in my absence! I was away for the All England from Tuesday till Sunday and just got back. I was the official linejudge (in red sweatshirt, black cap) throughout the championships. Yannie will definitely shriek with joy when I share with her my encounter with the Chinese team, if I see her on MSN that is. Congrats to Jason for getting LinDan's black tshirt~! I got his training shirt when I asked him for it while he's walking in the tunnel. I will share this experience with you by categorising it into a daily event. Some pics will follow suit as well~ so stay tune!

thanks in advance.:)

In the middle of the night, I am now compiling my memories into words, trying to get every detail in as much as possible. So much to share yet to hard to pen them down in correct order. Sigh...will try to do as much as I can before going off to bed, and its already 4ish in the morning. Dear me, why am I doing this in such an ungodly hour???

In the middle of the night, I am now compiling my memories into words, trying to get every detail in as much as possible. So much to share yet to hard to pen them down in correct order. Sigh...will try to do as much as I can before going off to bed, and its already 4ish in the morning. Dear me, why am I doing this in such an ungodly hour???
hehe, thank you in advance. no hurry to write your story , take good rest:D

In the middle of the night, I am now compiling my memories into words, trying to get every detail in as much as possible. So much to share yet to hard to pen them down in correct order. Sigh...will try to do as much as I can before going off to bed, and its already 4ish in the morning. Dear me, why am I doing this in such an ungodly hour???
hehe, thank you in advance. no hurry to write your story ,don't have to finish it today, take good rest:D

Thanks in advance!!!

But i would like to say something after watching AE 2006 - The linecalls were terrific (most, if not all) !!! ;)

Hohohoho~! I thank you all for my fellow team mates of linejudges. We worked hard to concentrate on the shuttle all the time. But at times linejudges are tempted to look elsewhere, especially to other courts or the wide screen. That usually makes the line call bad, others are due to slow reaction and confusion. At times you know that its out, you saw it go out, but then your arms just won't listen and point in instead. Its very tempted not to change the call as they do not want to show that they're not concentrating. Its common and that's some tend to show double actions as if they're not certain. It happened in the mens singles finals between Lin Dan and Lee Hyun-Il.

Thanks in advance!!!

But i would like to say something after watching AE 2006 - The linecalls were terrific (most, if not all) !!! ;)

like in tennis :D , Golden Hawk Tech. can also be used in badminton

Yannie will definitely shriek with joy when I share with her my encounter with the Chinese team, if I see her on MSN that is.

Hey Alvin
I saw some of your pics in FS already, they're cool man. It's good that you get the chance to meet the players... But how come you mention me to them? :o
But... tell us about your story now now now now now! Jia You!
Yannie

Well fellas, been busy all day trying to sort things out after being away for a week. My email inbox topped at 139 emails~! Taking me a whole day to clean my room, do the laundry, put up posters, and finally some time to do some this. Its not finished yet though, but I'll continue when I can find the time.

Day 1

Tuesday started by travelling to down London at 6 in the morning from Cardiff. Had to settle some stuffs at the High Commission before going up to Birmingham at 5pm. Arriveed at 8pm in Birmingham Digbeth Coach Station. Took a taxi to Norfolk Hotel where most linejudges are based. Checked in at the reception and went straight up to the room. Had some small snack of biscuits and sandwiches and tried to sleep. Failed to sleep due to sleeping too much on the coach earlier. Watched telly instead, they had nip tuck on one of the channels, kinda interesting. Kept on changing channles and tried to doze off. Fell asleep after tosing around till midnight.

Day 2

Woke up at 6am. My mobile's alarm is ringing madly. Had a shower and some breakfast of biscuits and bread with tea. Had to ruch to the NIA as told to be there by 7.30 in shirt and tie, black pants and black shoes. Felt as if I'm actually going to work. Caught a cab at 7am and went staright down. Arrived infront of Hyatt Agency and the big ferris wheel and walk starigh to the NIA. Its Cold~! After 5 minutes of brisk walking in the cold morning, went into the AF4 entrance. Wave my invitation letter to the security and went straight in. Was directed by the reception to the LineJudges' room at the far end near the tunnel entrance. Met John, the Director of LineJudges for AE. He got me my tag, my red sweatshirt and my cap. He then asked me to go to Olympian Suite 2 for briefing at 8. About 30 minutes to kill, I went into the arena. Saw the Chinese Team training. Saw Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng, Zhang Jun and Xie Zhongbo training at court number 6. They mix up pairing and was sparring away cursing and joking at times. Gao Ling was with Huang Sui in court 5 and Xie Xingfang is training with Zhang Ning in court 4.

The ladies finished of first as I hear them saying something about going back to the hotel for breakfast. Gao Ling went back to get her stuffs and I went to her for a pic. Then to the rest of the ladies when the finished packing up. The guys are still playing around in court. When its about time to go for the briefing and I'm was about to leave, the guys finished and Cai Yun was made to bend over at under the net exposing his backside to Fu and the rest. They took aim and hit him with shuttles~! What a way for punishment for making mistakes!

At the briefing, we were gathered and were introduced to the umpires and to our court leader. Mine was Mike, he's a wonderful man with lotsa of stories to tell. We were then brought to the arena and gathered according to our groups. The first match would start at 9am. I getting more and more nervous as the seconds ticked off. Not sure whether I will make a bad call. All that Mike ever said was keep focus and enjoy it. Some people prefer to watch only the line but some prefer to follow the shuttle. I prefer to follow the shuttle as I wouldn't want to miss out on the game. Near the tunnel, Shon Seung Mo is jumping around swinging his racquet, warming up for his first game. I took the opportunity to have a quick pic with him. He's very friendly indeed, very warm and kind. Not fierce at all, one can easily make friends with him. I am then to find out that my first match was Shon's with Canadian Andrew Dabeka. When I sat down, my heart was pounding hard. Not sure why. Excited? Nervous? Happy? I have no idea which emotion came over me. All I know was that my heart was pounding heavily as I see Shon start his match. I was hoping very hard that he will win. By the way I look at it, he's got great body strength but kinda lack consistency. Although I can see that Andrew is not his match, he gave points away by misjudging the shuttle. The one I remembered most is that I call a shuttle in when he saw it out. He went to the umpire but was ignored. He came breathing heavily and with his hands at his waist, he looked at me partially smiling. Then he asked me, "Out?" I just showed pointed in without saying anything. But in me, I felt bad for letting him down. I'm most certain that its in but he saw the shuttle bounce out. But anyhow, I'm more determined to focus steadily and concentrate more. The more I tried to do so, the fear of giving a wrong call gripped me even harder. I breath heavily through my mouth and my hands went cold that I have to put them under my thighs. But nothing bad came after that. Its mostly easy sightings of in and outs. The line judges swap seat after one game, and there is a leader in every game. When I swap seats, I realised that I have to make a call of when to stand and when to seat. Its my first time to being a leader but the chap next to me gave me hints throughout. Not long after, Shon took the game at 15-10, 15-12. I heaved a big sigh and signal everyone out of the court after the umpire got down from his throne.

After my first match I had a 2 match break, not knowing what to do, I just sat around and watch other players in their game. Then Lin Dan came over with a earphone on. My goodness~! he sat just 5 seats away from me. I was jumping with joy inside and I stole glances at him once a while. When he saw me he just smiled and continues watching. I finally went over to ask him to take a pic and we chatted a while. I found out that although he is from Fujian, he doesn't speak the dialect~! He speaks hakka at home to which I had a simple conversation in hakka with him. Then I had to leave him to attend to my duties. After that, Boonsak came over and started to warm up. His match is with Rajiv Ouseph of England. I had a quick chat with the England coach while they are warming up for the game. I remember Rajiv now as the one who reached the finals of Welsh International Championships last November.

to be continued....

Good report Alvin,

Take your time in installments. They are a good read. can you post the pictures of you with lin. I will see if I remember your face from any of the matches.

Hiya James, I tried putting the pics in between the stories/ report but I can't seem to upload any pics for the time being. Not sure why though. But will try again later...its all up to your imagination now~ Let them fly...

Hi,alvinlai,

thanks for your sharing. let us have a glimpse of the linejudging. Wait for the continued story.

Then Lin Dan came over with a earphone on. My goodness~! he sat just 5 seats away from me. I was jumping with joy inside and I stole glances at him once a while. When he saw me he just smiled and continues watching. I finally went over to ask him to take a pic and we chatted a while. I found out that although he is from Fujian, he doesn't speak the dialect~! He speaks hakka at home to which I had a simple conversation in hakka with him.

Ooo I'm half Fujian and half Hakka :p. Why does he speak Hakka if he's from Fujian??? Maybe the town/city he's from??

Anyway that sounds like such a great experience :). Can't wait to see the pictures!

Wow, great to know Lin Dan speaks Hakka, thats my mother's dialect...

Boonsak match against Rajiv is nothing to sweat about. Rajiv is more of a defense player and Boonsak having the experience after years being in the field, held Rajiv all over the court. Boonsak is patient and waits for the kill. I can simply hear his rhythm why sitting down. It sounded like bum, bum, bum, pak! score! At times a longer tempo. Pushing Rajiv deep into the baselines, Rajiv finds it hard to keep up and loses is tempo. Many shots went to the net. Although his coach is behind me is shouting for him to slow his game and concentrate on the rally, the advice seemed ineffective. Boonsak is just way too fast for him to keep up. Oh oh oh oh yes yes yes~!!!! Getting kinda excited on a new found fact. If you ever get close enough to Boonsak in his game, you can actually hear him strike his racquet strings. At first, I heard pling pling pling pling, and I was wondering how in the world he did that??? How did he strike his racquet like that making such crisp sounds? After a hard long stare, I found out that he's got kinda long fingernails on his left hand. On his thumb especially. Its just his style. If Xia Xuanze have got his shirt collar up, Boonsak have got his strings strumming. Back to the match. As Rajiv is struggling to keep up, he is forced to play more attacks. Boonsak's defense is so quick that he counter every net play and defensieve shots nicely that Rajiv is forced to lift or give a bad net shot. All these to which Boonsak came in with an attack. Rajiv is good at his sideline defences, Boonsak shots were mostly body attacks. The tempo that I remember would go, serve, rally, rally, dropshot, net, net, lift, smash, return, smash, return, tap/ net kill. The three consecutive attack from Boonsak at the near end of court, middle of court and at net. This is Boonsak's tempo mostly throughout the game. Rajiv's shot is mainly rallying, drop shots and net, attacking a few times. However, when Boonsak's score gets to 10, Rajiv obviously is trying increase his tempo by attacking more. His coach is constantly asking him to cool down and not rush but yet, attacks were constant at every possible chance. Rushing into every shot proves deadly and Boonsak ends the game at 15-9, 15-13. Attacks when Boonsak reaches 10 helped Rajiv earn a few points as Boonsak misjudged Rajiv's shot and was caught off guard. I was sitting there with a racing heart. I can hear myself whisper, "Come on Boonsak, just a few more!" When Boonsak ends the match, I wanted to jump up and screamed with joy! But then my position doesn't allow me to. I have to wait till the umpire got down and we were off the court before we can actually do anything else. Once off the court, as Boonsak rested near to where I sit, I was trying hard to listen what his coach told him. Alas, its all in Thai, but still the language sounded nice. For those who might not know, only Boonsak is sponsored by Gosen while the rest of the Thai squad is sponsored by Yonex. His shoes however reads: "Vitro". Not sure what shoes are those. Never heard of that brand before.

Behind me, or at the next court, Malaysian Sairul Amar Ayob is having a easy game against Jean Lefort. I often stole glances at the game while linejudging Boonsak's game. Thanksfully I did not give a bad call. Sairul style of play seemed effortless. His shots were "cool". He made every shot seemed so easy. I just don't know to describe the softness more than this. You will have to see it yourself. His serves and shots are nice to watch. Not long after Boonsak's match finished, Sairul finishes his match as well although Boonsak started the game forst. I think Sairul's game is relatively shorter in the region of 30 minutes. Soon after that, my court leader came over with our food vouchers~! Weehee~! Food glorious food, I'm off to the member's lounge cafe to get food. I went a little too late and all food is done for. Lunch is over and I have to wait for dinner at 5.30~! SO I just went and get some sandwiches and loads of mustard. I love mustard~! The yellow slimey gooey~! When I got back, Cai and Fu is already sitting near where I'm based playing around resting, sitting and chatting away. Apparently, they've been competing while I'm away at Boonsak's match and at the cafe. I went over and with some information at hand from *Yannie*, I have a quick chat with them. They're very nice people indeed, unlike Gao Ling, yucks. After that I went on to hand my sandwich, spilling some mustard while chomping them down. Not long after Cai and FU left. But wait~! I have not even snap a pic with you guys yet! Oh well, they'll come back definitely later. Then Sairul came over to fill up his water bottle. I had a the chance to chat with him in Malay. He is really friendly indeed. Very laidback, just like a typical Malaysian kampung boy who plays football in the evenings. I asked who is he playing next and he told me he is from Sweden. I replied, "Cehwah bang, senang ler nak makan. Elok ah camtuh." (Wow brother, easy game, good for you.) He shook his head and smiled, he replied "Ok ler, budak Indon. Ntah aper Wiboro aper natah." "Alah bang, boleh punyer. Senang jer nak makan nih. Usaha bang!" (He's ok, he's from Indonesia, not sure what is name is, something wiboro.) (Awww come on big brother, its gonna be easy for you to take. All the best!) He finished collecting from the water cooler and we wave me goodbye. Not long after the munchies, I'm off to linejudge again. This time the game is between Eric Pang and Kasper Oedum.

to be continued........sleepy now....:p

Ooo I'm half Fujian and half Hakka :p. Why does he speak Hakka if he's from Fujian??? Maybe the town/city he's from??

Anyway that sounds like such a great experience :). Can't wait to see the pictures!

I suppose that his parents speaks Hakka and their family moved to Fujian. So Hakka is still spoken within his family. Its just like someone from Guangzhou who speaks Cantonese, moved to Beijing. He speaks Cantonese at home but Mandarin while being outside with his peers. Do you get me?

I'm still unable to upload pictures *stomping feet* :mad: . Not sure why?

Nice experience you have there. Well i've never been a line judge before. But i'm sure its not an easy task.

very interesting to read. There is only 100 miles from Cardiff to Birmingham, right?

Thanks for a good read.

The only pictures i saw of lines judges they all looked about 60 odd with big glasses.

I know what you mean about the calls i saw one line judge signal in and the view showed it well out and then the commenator went good call from the line judge. but the the overall call was made out.

keep the posts coming.

I suppose that his parents speaks Hakka and their family moved to Fujian. So Hakka is still spoken within his family. Its just like someone from Guangzhou who speaks Cantonese, moved to Beijing. He speaks Cantonese at home but Mandarin while being outside with his peers. Do you get me?


Ahh, awesome :)

I am very surprised that Lin Dan is a Hakka "Yun" (person/people); (forgive me if I got the spelling wrong). :)

Wahh.. Very nice stories. I bet it's super nice to be able to come to All England this year. First Jason, now you! Thanks for sharing! :)
Anyway, have heard the insight story from yannie :p very happy for her. Hehehe. Why don't u send some of us ur pics so that we can post them for u. They must be really nice, can't wait to see them. Or, you can ask yannie since u must have already sent them to her.:cool:

Alvin and Cai Yun, Fu Haifeng :eek: :D :p
All Orange :rolleyes:

Wah... this is Alvin with Boonsak :D

Alvin with Candra Wijaya + nice bags and shirts

Alvin and Jin Jin :D

Alvin and Eriksen all red

Jiang Yanjiao (here she is, red:p ), Alvin and Bao Chunlai (injured right?) and a coach I guess

Alvin and Peter Gade!

Alvin, SSM and Coca Cola ~

Alvin, Xie Xingfang, Huang Sui and Zhang Ning (dinkalot here's another zhang ning in red :D )

Nice pics yannie, or should I say, alvin?? :p Jens Eriksen, damn tall as usual... Candra looks a bit old there.. Hahaha. Fu and Cai are very great as always, too bad it's kinda dark.. Good job! If u can post Lin Dan's shirt's pic, ok?

Woooahh :eek: awesome pictures :) .

fantastic pictures to share with!!! :D

great experience, and of course great pics!!!;)

Alvin with Candra Wijaya + nice bags and shirts
just saw the pics, really great:) thanks for share

Nice pics yannie, or should I say, alvin?? :p Jens Eriksen, damn tall as usual... Candra looks a bit old there.. Hahaha. Fu and Cai are very great as always, too bad it's kinda dark.. Good job! If u can post Lin Dan's shirt's pic, ok?

Lin Dan's training shirt I think... Alvin take a pic of it and post it! Hehe!

Hiya peeps~! I've been away for the Chinese New Year celebration. Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrates. May everything goes well and prosperous (the chinese love this word! :p )

Now I'm finally back to continue on my quest of penning down and sharing my experience. Thankfully, all those legal studies helped me remember the daily events quite well. I'll try to do them as soon as I can and post them up. I might even have some posted up tonight. The bummer thing is that I still can't upload pics. It shows the "The page cannot be displayed, check your internet settings" thingy. And when I refreshed, it shows "Invalid Post specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the webmaster". Not sure why. Anyone can help? Otherwise, I'll have to send those pics to yannie to have them posted up.

No worries fellas, I'll be posting up some of my stories soon. I'm kinda embarrassed that its still on day 2. But day 2 just can't seem to end. Perhaps I'll leave some useless stuffs out on day 3 and the rest of the days. I'll see what I can do anyways.:)

Lin Dan's training shirt I think... Alvin take a pic of it and post it! Hehe!

The shirt I got from LinDan is just a plain polyester Yonex shirt. I saw that he uses it for training in the training courts in the bowel of the NIA. Its really soft and smell really nice. Sounds gay ain't it? What I meant was the washing stuffs they use smells really nice. I think they use rather lots of the washing stuffs otherwise the smell won't linger on till today~! Also, I 've acquired a pair of shorts. Its a VeryCool shorts in blue. Just like those used by the Koreans. Really soft and comfy as well. He puts on size L for the shirt and size "O" for the shorts. I'll try to get a pic on that as well. Yannieeee~! I guess you'll have to upload it for me~!

All I know was that my heart was pounding heavily as I see Shon start his match. I was hoping very hard that he will win. By the way I look at it, he's got great body strength but kinda lack consistency. Although I can see that Andrew is not his match, he gave points away by misjudging the shuttle. The one I remembered most is that I call a shuttle in when he saw it out. He went to the umpire but was ignored. He came breathing heavily and with his hands at his waist, he looked at me partially smiling. Then he asked me, "Out?" I just showed pointed in without saying anything. But in me, I felt bad for letting him down. I'm most certain that its in but he saw the shuttle bounce out.


Don't forget Shon is almost blind in one eye....

Don't forget Shon is almost blind in one eye....

What? Huh? Explain...

What? Huh? Explain...

SSM got hit in the eye playing Bad. There was a post somewhere on BC.

Yannie: are you the official picture poster? Does everyone send you their pictures to post? :p Should I send you mine? Oh wait, I don't have any pictures. :o :D

Yannie: are you the official picture poster? Does everyone send you their pictures to post? :p Should I send you mine? Oh wait, I don't have any pictures. :o :D

Ahh... poor SSM :eek:
Should I say thanks for the title? :p Just send me when you get to take some. I dunno why people send me their pics haha, but I'm more than happy to post the pics for them... Btw Ants also posted 2 of my pics though.

Yannie: are you the official picture poster? Does everyone send you their pictures to post? :p Should I send you mine? Oh wait, I don't have any pictures. :o :D

stick to the topic guys, or else i will name you the official off-topic offender.

stick to the topic guys, or else i will name you the official off-topic offender.

:eek: ...

...do I get a prize for that? :p



Back to topic: Alvin, awesome experience and nice get: Lin Dan's work our shirt. :D

The shirt I got from LinDan is just a plain polyester Yonex shirt. I saw that he uses it for training in the training courts in the bowel of the NIA. Its really soft and smell really nice. Sounds gay ain't it? What I meant was the washing stuffs they use smells really nice. I think they use rather lots of the washing stuffs otherwise the smell won't linger on till today~! Also, I 've acquired a pair of shorts. Its a VeryCool shorts in blue. Just like those used by the Koreans. Really soft and comfy as well. He puts on size L for the shirt and size "O" for the shorts. I'll try to get a pic on that as well. Yannieeee~! I guess you'll have to upload it for me~!

Plain cotton, plain polyester or anything it'd still be very nice to see. Thanks! :)

nice pics, thanks

I went over and with some information at hand from *Yannie*, I have a quick chat with them. They're very nice people indeed, unlike Gao Ling, yucks.

I cannot help it but to join this forum to ask this question. May i know why you said, "unlike Gao Ling, yucks." ?

Thanks..

I cannot help it but to join this forum to ask this question. May i know why you said, "unlike Gao Ling, yucks." ?

Thanks..

Alvin said Gao Ling is very snobbish and unlike what you see on the photos :confused:

Alvin said Gao Ling is very snobbish and unlike what you see on the photos :confused:

Really?? wow. I like her though. Didn't expect she is different from what we always see.:(

Alvin, still on day 2?! Come on, tell us about the rest of your story :)

Well well well...3 months after the last post...and time to break my silence. I was actually told not to mention too much about my experience in linejudging. Due to the fact that I record every detail of my experince in here, just like a diary, I might be revealing things I shouldn't reveal. Especially some insider secrets. Its a shame really as I have loads of stories to tell, how LinDan ask me to check on the training court for him as he wants to warm up, and he warmed up with XieXingFang on the backstage hitting a few strokes instead, LinDan whispered JiaYou to XieXingFang before their game and everyone was prepared very early, even during the mix doubles match of GaoLing-ZhangJun vs Nathan-Gail. ZhangNing and XieXingFang did not talk to each other before the game although they stand near to each other to avoid them being commented as fixing the game rather than playing a real match. Then there is LiYongBo asking LinDan to give his racquet to Jason (you lucky fella~!) in the tunnel where I asked for his shirt. There's alot more stuffs than this for me to tell...but it seemed that I have to keep them with me as accounts of what I hear and see might be damaging to some individual and organisation.

Here's a pic of me using the "sure to win" racquet. Some of the staffs actually use it to play in the mornings on the courts. Very funny to watch~!

Oh yes, I saw Jason sitting down next to Cai-Fu I think, and I was sitting right infront of SunJiHai, his shouts were thunderous and his voice went coarse, we had a good laugh after I shouted as well. Earlier, Fung Permadi sat infront of me and took a nap on the bench while waiting for Alven-Luluk vs Teik Chai-Zakry match as this match went late into the night and we can't leave until the game was over. KKK was there making fun of Luluk's name and the Indonesian team was laughing with them. Sigh...I better stop here, as I might get cautioned again for sharing my stories.

Here is the picture I took when LinDan was walking by and someone from the next seat passed him the flag. Its sort of a fluke shot but it came out ok. Enjoy~!

That's a good shot there. Keep the info coming, I mean how many ALvin Lai's are there :rolleyes: 'they' won't know ;)

Well, I too wish that I can share my stories, I like sharing it out here as when I come back and read it myself next time, it brings back good ol memories. Well, I'm the only "Alvin Lai" linejudging for AE and some senior linejudgers are aware of this site. I'm not sure of how news travels, but I have been prevented from sharing my stories and points across. I just don't know how to elaborate more but this is what happened. Perhaps they think that I will reveal embarassing stuffs or bloopers in AE such as the bustup of the score keeping thing. Well, its a new system and I helped out with score keeping as well. The new system involves a palm pilot and tapping in scores and changing service after every point or service change. In earlier rounds, the whole thing went haywire and scores were not updated till much later and we have to depend on the umpire to announce the scores to correct it later. Kinda bummer if you ask me, but hey, its not nice to tell stories of bloopers of such perhaps. Oh well....