Yonex Canadian International Challenge - Moncton, Canada Dec 12-17 Moncton is a very small Canadian city -- far from the big hubs of Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. But it will soon be hosting a pretty fair tournament. Entrants representing at least 16 countries have signed up. (No Chinese, Japanese, Indonesians or Malaysians though.) Notables include Kestutis Navickas (Lithuania) and Carl Baxter (England). And of course, Badminton Central's own Nicholas Bankowsky (Trinidad/Tobago). For aramistuscany and fellow admirers, the Mexican WD pair of Cynthia Gonzalez and Victoria Montero will be there too. So if you've ever wanted to see impoverished Eastern Canada in bleak winter, now's your chance!
WEATHER - November 30, 2011 Glasgow Scotland: High of 9 deg C; rain Moncton Canada: High of 15 deg C; cloudy
The draws are out for the Yonex Canadian Invitational: Badminton Central member Nicholas Bonkowsky is up against Canadian veteran Stephan Wojcikiewicz in the first round of MS. Towbsss (Toby Ng) will be there with his mixed partner Grace Gao. The Mexican WD duo - who have plucked a few BC heartstrings - Victoria Montero/ Cynthia Gonzales are against Canada's best, Michelle Li/ Alex Bruce. The USA's Wang sisters are in the mix too. Good luck to all!! ____________________ Unfortunately I will be unable to attend to provide pictures. Perhaps Badminton Canada will put up some photos. Hopefully towbsss will have his trusty video camera to upload on his blog.
Weather forecast for this week: Sunny/Cloudy; High +7 degrees C (Friday); low -10 degrees C (Monday) Hope the Brazilians and Thais brought their long underwear!
From Macau to Moncton. It's not going to be very different for some of the players. The Moncton Casino is close by for de-stressing activities (or otherwise! ) And for those players who do not make it to the Finals on December 17 but are still in the city, there's good news! --> The City of Moncton invites you to the Moncton Coliseum for a FREE skate with Santa Claus on Saturday, December 17 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. And the tournament itself features prominently on the home page of the city's official website.
Some little known facts about Moncton... Moncton was one of the largest railheads of the contry for a long, long time. In fact it is still called "Hub City" becasue of its strategic location to serve all the Maritimes provinces. It is quite far from where cobalt holds court. It is even further from where visor and madbad have been quarantined. It is but a short stroll from where Fidget snores, but his hibernation began a tad early this year. In short, Moncton is the ideal place to visit, for every one else!
Don't get too excited looking at those skating university girls, cobalt! By the way the "U de M" on their jerseys stands for Université de Moncton, which highlights the fact that New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada. The only participant in the tournament who I am sure is an NB'er is Jerry Zhang, who is in tough against Carl Baxter (England Rank #2) this afternoon. We need someone on the spot to take up the tale!!
Hey Fidget, good on ya for trumpeting the event. You MUST find a way to attend and report. Anything else would be unacceptable!
Damn! Fidget you encouraged me to sign uP for this tournament, but I declined cause of the airfare, had you told me there was a Skate with Santa session on the Saturday, I would have been on the next flight!!! I am just a big kid really...
Fret not. I'm sure Fidget has enough pull to get the Skate with Santa moved for you. Book your air ticket!
Hah! Basically playing for the hell of it or taking a vacation in frigid Moncton Have you enquired about the Hotel Fidget? I hear they give good rates to needy souls.
You guys are hilarious! I went off to my kids Xmas concert and you guys were here casting aspersions on Moncton and me! At any rate, it is a standing offer than any worthy BC'er traveling through Nova Scotia can have a good feed of lobster on Fidget's dime. (note the adjective 'worthy' ) Accommodation available with advance notice. (need time to clean the Lego and Barbie dolls from the pull-out couch. )
Todays Results can be found here: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...885646-DEE5-46A4-9734-3063E84A48A0&d=20111213 Winners so far include: Alex Tjong (Bra) over Luke Couture (Can) 26-24 21-23 21-13 Daniel Paiola (Bra) Yuhan Tan (Bel) Stephan Wojcikiewicz (Can) over Nicholas Bonkowsky (Trini and BC) Carl Baxter (Eng) Iris Wang (USA)
It would appear that a few Brazillians read the weather forecast and changed their minds before catching their plane: There are numerous walkovers in today's schedule including for Women's Singles ranks number 1 Michelle Li, number 2 Rena Wang and ..... wait for it george ....., number 4 Victoria Montero.
Updating as per tournamentsoftware: For some this tournament is going along swimmingly. In women's singles Michelle Li, Victoria Montero and Rena Wang have all made it to the quarter finals without having to play a single game! Misses Li (Can) and Montero (Mex) have at least played some doubles, but Ms Wang (USA) has yet to strike a bird in anger. Guess she's had plenty of time to visit Magnetic Hill and Magic Mountain! In MS, some have decided to take a more arduous route. Joseph Rogers (Can) and Alex Tjong (Bra) each required two three-game matches to have the pleasure of meeting today in the QF. ______________ Now you all may go back to watching the SS finale from China.