Cheers Singapore Nationals and Masters 2005 Championships

Last Saturday and Sunday morning, I was at the Singapore Badminton Hall to watch the quarter- and semi- final proceedings. As usual the singles events drew more entries for the Nationals, there being no singles for the Masters.

The Nationals are restricted to Singapore Citizens only but the Masters (4 age group categories) are open to permanent residents as well. As such, participants in the Nationals come mainly from the schools, the national senior and juniors squad trainees, ex-national players and young working adults. But the gulf in standards between the professionals and the amateurs was apparent especially in singles. And the extra spark was somehow missing as many of the imported players were left out and the top singles players, Ronald Susilo and Li Li, decided not to play, although Ronald partnered Kendrick Lee in the men's doubles.

For the Nationals, the singles seedings were spot on with the number 1 and 2 seeds, Kendrick Lee meeting Gerald Ho in the men's final and Jiang Yanmei and Colleen Goh, in the women's final. Kendrick easily disposed of junior, Derek Wong in the SF, 15-2, 15-1, in the semi-finals but Gerald Ho had to stay longer in court to fend off recent Youth International U-19 runner-up, Chew Swee Hau 15-3, 15-13. I think it would be difficult for Gerald to upstage Kendrick in the final.

In the women's singles semi-finals, Jiang was clearly way ahead of the other girls and those who came her way were all given not more than one point and her semi-final opponent, 16-year old schoolgirl, Karen Yuen, received 0-11 and 1-11 in straight games. Another 16-year old schoolgirl, Colleen Goh, who will meet Jiang in the final, was simply too good for Sports School representative, Valerie Wang, who perhaps must be at least 2 years younger, and left her with no points. Colleen, last year's champion, had a scare in the quarter-final when she was stretched to three games by ex-national player, Quek Siao Yan, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7. Colleen will have to be at her best to even score 5 points from Jiang Yanmei in the final.

In the Men's Doubles, the seedings went awry and it ended up with 5/8* Chua Yong Joo (ex-national) & Desmond Tan meeting 3/4* Kendrick Lee & Ronald Susilo in the final. Chua & Desmond had a surprised easy win over 3/4* Johnathan Tang & Derek Wong 15-4, 15-3 in the SF, while Kendrick & Ronald overcame their first game 17-15 on Kevin Lim (ex-national) and Adrian Tay and win the second convincely 15-6. Unseeded Kevin and Adrian did exceedingly well to topple the no.2 seed, Chew Swee Hau & Muhd Azlin Bin Latib, 15-12, 15-13 whilst Chua & Desmond also shocked no.1 seed, Khoo Kian Eng & Koh Yan Sen 15-7, 15-6 in the QF. It will be an interesting men's doubles final, but the internationals, Kendrick and Ronald should have a decided edge over their rivals.

The Women's Doubles final, unfortunately, will not be as interesting, as the no.1 seed, Jiang Yanmei & Xiao Luxi (recently returned from China after a long absence), will be too strong for the younger and considerably less-experienced team of Kimberly Lau & Vanessa Neo, seeded 2. Jiang & Xiao had no opposition at all on their way to the final, whereas Kimberly and Vanessa met with stiff resistance during the SF against Colleen & Karen Yuen, whom they beat 15-12, 13-15, 15-11.

There were not many entries for the Mixed Doubles but the matches were more interesting. No.1 seed, Khoo Kian Teck & Quek Siao Yan justified their seeding by making the final. However, they only just made it, for they had to fight for 60 min against Tan Koon Meng & Shang Fumei, 10-15, 17-16, 15-12 in the SF. The latter pair had also to overcome a 3-gamer against Desmond Tan & Yong Jui Shan, 14-17, 15-9, 15-6 in the QF. In the QF, Khoo and Quek, too, had to fight very hard against Koh Yan Sen & Vanessa Neo, 10-15, 15-11, 17-16.

The finals will be played on Sat, 5 Feb, from 5 pm.

 

Finals Results

I thought I should round up the Cheers Badminton Nationals & Masters Championships 2005 which ended on 5 Feb.

In general, the finals were relatively disappointing, lacking in thrills and excitement with which one would come to be associated.

Many would have thought that the Men's Singles would be the highlight of the evening but, alas, it turned out to be a lame affair with Gerald Ho, the challenger, limping out while trailing in the second game 0-2 with an ankle sprain, his having lost the first 3-15 to the incumbent, Kendrick Lee.

The only sparkle came from the Men's Doubles when Kendrick and Ronald Susilo were extended to three games before winning 17-15, 6-15 and 15-9. Hopes were alive when their opponents, Chua Yong Joo and Desmond Tan, won the second game with surprising ease. But it soon occured that Ronald was actually easing off during the first two games just so that he would not injure himself. When the task demanded in the decider, he exploded with his powerful smashes to help seal victory for his teammate.

The Women's Singles match between the no.1 and no.2 seeds went according to plan. Jiang Yanmei easily disposed of last year's champ, school girl Colleen Goh, with scores of 11-4, 11-5. Colleen should not despair with the result as she was up against a full-time professional.

Again, the Women's Doubles revealed the experience of the Jiang Yanmei-Xiao Luxi partnership, although the latter has only recently returned from China after a long spell to recuperate from her injuries. Kimberly Lau and Vanessa Neo put up a gallant fight but skills and experience told in the end and they succumbed 7-15, 2-15 to their elder sisters.

Jiang continued her fine form in the Mixed Doubles when she and Chua Yong Joo overcame no.1 seed, Khoo Kian Teck and Quek Siao Yan, 15-9, 15-3.

So in the end, Jiang Yanmei was the most bemedalled player wining three golds. But I wonder whether she would be able to match Li Li in the singles. Li Li, together with 4 other teammates who are not yet citizens, competed in the Iran Fajr International 2005 to defend her singles crown successfully. And to top it off, Djohan Erwin won the Men's Singles and with teammate, Hendra Wijaya, he also captured the doubles title. However this is only a Grade A event.

The Masters, which comprised of 4 categories of men's doubles, also ended with no surprises. Again, many had come to watch the Age 35-44 final, but were hugely disappointed when a walkover was given by Wong Chin Leong and Zhang Qingwu, who were expected to win. It transpired that Zhang, ex-China singles player and former Singapore women's team coach, had to return to China for the Lunar New Year. Zhang displayed good form in his earlier rounds.

Thankfully, the Age 45-49 event provided some excitement as the veteran gladiators slogged it out in three consummate games. In the end Steven Oh and Victor Sim emerged victorious over Kamarudin Musa and Leman Sapi, 5-15, 15-9, 15-7.

Here are some pics for the record:

(Sorry had problems with my attachments)

 

OK, Joyce and John, I'll try again to attach the pics.

Those pics are in the BC system as somehow when I posted the last time my post was taken over by an 'outside' party and got lost, but the pics I attached were already captured by BC. What I'll do now is to try and change the reference captions of those similar pics to try to 'bluff' the computer into thinking that they are not repeats. If I fail, I'll attach some other pics to compensate.

 

Thanks Sealman for your info. I happened to take some pictures with Zhang Qingwu and his partner Wong in action during the SF and like to show them here.

 

Interesting observation! Could you give your reasons Mr Umpire.

 

Well, if Wong moves his racket to hit the shuttle at that level, then the service is questionable. What if it is the other way round - Wong brings the shuttle down to his racket level before hitting?

As Taneepak and others have stressed in the post on "Doubles Serve", you need to stand close to the short service line, take advantage of your height or stance to shorten the distance between you and your opponent when serving low.

And this includes placing the shuttle as high as is permissible under the laws. And most of us agree that the highest waist level is at your lowest rib. It seems that Wong was holding his shuttle far too high, but if you try to feel where your lowest rib is, you'll be surprised that it is actually not low, but quite high, higher than one's navel!

So the picture did not tell everything. To be conclusive, we should see at which height Wong hits the shuttle. Wong was merely holding the shuttle in the pic.

 

Hi Cheongsa

When are you returning? Have you completed your dissertation/thesis? Do you need to do a practical attachment for another few months thereafter? We're waiting for you although now we have had a little problem trying to retain the NUS SRC for our Sunday sessions. Recently, we've been playing at the Bt Gombak Sports Hall (just outside the MRT Station).

In the NUSS new building plans, a multipurpose hall was indicated but it will be built during the second phase, probably 3 to 4 years later. If we have our own courts, we need not have to bother with bookings.

 

Please PM me when you return in May so that you can join us in our Sunday sessions.

Actually the NUS (Alumni) and the NUSS are doing the project together. There was a competition for the designs and the winning entries have been posted at NUSS Kent Ridge. I will take some pics for you to see. The NUS Alumni will also have their new clubhouse built adjacent to the NUSS at Kent Ridge. I think the Business School will also be located nearby to take advantage of the facilities.

From a rough review of the plans, again badminton will have to take a backseat to tennis, which will enjoy many courts in the open, on roof tops? We will be lucky to have badminton courts in the Multipurpose Hall, hopefully with a ceiling high enough for at least a good double game.

By the time you are permanently back, you'll be able to enjoy all the first phase facilities, I think.