[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]International Badminton OPEN Catalunya is a 2-day tournament (6000€ in prizes and all level players) organized by two important clubs in Catalonia: AGE Granollers & CESIB la Garriga. The two clubs are very near from Barcelona. Official website : http://www.opencatalunya.org/ I will be playing in this Open, so I can give you a report when I get back! [/font]
COME ON CHAMP!! GO KICK SOME ARSE!!! GO for it!!!! Anyone else going? Neil?(coops) since you have won the double fancy your chances there?
No there are some Swedes (Magnus Sahlberg, Jorgen Olsson, Jennie Carlsson) but I haven't seen any english players in the draws... Spain is quite far from England... You can find the draws for the OPEN tournament here : http://cesib.org/open/quadres/quadresopencat.pdf
Thanks, I'll do my best for sure, but my best might not be very bright as I've not been training for one month (interclub season finished + knee pain... ) ... and I will be playing against Arturo Ruiz who is a spanish international player who featured in last years european champs!... Anyway, my only target is to have fun as this is probably my last tournament this season!
Need to 'eliminate' your opponent.....? Don't fret seven, you can do it. Just play with more brains and I'm sure you'll checkmate him quick.
Brain isn't always sufficient when your legs aren't fast enough or your shots not precise enough ... but this is precisely when you need to use brain the most! Anyway I'll have my answer tomorrow!
hehe - seven is right, spain is quite a long way away. even if i got a plane over it would cost a fortune, and where would i stay.... maybe in a few years time, maybe when i'm doing a lot better in the domestic circuit.. but the holiday would be nice Neil
Wow SeveN!!! Happy to hear you to be in action !!! But can't go to see it live...:crying: Do you have any target for this Open?
Hi all, I'm back from Catalunya (Open + holidays) but I don't have time for a complete report right now... I'll also have a few photos to post normally! I'll be writing a report as soon as I get time...
Report Here I am at last for my report! So we got up on saturday morning at 4h30 to take the bus one hour later and go to Barcelona... we finally arrived at the hall sometime before 11h00 (after going round and round ), just in time for our first matches... First singles match ... and my first match was a complete catastrophy. Too tired, not enough time to warm-up + lack of training etc... led to my worst match in quite a while. I thought after a few points that I should get a comfortable win at first sight, but I just got thrashed playing very very poorly! Anyway, luckily this was a pool of three and I still had another match to come ...... against Arturo Ruiz, spanish international player who used to be somewhere near 50th in the world rankings not so long ago! The next pool match opposed him to my first opponent and he just made a very easy job of it, putting his opponent three meters away from the shuttle in just one or two shots... his opponent didn't even put up a fight (why? ) and just got sweeped in ten or fifteen minutes! First doubles match In men's doubles, I was playing with a very good young player (french #3 in U17) with whom I had never played before. We were playing in the first round (last 16) against two young spanish players who turned to be quite good. After one game and a half, we were 9-15 4-11 down and....... we suddenly woke up!! We upped the pace and increased the pressure to come to catch the second game 15-13, then wrap the third one 15-2!!! We were through to the quarter-finals and due to meet the second seeds and current #4 in spanish national rankings... (can't remember their names) Second singles match This was THE match I was waiting for as it was the first time I was playing against a player of this standard. And well, the beginning of the match showed me the difference of class : each time I served high, he caught me on precise attacks near the lines, he took a clear advantage up to 8-1. ... then I did as FEND said I used my brain! I started playing short services and taking maximum risks to vary the game with many crosscourt shots for example, and to my surprise I managed to take the advantage many times on fast game and net game. On his side, he made quite a lot of mistakes which also helped me I must admit... and I ended up winning the first game 15-10 !!!!!!!! (to my surprise and the other player's surprise too ) After this, I think he realized I was rather out of shape and changed his tactic to get the rallies lasting and lasting... this is usually a game I am good at as I have good stamina but there it was too much for me, I was exhausted and lost the second game 15-3... In the third game, I tried to stick back to it but the difference was too big and I had to capitulate 15-6! In any case, this was a great experience even though I think he was clearly not at his best level as I heard he was injured not so long ago... Men's doubles quarter finals Our opponents weren't that young but still very good on flat game and net play, we saw they weren't ranked #4 in Spain for nothing. Though we tried to change tactics to surprise them and make them move around, we were not up to it and lost the match 15-5 15-2, it was a nice experience even so... That's it for my first experience playing abroad, after this I went to spend a few days on holiday in Barcelona before coming back home. Overall, this was a very nice trip! Some photos to follow...
Photos... There was a professional photographer taking photos, you can find them all at http://www.mundosinestesia.com/openbadminton05/ Here are a few photos of me in action (it's cool as this is the first time I see professional photos of myself )
Result of the Finals Men's singles : Magnus Sahlberg (Sweden) beats Pedro Vanneste (Belgium) Women's singles : Xu Bing Xin (China) beats Sandra Chirlaque (Spain) Men's doubles : Olsson/Sahlberg (Sweden) beat Rangil/Garcia (Sweden) Women's doubles : Riera/Perez (Spain) beat Chafer/Aparicio (Spain) Mixed doubles : Fernandez/Xu (Spain/China) beat Serrano/Perez (Spain)
