Here in Tokyo at Thomas / Uber Cup, 2006

Discussion in 'Thomas Cup / Uber Cup 2006' started by GGsally, May 4, 2006.

  1. GGsally

    GGsally Regular Member

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    :( Hello All,

    I can't believe I wrote a huge glip glop of happenings here in Tokyo and I lost it ALLL!! Here I go again. :mad:

    He he.. Here’s a little summary of my time so far. Not too badminton oriented cos I haven’t seen enough games so don’t get too disappointed if I’m not doing a play by play commentary. More like what's the scoop here

    I landed from the Bay Area to BOOOTiful weather on May 3rd. Traffic was light because of "GOLDEN WEEK". Something similar to Chinese Holiday where no office is open for 1 WHOLE week! All the "suits" holiday into the Country. That sent me into a "NO SHOPPING!!?" panic, but alas it was people mountain people sea in the heavenly districts. :D

    We are staying at the official tournament Hotel Keio which is quaint and very centrally located in Shinjuku-ku. I'm on the 41st floor so I can see all the buildings ha ha.. Looks abit like Vegas except taller. I managed to see Punch Gunalan for a few Hi and BYE minutes as he was busy as bee. He wants me to attend my first AGM (Annual General meeting) on the 6th. I guess I will keep my mouth shut and ears open as I don't know the first thing about what to do yet. I hope I become useful soon. After a not so fitfull nights sleep, I went down to breaky and bumped into an array of Uber cup semi finalists munching away. I was happy to see Zhang Ning and we arranged to have dinner tonight. I gladly stole some shopping time then proceeded to go watch Zhang at 1pm. The stadium here is very nice and the lighting is much better than Anaheim. They are bright and evenly spaced, although with much downwind cos a lot of shots kept hitting out. I was shuffling away at getting comfy on my seat, but before I could warm my butt, Zhang already won her games! I have NO idea who she played but later on she told me, and now I forgot already, she won 21-14 and 21-17. Hope that is correct. Then suddenly there was a break so I thought I’d go Yonex shopping at the Kiosk for our staff at GGBC and some socks for meself. I just LOVE the Thomas Cup T-shirts here. They are BRIGHT orange, dry fit material with a cool logo and design. The audience is much more reserved and passive here although I’m not sure if I can stand those clapping balloons much more! I also learned that Wong Chun Han from Malaysia ripped his Achilles tendon!! He was in the middle of his game, it loudly snapped and he collapsed. He was ahead 14-10, but lost cos of his injury! How awful! The poor guy was sent to a nearby Hospital but they couldn’t operate till much later so he was shipped back to Malay this morning. Mike also snapped his Achilles tendon in Canada a few years back. It took him a whole year and half to recuperate not to mention the excruciating therapy to begin play again. :(



    TAIWAN TEAM LOST! :eek: I was routing so hard for my birth Country. They played 3 singles sets and lost. Only a Ms. Pei, the 3rd one out, won her 2nd game but lost in the 3rd. Those Hollander girls were BIG! The poodle haired girl, the upset seed in Anaheim, who now has a walnut colored shaggy cut with diamond stud earrings, was beating herself up for not zoning in on her game. She was cute and shy but excited and said she would work much harder! How sweet is that? Her opponent MIA, was resilient and strong with a lot more experience so it just wasn’t going to be. The Hollanders had their own cheerleading team too:rolleyes: . Taiwan only got shouts and screams of encouragement from the few of us. The other 2 Hollander girls just look like they want to eat someone! (BTW Mikey, the guy who directs the Chien Chen Cup in Taiwan asked if you came to Tokyo and say’s HI. He wants you to go register and play. I told him if I can play with you we can team up for 80 years or older, so can you grow older quickly please? Catch up, catch up! They were devatasted when Taiwan lost, and I almost chewed the arm off the person beside me from anxiety)

    After the miserable loss, I went back in the shuttle and went to have dinner with Zhang and another 19 year old up and coming named Ms. RU. I can’t remember her name again! It was interesting dinner conversation with her as my friend asked if she can beat most Men. She said she can beat the junior Men on her teams from her experience alone, and even the most skillful amateur players cannot beat her because she has honed her skills for 21 years, 8 hours a day. She said they can only get a few hours of practice a day at best. That made a lot of sense. So I’m not as good as her cos I don’t have time to practice!! Ha ha.. Thru out the dinner it amazed me that there is a person sitting in front of me that no female in this world can beat, except sometimes Xie! My other friend also asked her for 18 points ahead to play with her. She quipped she would only have 3 chances to win points! The 21 point play is a nail biting scoring system. Numbers are always head to head cos every shot scores now. Zhang said that it's much tiring than the 11 points as whenever she gets 1 point, her next thought is, “oh boy, another 20 points to go!!” as opposed to just enduring the 10! She is very very TALL. Almost 5’11”. During the dinner I managed to ask her how her daughter was. She kindly replied, I don’t have a daughter, then I switched to, sorry your son then, and she laughed and said she didn't have one of those either! She said she also heard this rumor but it would be simply IMpossible to have a baby on her schedule and it would devastate her body to the point she could not play again at her age. So there, put to rest the rumor she has a child. Husband, yes, child, no. Then we all thought MIA has a child, but neither that! Isn’t gossip amazing?? All in all, Zhang is an extraordinary woman. She is unsurpassably talented, animated, funny, exciting, beautiful, very talkative and just plain NICE. She was very professional to abide by her Kurfew of not being out too late. Only the China team are very disciplined this way. The other Countries let their players do what they please and have no restrictions.

    We had also bumped into Tony Gunawan and Chandra in the Lobby. I made the mistake of asking if he was playing in the finals and he already lost in the prelims in Sudakei or something. I asked if he would play in the UCB / GG open cos he is friends with Mike, but he is off to his homeland till June 9th or 10th. He did tell me Halim was coming so there you have one confirmed participant for our tournament. Tony DID say he would keep his promise to Mike to come to GGBC, so let’s keep our fingers crossed! It was nice seeing 2 old friends going off to dinner together.

    OK, what have I missed?? Girls get a day off tournament tommorow but start practice at 11am! What a life! Zhiang Zhuing told me they love tournaments cos it’s much more fun than the regular practice schedules. Tommorow will be Men’s Semi’s China against Indonesia from 1pm, and Malaysia against I don’t know who yet in afternoon.. I will send another report here tomorrow and sorry if I bored you all today! I’m getting sleepy. Going off to dream no one can beat me in singles, doubles and mix! VEERRRY wishful…:cool: :p

    From Land of rising sun, GGSally, signing off………..Thomas / Uber Cup. :D
     
  2. wood_22_chuck

    wood_22_chuck Regular Member

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    Wow! Thanks for sharing your experiences, Sally. Very much appreciated.

    -dave
     
  3. ctjcad

    ctjcad Regular Member

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    (Sally's wonderful report snipped for brevity)
    Sally, same sentiment with dave(wood_22_chuck) also...
    Wow, great and wonderful report..A lot of interesting infos you to there..
    I'm sure you are having a blast in Tokyo, tired but i'm sure you are enjoying every moment there..:cool:

    On that note, i will post your report in the Thomas & Uber Cup forum to let the other folks read your experience(i thought it was more appropriate to post there, but anyways)..

    Lastly, since you mentioned you will be at the AGM meeting tomorrow, and most likely you will be the first to hear the decision on the scoring system, would you mind telling us *firsthand* what will be their decision??..we are looking for that report!..hehe;)

    thx again-appreciate for your report!-:):cool:
     
  4. ants

    ants Regular Member

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    Thanks Sally for the indepth report. :) I was suppose to go there but my plans got haywire and got some stuffs to finish off. Hear from you soon again. Have a good rest and reserve your vocal for shouting. Heheheh
     
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    us mortals maybe, but i don't think Sally will have any problems with maintaining her voice for hours and hours!

    excellent report, btw. i look forward to hearing any insider info during the AGM.
     
  6. badMania

    badMania Regular Member

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    Wow....great to hear from you again Sally....and a real good report to read. I think the players that Sally had dinner with were Lu Lan and Zhang Ning. Hmm..Keio Plaza hotel...I was supposed to stay in that hotel too during a conference held in Tokyo 4 years ago...too bad I eventually cancelled my trip.
     
  7. xofrevlis

    xofrevlis Regular Member

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    That's a great insight you've provided us all with, Sally!
    See if you can cap it all off by singing in a closing ceremony after the finals. :D
     
  8. Shiryu

    Shiryu Regular Member

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    Thanks Sally for the report! People like us can only dream to experience what you had. haha.
    btw, any photos? ;)
     
  9. Peggy

    Peggy Regular Member

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    :) What an amusing article, Sally! Thanks for sharing.

    Just finished watching the game between Malaysia & Denmark in the semi-final... too bad... Malaysia lost!:crying: However, i'm hoping China team will win both the Thomas & Uber Cup once again!!! Go! Go! China!:D

    Enjoy your trip there & looking forward to hear for mooooore....:D later.

    Peggy
     
  10. Pete LSD

    Pete LSD Regular Member

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    Keep us posted Sally! Add photos too . . .
     
  11. madbad

    madbad Regular Member

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    I thoroughly enjoyed the recollection your conversation with Zhang Ning. We all wonder what these badminton stars are really like in person, especially the Chinese. On the court we see Zhang Ning carrying herself very gracefully. It's good to hear the other sides of her personality. Looking forward to more.

    mb
     
  12. GGsally

    GGsally Regular Member

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    Semi Final Men's Tokyo Thomas / Uber

    Hello Guys,

    Sorry I didn't post yesterday, cos I LOST my last post so I went into a bit of a panic when I couldn't find myself on GGBC! I kind of thought I never posted it in the first place so I was so tired I just didn't post ne...

    OK heres my little 5 or 6 bits..

    I had an interview in the morning with some Malay reporters. They told me my idols were FROZEN from playing! Sigit and Chandra would NOT play today against the China. I said WHYYYYY??? Apparently they are not in the best ZONE again, and so they were taken out. I practically LIVE to see them but somehow I haven't been getting my share of late!! There is something I don't know if I'm allowed to tell but since the REPORTERS told and since they have the biggest :eek: then maybe I can tell? :rolleyes: ? Anyways, THEY told me this is Chandra's last game for awhile!! :eek: OK, shhh.... now...

    I arrived to see Taufik in play with Lin Dan. It seemed like they were ballet dancing. Taufik wasn't playing at all. he didn't even TRY to save a smash. There would be a big corner of real estate on his left and Dan would put it just there and Taufik, still in his defence position, mouth open, legs apart and glued to the court. He was just sending birdies over the net. They would dance around abit and then boom... Lin Dan would find real estate and SMASH! 1 point gone! 21-17 1st game and barely a fight in the 2nd at 21-8. :confused: . So I asked and seems Taufik is enjoying married life and he only just recently recovered from a sore back. And from some interesting jibber jabber thru the grapevine, they said Taufik doesn't play too well during team events. He zones in on individual tourneys. What do you guys think? All heresay but an interesting point. He really didn't seem there at all yesterday. So onto the next doubles. Fu and Cai against the 2 Indonesians that I don't know the name. he hee.. THAT was exciting!!! 24-22 and then 21-17! They worked so hard, and when Fu and Cai play, can't see where the birdie is going cos its' always on the ground somewhere but you have to see which side to know who won! Cai is really very talented. In my own humble, limited badminton skill assesment, Cai really played his game yesterday. I saw less of Fu's remarkable sword fighting wrist work. I wonder if they learn sword fighting cos it seems the wrist is THAT flexible. :rolleyes: What is amazing is their net shots. Seems the birdie just tumbles on a lazy roll over the net. Can we ever practice to that perfection? Especially at that speed? Where do they get that split second to DECIDE what to do with the feather?? Sometimes it seems they're on turbo speed and suddenly, they go into a slow motion tai chi. Gotta try that. ha ha!! I thought the excitement was over since Indonesia's crown prince of singles lost. I didn't realise the next guy (again name? :cool: ) would put up such a good fight against Bao Chun Lai. 21-17 and 24-22. I love Bao's net shots cos they seem cosmic! Bao kept hitting this one shot from a far corner and smash cross court dropping into another with his amazing over head backhand and the guy kept giving them to him. One play is etched in my memory forever! Bao under hand lobs high to the right, then the guy smashes Baos' right straight down, Bao left handed, keeled over nose to court to save that shot lobbing up straight line so whole left court empty. Within seconds other guy SMASHES HARD onto middle left court at speed of light, and Bao, body still nose to ground, but SOMEHOW :eek: , his racquet managed to miraculously show up UNDER the birdie on the left before it hit the ground!!! MY GOD that was WITCHCRAFT I tell you!!! Dumbfounded. :eek:

    It's interesting to see that all the players who don't play have to watch all the other teams, take video, and go back to room and STUDY how they play. Then they have meetings at night on how to strategize. I will try to have a meeting next time too with myself :cool: :p . Like Xie Zhong Bo didn't even get to play today cos China won but he is studying and studying at the stadium. I really feel bad when people lose cos they ALWAYs walk with their head down afterwards. Animated and chirpy the day before but miserable the next. They always blame themselves for not playing well and your heart goes out to them. I missed the singles play with Peter Gades and Lee Chun Wei cos I went shopping on the break. When I got back they were both doing interviews and with just the body language you can see who lost and who won.

    Then came the highlight of my trip so far. It was Denmark Doubles against Malay. It was goosebumpy, spine tingling, hair raising DEMON badminton. :mad: I'd never seen anything like it. Arms, legs, yellow cards, red cards, tempers flying everywhere. Almost 5 serves were obsolete but the atheletes managed to keep their cool and their game but it was finger chewing. I only found out (probably common knowledge for you guys) that yellow card is warning, but red card, auto point goes to opposing team! Cheeky if you get red card, no wonder 3-K was so upset when he got red card. He had his racquet up in protest for what seem like long time. It was the first time the score went to 30 in back to back score wrenching! 30-28 in the second game for Denmark. Malays came back with 21-6 in 3rd game!!! First game was 21-17 for Mas. Couldn't believe Danes riveting defiance in 2nd game, but in the 3rd, their bubble popped! I guess the Danes were all fought out. I was all exhausted after it finished. So much so I had to go to dinner. Aiyaaaa!! I missed the rest and found out Denmark won so Malays are not the happy campers. It was a devastating blow that Wong Chun Han ripped his achilles tendon. He was so important to the team spirit too. Oh the reason they had to send him home was Japan couldn't perform surgery till MONDAY!! There is a QUEUE for surgery!

    Ok there you have it. I will give you latest but I had my first AGM meeting this morning at 9am so I missed the women's finals. I really wanted to see my idol Zhang Ning. She told me she was not feeling well yesterday in the afternoon but I caught her with ICE cream in hand at night. Ha ha... I'm sure she will win cos of that!! Meeting was so dramatic. I will fill you in after I get some lunch. Hey if you think my postings are long winded feel free to edit me. I get really carried away when it comes to my favorite subject! :eek: . Please forgive me!

    Toodle loo... I can make it for some women's finals now. Off to the stadium!

    :D Sally
     
    #12 GGsally, May 5, 2006
    Last edited: May 5, 2006
  13. badMania

    badMania Regular Member

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    Well...Sony has won a bronze medal at the Olympics...so...you should know his name :D
     
  14. GGsally

    GGsally Regular Member

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    Yes Lu Lan right. I will post photo when I find my assistant back in GGBC. Lu is very cute and up and coming. TALLLL.It is pronounced RU. I'm very forgetful with names. Sorry! :confused:

    Sally
     
  15. madbad

    madbad Regular Member

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    I thought this was common knowledge already. Chandra's going back to his club in Jakarta. Sigit will partner Flandy in future tournaments.

    Oh, you can also shorten the word Malaysian(s) to MAS. Malay refers to the race e.g. Hafiz is Malay, Chong Wei is Chinese.

    Keep up the reporting. Will be interesting to know the outcome of the AGM on scoring. Suggest 15 x 5 rally point scoring to them. Go on, use your considerable influence:p :p :p
     
  16. ctjcad

    ctjcad Regular Member

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    (some of Sally's report snipped for brevity)..
    Sally, thanks much again for the wonderful report...this is more than we can ask, we'll treat all your reports as your "souveniers" from Tokyo..hehe;)
    BTW, sorry we had to move your report to this forum and you were having a bit of problem finding it at the other forum..hope you won't mind..:)
    Yes, it seems that's the total opposite of LinDan, who so far has performed admirably well in team events in comparison to Taufik. I guess it's the "pressure" thing..:rolleyes: :)
    As for your reports, they're not long winded at all..keep on posting and tell us everything you are experiencing over there..:)
    Yes, we are waiting anxiously for your report on the decision from the AGM meeting..hope you are not keeping all of us in suspense...hehehe:p
     
    #16 ctjcad, May 6, 2006
    Last edited: May 6, 2006
  17. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    hi sally, it was fun reading up about your time in the TC/UC.

    Btw, if you start practicing now, you will have more years of experience when you're 80 year old than what zhang ning has now;)

    Bao's diving skills were learned and honed from many sparring and competitve play with Lin Dan. Remember, we bf'er labelled bao as a runner up specialist:p
     
    #17 cooler, May 6, 2006
    Last edited: May 6, 2006
  18. Tjun Tjun

    Tjun Tjun Regular Member

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    Thanks GGSally for your interesting report. Looking forward to your 3rd instalment ......
     
  19. Bbn

    Bbn Regular Member

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    --------------------------------

    This is the poodle-haired girl referedt to (alias Sew Ha Mai),

    this time she wears skirts.
     

    Attached Files:

  20. GGsally

    GGsally Regular Member

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    AGM Meeting, Tokyo May 6, 06 9am

    Good Morning ALL!!

    Since I've been here I've been consumed with Jet Lag :( . I just can't stay asleep :crying: !

    I arrived on 5th floor of Keio Plaza, with my thermos of hot tea. LUCKILY, I bumped into Punch cos I was in jeans to everyones suit and tie and completely inappropriate amoungst a sea of Politicians on CNN or something. My 5'7" frame seemed tiny in the melee' of giant SUIT men! I could barely detect a female:eek: ! Punch grabbed me and walked thru hundreds of tables facing forward like a classroom and plunked me down on the middle seat in the first row! OM-GOD!! I was facing THE COUNCIL! Felt like being tried in the court of law! Anyways no one was seated but I was glued cos I was too scared to look anywhere else! There were hundreds of delegates from Countries I cannot pronounce, never heard of in any geography class, nor remember the spelling! I was told AGM would last from 9am to 5pm. I didn't know how I would stay awake cos council was in right in my face. I couldn't steal a couple of winks hiding behind some Country :( . I was thinking of some strategies. I had no meeting agenda, no pen, no paper.

    There are 23 council members plus the Mr. President Kang and deputy, Punch. Mr. Kang made an eloquent opening speech, in English, declaring his ambition and goal to make Badminton " THE NUMBER ONE RACQUET SPORT IN THE WORLD!!!" HORRAYYY!!! They introduced some guests, including me, and the meeting began!

    It started with "look at your agenda" and I just sat there :confused: . First to many items later was mostly about statutes in the memorandum. Wording rearrangement on the clauses, deletions, took almost 1 hour to resolve. Everytime there was voting, there was minimal reaction so I think everyone was still sleepy. There was one particular looong controversy that I won't detail, but it was riveting, cos some nice lady behind me passed on a meeting agenda so I finally got to know what they were talking about. It was a VERY interesting experience to see how truly influential position and power can be. Politics cannot be played by the faint of heart. ME :eek: .

    OK to your point of interest!!! 21 point system has been passed and unanimously accepted by ALL Countries. Their only protest is that if there are any more changes, they should be "proposed" MUCH earlier for thorough preparation and ample time to seep itself into the mainstream given the millions of badminton facilities around the World. Council agreed and countered point system was introduced 1 year ago but no one took it seriously so................:rolleyes: Countries also requested that point changes and court size changes be :eek: ( didn't even know that can be?) as far and few between as possible and to take "MUCH caution" to call for these changes. Council said the 21 point system keeps audience at the edge of their seat, and TV converage increased by whopping %, so it stays....for now.. It also pumps players adrenaline and gives Players an equal chance to WIN. They still talking even better possibilities..:eek:

    Even UCB/GGBC National Open in June will still use the 15 point system. Mike Yang said that no one likes changes but once people get used to its fine. That is very true :D . At GGBC people said the ceilling was too white so Mike painted it, and then they said it was too dark, so Mike removed some light covers (climbed up to do it himself) and now its JUUUUST RIGHT :p . (Sounds like the 3 bears tale with their porridge doesn't it?)

    Well.. apparently majority Players doooon't like the 21 point system cos Bobby Milroy ( a young Canadian), President of the Players Federation based in Denmark, reflected the Players opinions. He didn't quite say WHY but he did say that if it were, to fundamentally achieve the goal of the current President, we must work together and also hear the voices of those who actually PLAY the game. Good point. Hear Hear...

    Then we were given 4 presentations from 4 countries who will host the:
    1./ Senior games ( No presentation, missed the venue and city :( )
    2./ Junior World Championship- Incheon, Korea. June 2006 October
    3./ Sudirman Cup- Glasgow, Scotland, June 10-17th, 2007 (next AGM meeting will also take place there on 17th, Finals)
    4./ Thomas / Uber Cup - Jakarta, Indonesia, May 2008
    5./ Olympics - Beijing 2008

    They are heavy in planning for the next Olympics and it was interesting how far along they are already and how much time and gargantuan effort it takes to make the preparations! The presiding officials and Volunteers are sent to training facilities to learn how to handle the procedures of their job descriptions!

    Meeting was pretty much DONE! I expected 5pm and it finished at 1! COOOLLL. They called for a 6pm dinner. I trampled on down to the stadium to watch the Lady finals but when I walked in, my friends were JUST leaving so I went with them for a shopping break. Zhang Ning called out to me and excitingly told WON her games but she was SOOO exhausted cos Mia gave her a kick butt fight to the end! She explained the play to me, but so sorry she talks real fast and her Chinese is too good, can't understand!! I was struggling to make 2 or 3 words!:cool: I was much :( to see that the 3 of us girls, who did not play 3 plowing matches, looked so much worse for wear than her, bright eyed and glowing skin! :crying:Gotta play more!!

    At 6pm, I forgot ALL about the dinner so RUSHED over and caught Taufik and his wife chatting to many. I think they awarded him with Athelete of the Year award but I missed the ceremony. Wife is CUTE!! Very caring of T. Then someone calls my name! GUESS WHOOO!!! KEVIN HAN!! YAHH USA champion many times over! He was in suit and tie, didn't recognise him! He is now a commentator and covering all of the games. Also he is working as a USBA consultant and diplomat. Mike, Kevin said HI to you and said he called you before moving to Colorado.

    OK that's it! I will go to finals today and hope for some eye blinking moments! Will report tommorow!

    :D :D Sally
     

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