The Singapore Indoor Stadium once again opens its doors for the Aviva Open Singapore 2006. Monday and today are admission free for the qualifying events. Tomorrow are the preliminary rounds for the main draw, starting early morning at nine with the XD and possibly ending at around 9.30 pm with the MD. And what a start it will be with no. 1 seed, Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of England crossing swords with their Japanese counterparts, Keita Masuda and Tomomi Matsuda. The dynamo Emms will not give the Japanese duo any quarters and it will be her control at the net that will once again prove decisive! The WS will have a rest day and will commence on Thursday. The time taken to complete all the events will be decidedly shorter, thanks to the new 21-point rally scoring system. Badminton fans watching at the stadium will not have to endure past mid-night and miss the public transport to take them home. I managed to capture a little of the atmosphere at the SIS this morning. As the main events will be held tomorrow they are still doing up the decor and fine-tuning other matters. A great deal of construction work are in progress in the vicinity as this Kallang venue will be turned into a new sports hub in about 2 to 3 year's with the new Circle Line very much in an advanced stage. But the sky is cloudy and a little rain is expected. Hopefully it will be bright sunshine tomorrow as lots more fans are expected to turn up to support the event and thier heroes. As for the qualifying matches, I've chosen to focus on two of our young China girls brought into Singapore when they were about 12 to 13 years old. They are probably around 16 now. While Zhang Beiwen lost narrowly to Yoshimi Hataya of Japan in three hard-fought games, 14-21, 21-13, 18-21 in 53 minutes, Gu Juan brought some hope when she defeated the much taller, Lydia Cheah of Malaysia, in a 41-min three gamer, 21-11, 18-21, 21-16 to secure a place in the main draw. Hopefully with more exposure, our girls will learn to climb the ranking ladder faster!
Nice, pics! Gu played impressively, beating Malaysia's Lydia Cheah Li Ya 21-11,18-21,21-16 to claim her ticket to the main draw for the second successive year.
Loh... thank you so much for the pics... I'm really very happy to see some from Singapore Open. Nice write-up as well.
OMG... Thanks so sosoosos much for the pics Loh! How I miss SIS, and all those wonderful things that happened there last year...... Too bad I can't go there this year. Thx for the neat info. Keep posting ok Loh?
thx very much for the pics loh! so how's storkbill doing? u both are the correspondents of BC in singapore. looking forward to seeing more pics from u guys!
Loh, same from me, thanks for the early pics...and looking fw to more pics as the tourney progresses....don't forget to take pics of the BC SO gathering, i'm looking fw to it..hehe Hmm, noticed they are doing some construction work in front of the SIS bldg, on the circle...traffic must be quite heavy heh, if not now, probably later on the weekend when SF and Finals roll around..
Hi ctjcad, Yes! there is a construction doing tunnels for underground expressway and trainway right in front of the bldg. But the place is not residential area and therefore traffic around the building is somewhat not heavy (and most of time, no traffic at all ).
A bit off topic.. hi kyiyu, how is it going, long time haven't talk. i believe last time i tried contacting you was last yr, when i went to S'pore. However, i'm not there this yr.. Anyways, thanks for the additional infos. Yah, if that's the case and they're adding new tunnels for the MRTs, then that's a great news(sorry, i'm not that familiar with the area, but are they building the tunnels underwater?or above it?cos i remember there is a river/body of water separating the main downtown and the SIS area and we have to go on a bridge). Anyways, now people can have access from downtown(Orchard Rd. area) to the SIS/Kallang(eventhough i remember there's one close by, but it's still far from the SIS) area using the MRTs. I remember last yr, i had to take a taxi to/from downtown area all the way to SIS.. Maybe next time i visit S'pore i'll be able to ride that instead to watch the SO..
Yes, the new Circle Line (underground train) is supposed to bring more people and add more life to this sports centre in about 3 years' time. Kallang will be transformed beautifully and will be another favourite place for physical-fitness and sports-minded people, especially the young, to converge and do their thing. The current national stadium (which you can see in the pic) will be pulled down and replaced by a more hi-tec one with about the same seating capacity (55,000) but an indoor stadium will be added to complement the outstanding SIS, which of course will be retained. There will be other sports facilities to this new Kallang Sports Hub, but the design details are not made public yet I think. This hub will be contracted out for private management. I might also add that this sports facility will coincide with the completion of the International Resort (IR) at Marina Bay, a casino and integrated tourist facilities with first-class hotels, museums, entertainment, meetings, incentives tours facilities, etc. The much heralded IR , costing about US$6 billion to build, was recently won by Las Vegas Sands, which was also successful in Macau. Not only this, our Botanic Gardens, will also come all the way to the IR to turn this downtown, first-class commercial area near to Raffles Place, into an extensive tropical garden. Come to Singapore in three years' time and many interesting places will await you and tickle your senses! The new Kallang Sports Hub will be the future sports arena to host regional and international sports such as sthe SEA Games, the Commonwealth Games and perhaps the Asian Games, if Singapore is given the honour to host them!
Hi Red, we're all volunteers with a passion! Mr Storkbill has much more impressive instruments and you should expect much better pics from him. But do expect many others to contribute to the pictorial scene as the tournament unfolds progressively!
Hi ctjcad, Yeah! You did. I felt bad that I missed your call as I was on line with other. And when I returned the call, the hotel reception picked up and could not trace anyone. Therefore, I could not get you back. Thinking of redeeming you for a missed call with a lunch treat , if you come this year open. So bad that you miss this year. KY
Off topic.. Loh, appreciate again for sharing your never-ending information. Wow, what an ambitious plan by the local and national govt. of S'pore. Looks like they are investing quite a lot in enhancing the image and charm of S'pore. I just hope with all the changes, they don't lose or forget their traditional side. Yes, i heard and read abt the IR and a plan to open up a Casino/Multi-complex area in S'pore and to be built/owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands group(as a matter of fact, Las Vegas area is also undergoing and/or planning to undergo an extensive no. of expansion). BTW, mind telling us how are they going to build the underground tunnels for MRTs??underwater or above it??.. Anyways, i'll probably visit S'pore sometimes soon again, cos 3 yrs. is probably a long time wait, hehe.. Hopefully next year, for the 2007 SO so i can join you guys..
Off topic.. Kyiyu, no problem. Appreciate again your willingness to be "bothered". Wow, so you still remember heh, eventhough it's been about a yr already.. Anyways, hopefully we can meet next yr.. BTW, you're watching the SO this yr right??Are you also joining the BC gang's get-together??..