Nz South Island Open

Hi, Just want to share with you guys that tonight is the beginning of the South Island Open and I'm seeded in this tournament so I'm nervous as hell! Hope I do well in both my singles and doubles!

The tourney goes from Fri night to Saturday night (not 24 hours..but through 2 days)
Wish me luck guys! I will inform you of how I do later!

A

 

First day over..one more to go..

Hiya all, thanks for your encouragement.

Okie, so far, I've played two rounds of Ladies Singles. I am really surprised that I got seeded 3rd given that there are really good players in the field. Anyway, won the 1st round reasonably easy and quarter-finals was a bit harder, got through in three, cause I was losing concentration at times due to the different speeds of the shuttles. We started with one that's slow, and so I hit the shuttles harder than usual. Took the first game 11-5. Then we changed to a shuttle that was really fast (but not fast enough to warrant a change and the opponent won't want it slow down because it favoured her..she didn't like my fast pace game ) I struggled with the shuttle, trying to adjust to the new speed, keep hitting the damn birdie out! Struggled and lost the second game closely 8-11. During the 5 minutes break. I quietly sat by myself to try and focus on what to do.

So third game, I played placing in stead of pacing..so I moved her around a bit. Unfortunately, committed a few unforced errors and she raced to a 5-1 lead. I kept telling myself to calm down and finally managed to slowly claw my way back, first drawing 5-5 before pulling away to 8-5. She then wanted the shuttle changed again, claiming it was too fast now ( :roll eyes: ) So when I got the new shuttle, I asked her if it's okey if I gave it a hit just to determine how fast the shuttle is compared to the earlier 2 shuttles. She threw a hissy fit. Claiming that we've already tested the speed of the shuttles (she tested 6 of them..and I couldn't remember which is which). Luckilly the umpire knew her stuff and calmly interjected and allow me to try it. Her attitude spurred me on and a few jumping smashes and disguised drop shots later, I wrapped up the third set 11-5. She was furious, she hardly wanted to touch my hand when we were suppose to shake hands. She refused to thank the umpire and stormed off. *sigh* So I'm now into the semis..Thank God I've justified the organiser's faith in my seeding! The semis and final is scheduled for tomorrow. I'm playing the second seed. Beat her once last year, but she's won majority of our games. I really want to upset her and make it to the final! Unfortunately the winner's purse is only NZ100. *sigh* Still, money is not the motivating factor is. For once in my badminton career, I would like to be remembered as a South Island champion! I'm not getting any younger too Btw, South Island Open is the 3rd largest badminton competition in NZ after the New Zealand Open and the Waikato Invitational Open (open to international players).

Ladies Doubles start tomorrow. Unfortunately, not seeded here, so we have to play 2 rounds before reaching the quarters. The first one should be okie, but the second match is tough, meeting the second seeds, couple of two ex-state players from Malaysia (who also happen to be our friends!) So that'll be interesting as we know each other's games as well. Will keep you informed about tomorrow's game! In case you're wondering, I'm not playing in the mix, coz that's my weakest discipline of all 3..hehe, so I don't feel like "donating" my entree fee to the organiser!

Keep praying for me everyone! Thanks! I really want to win the singles! So please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Adelina, da nervous kiwicheek!

 

Choking to death!! (sigh)

Hi guys, I've just finished playing today. Unfortunately, I lost my singles in the semis and lost the doubles in the quarter finals. For the singles, I'm so disappointed in myself and could only hang my head in shame as it's one thing to lose, but it's another thing to lose not because the other player played better, but because I played so badly. Basically, I lost the first set closely 9-11 when I should have won it and in the second set, I spent too much time worrying about the first set and also choking at moments when I should have won the point (this happened in both my games) Eventually, lost the 2nd set tamely too . I know in principle, it's very easy to say, "stay calm, do this and do that" but even armed with all these theories of what I should be doing, unfortunately, they all fly out of the window eventually when I actually started playing My coach reckoned that I had a mental block and that I defeated myself even before the game started..he's prolly right, I put way too much pressure on myself to perform. It didn't help that they put our game on centre court and there were many ppl watching Oh well, nevermind, I'll train harder and come back next year.

In the doubles, it was a very close affair. As predicted, my partner, Audrey and I managed to win our first round to set up the quarterfinal match against the 2nd seed, two ex Malaysian state players. They were very good but because we've played them before and know their game, it helped us to relax. We lost the first set 7-15 due to too many unforced errors. In the second set, they fell asleep and we were leading 10-2 before they started playing hard..they got up to 9-10 before we pulled away to 14-10, and then we kind of choked and they caught up 14 all and was leading 1-0 in the deuce. We got the serve back and levelled it at 1-1. Then service changed like 4 times before we led 2-1 and then they managed to claw back to 2-2 with 2 serves to spare! Then once again, there were several nail-biting moments and 3 service changes later and being locked at 2-2, we somehow miraculously got the serve back, held our nerves and won 3-2 (17-16).

The final set was a classic ladies doubles, full of "ooh, ahh" from the crowd and applause when shuttles somehow rolled over the net. Lots of rallies, attacking clears, drops, smashes, drives, you name it, we were hitting them. Several of dives from me too to get to the shuttles (and won the point too!!) Eventually we were tied up till 8-8 and then they pulled away to 12-8 before we caught back up to 12-12 and then again we choked and hit couple of bad shots at the wrong place and wrong time and lost 12-15. Man, it was one energy and mental zapping game I tell you! Even though we lost, we were happy we got where we did. Still, couple of hours later, I couldn't help but reflected on "what if's"especially if we won that match. Would we have then gone on to win the doubles title? *sigh* Now I'll never know

So that's SI Open 2002 concluded for another year and again I left empty handed. A bit sad..but also a bit wiser and hopefully next year will be my year!

Thanks all of you for your support and encouragement and sorry that you couldn't claim to hang out with a NZ SI Open champion..hehehe

 

Gee Wow..thanks Bip..reading your post is like a very soothing balm on my injured pride and spirit after losing in the Open..thanks for that! It's really encouraging! I truly appreciate your comments.

A, the grateful kiwicheek

 

Re: Wisten cup!

Oh thanks boyboy..ahem..*whispers quietly to boyboy* It's actually Wisden Cup.. but it's okey..it's your kind thoughts that counts! Thanks for the support!

 

SI Open..

Let's see..NZ population of 3.4 million ppl who are crazy about rugby and badminton is a very very minor sport..want to guess Slanter the answer to your question?

Hehe..basically, prolly not as many ppl as the organiser would like..normally, about 64 players..but this year, not as many..too cold and too close to the Wisden Cup (our national league competition) .

A