My thoughts on the AE so far.

[cheeyf]

I probably could write more but I better not....the lin dan vs bao game was weird. You got no sense of how good BCL actually is. I couldn't figure out if he had been ordered to lose the game, was nervous because he was playing against LD, or was just outclassed by LD. In any case, it was a rotten match, because Bao kept making mistakes--or relatively more than LD, who I don't think made any! My impression of LD this time was that basically, he's number one because he almost never makes a mistake on court. (in previous times when I've seen him play, it's his explosiveness which really struck me).

some other impressions: blimey, mainlanders looooooooove cai yun, fu haifeng, lin dan and BCL. when FHF and CY won a mass of mainlanders rushed over for their autographs. It was a bit unseemly. but that's unfair. I'd definitely go all girly if I came face to face with BCL or peter gade or pi honghan too.... When LD won they all called out but LD didn't come over, he just waved.

At one point, when the chinese were playing the danish, the chinese were screaming out Go china! 中国队,加油!and the danes were chanting in their language, and then the chinese started chanting 中国队,加油!in the same tune as the danes. Later, the chinese were playing the koreans, and the koreans started up with their national chanting, and I heard one of the mainland chinese say, "damn, I wish I knew what the koreans were saying....". Later, the malaysian fans started calling out, 马来西亚,加油! (malaysia! jia you!). The mainland chinese started laughing (in good spirit).

the malaysian crowd was particularly loud when julia wong was playing against xu huaiwen (another good game). Actually, one time they were chanting Malaysia, buleh! the one guy calling out 'Mah-lay-she-ya!' to which every would yell 'buleh!!' changed it and said 'julia!' and everyone went 'buleh' 3 times, and he suddenly said quietly 'Julia! I love you!!' and the most of our side started laughing.

tat's nice
thx 4 sharing
i remember in mas open
d malay cheerleader keep saying gao ling wo ai ni(i lov u)
gao ling laugh
did u watch wong/chin match?hw they play?did china improve a lot or mas many mistake?thr's no smash winner in g2 at all.weird.what happen to ceh?

[No one]

I wanted to say to more than a few of the ladies at the AE 'wo ai ni' but I kept my thoughts to myself ....I didn't watch the wong/chin match I'm afraid...I usually don't watch WD games with the chinese in them because the chinese women are too strong, it's a little dull. From memory, I had gotten up for a walk because the games going on at the time were a little boring at the time--there was an all british affair (kinda dull) and also another chinese WD team playing a french team (who looked like little school girls in their weird white skirts). then when I came back it was Bao CL and LD on court, so my attention was focused there.

sorry, I should shut up now but the memories are coming back the MD ikeda vs paaske-rasmussen match was terribly dull. the first half of the first game was BORING. 3 shots and it was over on both sides. And the japanese never really got their game together--I was so disappointed because last year ikeda was on fire.

one funny thing: about 30 mins before the chen jin gong weijie game started their names were called out (totally mispronounced) to report somewhere. then 5 mins later they both came out and were walking to the courts in their tracksuits and with bags--but they clearly were lost and weren't supposed to be out there, because they're supposed to come out with the referees and line judges. So they made a half lap of the stadium and were wandering about for a couple of minutes before being stopped by officials who then took them away. you think they'd be assigned translators or some guide so this sort of thing wouldn't happen!

[phaarix]

one funny thing: about 30 mins before the chen jin gong weijie game started their names were called out (totally mispronounced) to report somewhere. then 5 mins later they both came out and were walking to the courts in their tracksuits and with bags--but they clearly were lost and weren't supposed to be out there, because they're supposed to come out with the referees and line judges. So they made a half lap of the stadium and were wandering about for a couple of minutes before being stopped by officials who then took them away. you think they'd be assigned translators or some guide so this sort of thing wouldn't happen!

Hehe... the things you don't see on TV . Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[Destricto_Ense]

Haha, I saw the CJ and GWJ thing too, it was kinda funny to seem them wandering around looking a bit lost.

[Destricto_Ense]

Did anyone else notice that half of the time the score boxes at the end of the courts were incorrect? In Taufik's match the umpire told him that he was standing on the wrong side for serving, but Taufik said that his score was 6 when the box said 5! A lot of the time it was lagging by a couple of points, which is really weird because the screen at the end of the hall always had the right score.

[cooler]

Haha, I saw the CJ and GWJ thing too, it was kinda funny to seem them wandering around looking a bit lost.

i have said that having CJ, BCL, LD, GW jam together on one side of the ladder, it will be boring.

[Destricto_Ense]

Pardon? I don't see the connection between your comment and my post.

[sudirman]

looking forward to the SEMI tomorrow, 4 hours drive one way thoughj

[cooler]

Pardon? I don't see the connection between your comment and my post.

ok, maybe it was No one's post

[Destricto_Ense]

looking forward to the SEMI tomorrow, 4 hours drive one way thoughj

You're so lucky.. still, planetbadminton.tv is a real blessing.

[Destricto_Ense]

Destricto Ense(what a name! how did you coin it?)

It's a quote from my favourite book - Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling. In one particular scene, the character 'Beetle' (Based on Kipling himself) is described jokingly as advancing destricto ense. The Latin literally translates to "with sword drawn", but in the context is referring to Beetle holding a butterfly net that he has stolen from a younger student's locker. In my case I imagine the butterfly net to be replaced by a badminton racquet

[sudirman]

You're so lucky.. still, planetbadminton.tv is a real blessing.

will bring some photos back.

[Destricto_Ense]

will bring some photos back.

Cheers. It's easy to smuggle cameras past the door stewards - just put your camera in a pocket of your bag that isn't the main one; it's the only compartment they check. Heck, I even had a tripod in my main compartment barely covered by a hoodie and they didn't notice it.

[No one]

Did anyone else notice that half of the time the score boxes at the end of the courts were incorrect? In Taufik's match the umpire told him that he was standing on the wrong side for serving, but Taufik said that his score was 6 when the box said 5! A lot of the time it was lagging by a couple of points, which is really weird because the screen at the end of the hall always had the right score.

yeah that was quite annoying. I started to get a crick in my neck from looking at the screen at the end of the hall....!

as for cameras, frankly I think door security didn't care much. I saw them let some people through with cameras provided 'they would not take pictures'. WTF! but in a way--fair enough. What if you bumped into some of the chinese team in the outer ring (ie., outside the actual courts and seats, where the yonex and other badminton companies' stands were) and wanted to take a photo of them? not all of us are blessed with high megapixel cameras in our cellphones....but it might be different if you brought in your digital SLR.

[Oldhand]

Destricto_Ense & No_one, you guys have made this thread a pleasure to read

[...]wallwork-white vs kristiansen-juhl: 2 sets. [...]

This gathering must have been the prettiest sight at the AE this year

[...]the indian-korean game: 3 set game. unfortunately it was going on quite far away from me but the indian male player had an unbelievable smash and he was very, very good at doing very fast flat drives. they fought every point and I think the koreans were quite surpised to lose 21-23. [...]

I've had the, er, pleasant misfortune of playing against Diju V, the Indian player. (His XD partner Jwala Gutta is Chetan Anand's wife.) Diju is quite an intimidating package - and has a nasty but effective habit of towering over the net when receiving serve

It's a pity that he has never had a tactical partner like, say, Cai Yun.
With the smash he has, he would have taken that pair much further.

Incidentally, the V in his name expands to 'Valiyaveettil', which literally means 'big house'!

[No one]

honestly Oldhand, my pleasure....my gf is totally not interested in this sort of thing so I have to talk about it somewhere!!

btw thanks for uploading the QF games. Great quality.

you played against diju?? I would have been shaking in my shoes...... btw this is completely off point, but the dude had really skinny legs compared to a lot of doubles players--and I think jwala's thighs were bigger!!

[limsy]

honestly Oldhand, my pleasure....my gf is totally not interested in this sort of thing so I have to talk about it somewhere!!

hehe...fortunatelty...my gf is interested in badminton...hehe....