rotating between 70-200 2.8 and 135 f2 the difference on 1 stop makes a significant difference in noise levels here especially when shooting at iso4000
Some Pics from Semifinals Day ..... First, let us look at the ambience outside the stadium: Astro Arena stalll .... deserted then, but it was full house during the LCW vs Jorgensen match Standard features .... the mobile food and drink stalls from Pizza Hut/KFC and Starbucks Coffee combo. Yup, they got relegated to outside the stadium this time .... The Champions Tagline of Maybank, the major sponsors Major Maybank stall, takes over from previous, errr, "Proton car dealership". Yup, it comes with counter service and ATM too ..... Souvenir stall furthest away from the main entrance Maybank trying it's hardest to imitate the gigantic Djarum shuttles to no avail .....
Eye Candies ...... ...... come in the form of Maybank girls. Not quite as legendary as the peerless Djarum girls, of course, but there is some improvement against past years efforts. Their major duties, are of course to do these .... Managing the games zone - badminton video game as well as the racing simulation game ... not many takers when people are more interested in the badminton ..... This girl is tasked with, ahem, fund raising. As in asking for donations for Maybank charity ... ... while these 2 try their hands at coaching guys who want to outsmash the sick and retired Tan Boon Heong using the iPhone. And her face says it all, none of her charges were able to "qualify" ..... A few more poses and closeups on the yellow fever girls .....
In the Arena .... Now let's get on in the stadium: First things first, the most important folks and stuff .... ..... the camera crew, of which no live telecast would be possible, correct? And who said girls cannot handle big bazookas ..... You would also need a good cuppa coffee .... .... good research notes on the players ... .... have a gulp of the coffee .... ... and start commentating. All hail the great Gillian Clark!!!! But hey, who's this? Look familiar? Yup, he is familiar all right ....
Great photos as always abedeng! I think the Maybank girls appear to be more disinterested in their jobs than the Djarum girls? Nevertheless, Malaysia and Indonesia remain the 2 best countries that try to at least market the event! You can only see the Yonex-Sunrise stall in the Hong Kong Colliseum during the HK SS. Oh....our dear PBSI external liason official is in town.....no wonder I called his Jakarta number to no avail yesterday!
Now that the Malaysian Hero is married ...... .... what better way to declare his love, than this ..... "Badminton is hot work ...." ... so say these Olympians.
Well, where Maybank Girls are concerned, it is all about tradition, or rather, the lack of it. You cannot create a tradition such as the Djarum Girls, it had to be nurtured over decades ..... pity that Djarum Girls are going to be extinct .... Our friend looked to be very happy today, a lot of high fives back and forth .... and that was before Sony and Hendra/Ahsan won their matches .....
Post Match Situations ..... What did you get for getting into the WD final? Oh, a tongue lashing for almost dropping that crucial first game, of course! And what happens when your charges lose badly? Coach Xie Zhongbo reports on a "failed mission" in Men's Doubles .... ..... to his boss, the strict and unforgiving Doubles Head Coach Tian Bingyi. "All right! Call them up!!" says Head Coach TBY "You didn't squeal on us, did you, Coach XZB?" "We did our best, Coach TBY, sir!!!" "Your best my foot!!! At your age I was already in the top 4 ok?!" snaps Coach TBY.
In Match Situations ..... Now, let's graduate to the super tense, in match situations .... courtesy of the MAS vs POL XD thrilla, just not in Manila ...... Astro Arena commentators practically shouting expletives as the Malaysian pair made mistake upon mistake ..... ..... and even an old Cheerleading friend lost his impetus to lead his band ..... Finally, a crucial and cruel line call goes against the Poles at 20-18 down ..... Yup, it was indeed cruel, I thought Mateusiak was right to complain.
Lol....the conversations between the Chinese players and the coaches were damn hilarious! Oh...is that old cheerleader the usual ones we saw in the TV?
Is it just me? But Xie Zhongbo has grown "old" so much over the past few years? Although not as extreme as Zhang Jun, he seems to be expanding sideways too. Hmm.....
Very good pictures. But no INA players at all (except Taufik in poster with LCW), any particular reason?
Yup, the same one. Though he's now getting, err, quite advanced in age ...... I still remember our "battles" during the Thomas Cup campaigns of 1988 and 1992 at the old Stadium Negara.
More pictures from the players' seating: Danish XD players arriving before their battle Vita Marissa and her new partner Variella return in high spirits after their drubbing .... Miyuki Maeda, still lovely as usual. Although she played crappy in this tournament .....
Women's singles ..... ...... will see a new champion tomorrow. Young 'uns too ..... The short and fast Tai-phoon, will do battle with .... .... the tall and powerful PAW-favourite Yao Xue ...... .... seen here celebrating her winning point .... ... before being congratulated by a hapless BYJ.
Warmups and Warmdowns ...... .... are an essential fact of life among professional players. Doing the warmup and warmdown wrong or not doing them at all spells injury problems ..... And so, let's warm up to ... ... how the XD title favourites do their warm up, slow and relaxed .... .... but Sony does it to another level, limbering all the way on court ... .... worked a charm when he outplayed Tago here .... ... even Tago's coach saw the writing on the wall ..... .... before his charge goes down to the ground! Congrats Sony!!! Battle over, the job is still not done for Sony .... .... Yup, there is still the warm down routine. In fact, Sony's warm down exercise went so long .... .... that his equally victorious teammates managed to join in before he was done .... .... Just look at the exposed midriff of a World and Olympic MD Champion
Player attires are now very colourful, unlike the good old days where you can wear any colour, as long as it is white ..... But sometimes, I wish the team had more sense of colour matching. For example, the Singapore Girls in orange top and white skirts stood out, but I don't feel that it matches them well. Especially with those shoes ..... \ Singapore top pair with their orange-white livery ..... With Zhong Qianxin in long term rehabilitation, it was refreshing to see two good looking girls together ..... Bao Yixin and Tian Qing, favourites for WD title. Sensible clothing too. The very good looking Nadiedza Zieba ...... Yup, she looks good even in full flight ...
