..they've had Krispy Kreme in INA for a few yrs, but i don't think they have in THA until this yr (maybe that's why Sudket really craves for them); as a matter of fact, at one time Jakarta is the only city in the whole SE Asia region to open a KK franchise. Other U.S. based donut co. which has franchises in Asia is Dunkin' Donut..they've yet to open a Winchell's in INA.. Red Mango is originally from S. Korea (well, most of those frozen yogurt franchises are). But, yes, they are based in (Dallas) Texas.
The Korean squad just got back with boxes of J-CO. Obviously to fuel their support of their Korean World Cup team, now playing Uruguay in the knockout phase.
Well, Uruguay knocked them out 2-1... By the way, I see waayyy less jeering towards the Malaysians this year... I guess INA-Istora-fans have decided that bygones should be bygones... Peace on Earth!
I'm sampling the kopi luwak now. Hope it helps me not to doze off during the finals. It does indeed have an, ahem, unique taste and blend. 1 and 2. A brief introduction to the closest location serving kopi luwak, just beside the Century Park Hotel. 3. The originator of kopi luwak 4. Fastdrop would be quite at home, eating here 5. The reason why Krispy Kreme is much in demand
Priceless side news here indeed!.. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...Rudy-Roedyanto-Indonesian-Badminton-Superfans RUdy Roedyanto headline!
the moment i saw those huge and long image downloading, i thought it must be from the competition reporter, abedeng thanks !
The Best Organized Badminton Competition I've Ever Visited Kudos to Djarum as hosts and main sponsors of this event. The execution of the cultural show with players was a stroke of genius ..... A great PR coverage that brought the interest of the crowds. Previous Indonesia Open or other Cup competitions have always been expertly managed, but this year Djarum brought a new dimension into getting crowds to be pulled to the stadium long before the matches start, and keep them there long after the matches ended. The City of Badminton was set up with something for every age group, the ticketing system has been improved significantly, and so the tournament attracted more families than before. The crowd could elect not to purchase tickets and witness the live broadcast on two giant screens. This practically eliminates the effect of the local ticket touts syndrome, so much that touts offered me tickets at cost price ..... something that has never happened before. Over decades of badminton competition travel, and I haven't seen any better performing organization. It could only get better, and players and the crowd have been giving positive feedback to the developments. I am made to understand that additional suggestions are being compiled to make the event better next year (as part of the Premier Super Series Events). BWF observers should take note of this and help drive the message across to other BWF event organizers to improve the overall presentation of the competition. Maybe even have a formal grading system to sort the suitability of the organization in the long run and award Top Tier tournaments only for the worthy. Having the best infrastructure or facilities is no guarantee of tournament success if the organization is shallow and void of ideas. Finally, the pictures on websites and this forum could only tell you so much, but being part of it is priceless. Congratulations Djarum and Indonesia!!!
..once again, a very commendable effort by Djarum, the host and all sponsors. From the pics and reports, they've really put in the work and showed they're all action. Next yr, with more top players competing, i can see the event attracting more people (to actually purchase the tix to watch inside)...good luck next yr & keep up the good effort! *One suggestion-maybe can vary the outside booth attraction(s) for next yr; review which booth(s)/attraction(s) received more interest and which one(s) didn't. Then brainstorm to find other interesting attractions to implement? How about opening up a booth for a meet & greet or "a photo op" with players after one of the latter rounds. I'm sure it'll attract many fans to queue up.
Good idea, Chris. Keep them coming, ideas for improvement are always welcome. Here's one of mine. The lighting within the stadium compound entrances and corridors (especially near Coffee Bean/Baskin Robbins) should be made brighter to reflect the mood and party atmosphere. It is a bit sombre, and the Djarum Ad Boards inside are not given full illumination. No problems with lighting at the playing area though, spot on and welll concentrated to the action much like in the All-England. Ants, no huge get-together ever took place but hau-ge and fastdrop did have a spot of badminton at Djarum (I think). I didn't go, too fatigued after semifinals and World Cup action. I did meet Pollux briefly though.
wooww... a very nice write i came to Semifinal INA Open on Saturday,, and i was amazed that it improves so much, the "mushola" for the moslem praying is clean, so the toliet is cleaner than i thought (unlike other public toiletes) and the ticketing is thumbs up, they serve us well, when i came for change my-eticketing-printout-just so easy and the bold sentense above, thats shocking me, when some touts approach and offer the ticket at cost price...hahhh!!! so no need to worry about not getting the ticket
Djarum had done a very good job.. BWF was so impressed with "new things" and they did take pics and will send it to other organizer...I had been told that one organizer will use similar concept for HKG SS and India SS.. BTW...HOngkong Open SS will use new stadium, no more Elizabeth stadium... Very very positive feedbacks from players and coaches...food /snakc in players' lounge are awasome...Kido..Korean players ate a lot
Very well written, abedeng. Only have 2 hours on semifinal day to look around, saw Hau-ge and co in the VIP box (have short chat with him after 1st match, sorry I couldn't stay long to meet other BC members there). And I saw much progress, like abedeng wrote about. Congratulation for Djarum and the organizer for successful INA Open SS 2010. Hopefully, along with better organization, we will see better facilities (and infrastructure) next year. Well done.
If i recall, this yr's T&UC in KL also had a few booths and a tent-size housing to sell merchandise/products. So the idea is not too far off from this yr's Badminton City @ the Indonesia Open. The only difference was Djarum and the organizer went a bit further in their presentation and provided a bit more variety and attractions. The idea of having a booth where players can stand-by, give their autographs & give some "photo ops" to fans comes from the 2007 WC after i saw some CHN players came out after their win and sat, signed autographs and took photos with other fans. Althought it wasn't too long, but that event definitely drew a lot of interest & a long line of fans. It's the idea of having pro players intermingle & be accessible with regular fans that might do the trick in attracting more fans to come to the tourney.
In Sudirman Cup 2009, Yonex held "Lee Chong Wei autographs session" in their booth. I think Taufik do the same in last year IO, during his Yonex-THL product launching. I agree if organizer make it an official program, an autogrraphs session with badminton stars, different players everyday depends on their schedule of play.
Autograph sessions has been around for sometimes in tournaments thruout the years. But it was not consistently implemented. Reasons is either the organizers or the sponsors who choose the players of thier choice to attend the session. If it is a Li-Ning sponsored event.. Then most players from china or hkg or India to go for it and vice versa with Yonex or Victor. And not a generic autograph or photos session which involved top players with different sponsorships. So it is hard to get a player of your choice. BWF have to press hard on these issue if they want badminton to be promoted well.
i don't see any problem with having 1 Yonex booth setup, 1 Victor booth setup, 1 Li-Ning booth setup, 1 FZ booth setup at the next INA Open...heck, let's throw in 1 BadmintonCentral.com booth setup too; we can have our own, new INA badminton superfan Hau-ge signing autographs & taking pics with his new fans..
