I missed the morning session and stayed on for the entire afternoon after lunch. During the lunch period I was attracted to the Bauerfeind stall that sells German made injury rehabilitation products and I got myself a knee guard and an elbow guard which I was told can last at least a year if taken good care of. They normally sell to the medical institutions like hospitals, etc. The qualifying did not produce exceptional new talents but it was heartening to see our very own Ashton Chen beating the better known and I believe, much higher ranked, Anup Shridhar of India in MS. Ashton was patient and his close net play frustrated Anup. Ashton later partnered Derek Wong in the last match of the evening to beat their Vietnamese opponents to qualify for the main event tomorrow. As expected, Ronald Susilo and Candra Wijaya made short work of their rivals from Vietnam and will stay on course in the MD event tomorrow. Our young girls did not impress. I was expecting more from Gu Juan who looked rather frail. Maybe her long absence from the team which she rejoined recently, has taken a toll on her performance through lack of training. Fu Mingtian also looked suspect. It was painful to see her struggling in the court possibly through lack of fitness. Surprisingly, the younger Chen Jiayuan proved to be relatively better as she has grown stronger and packed in more muscles. She was rewarded with an appearance in the main event as she gave no chance to USA's 'tiny' Iris Wang in the last match. To her credit, Iris defeated the bigger and taller Australian Leisha Cooper in the previous round. So Singapore will now have to place its hopes on Ashton Chen inI and possibly Xing Aiying in WS. I think it will be a tall order, but I will not discount continued upsets for the rest of the tournament. (Sorry battery running low. Will post pics later)
I'm still having connection problems with my PC. Visitors to SIS (Spore Indoor Stadium venue) may be pleased to know that the MRT Circle Line now has a train running to the new Stadium Station, which is located almost at the doorsteps of the SIS. I will now try to post some images later as I'm still experiencing connection problems.
Haha, I used to do that many years ago. But now with the digital camera we can just store the pics in our PC or just post them as I do now. Problem can happen when there is an overload and the pics cannot be transmitted due to connections not being available or the speed is too slow or inconsistent. Ashton Chen did not do too badly this morning as he stretched the much higher ranked Simon Santoso to deuce in the second game. Judging from the live score, he must have made numerous unforced errors. More international exposure will help him to gain experience.
He should play in GP tournaments. His career will start when he starts making upsets here and there So how old is Ashton Chen?
Some more Qualifying round pictures. Ashton & Derek Wong overcame their Vietnam opponents in three games to enter the main event.
Thank you very much. I'm Vietnamese, I am very glad when you provided photos of Viet Nam team. Thank you! I hope you provide photos of Tien Minh in tomorrow. Thank you very much!