Finals Day: - I didn't have to line judge as I was re-assigned to Dope Control (maybe I just suck at line judging

). This was nice as I had to just want for the athlete to finish his/her game and then direct them to Dope Control to get a sample for testing. There were 4 athletes randomly selected but unfortunately Nozumi wasn't one LOL otherwise the boys would be falling over to get that assignment.
All the competitors put it out there to win and it seems all of them would go the distance with 3 matches. As you know, there was delays in the final schedule due to the doubles events where players were involved in multiple event and the final order was XD, WS, MS, WD, MD giving the players ample time to recover from the XD event leading to the WD and MD matches.
In no particular order, here's my summarization:
- Our own Takamsa (as an umpire) was very picky about the line judges especially for the Semis and Finals and maybe he was right to as there were a number of instances where the Umpire had to overrule the line judge on calls throughout the day.
- Nozumi was still practising shots after her win - talk about dedication. She was also very accommodating with requests for pictures, etc. She also ended up giving her bouquet of flowers to this sweet little girl who asked for her autograph. In fact, most of the bouquets were given away probably they won't be able to bring those back to Japan.
- Lin injured himself in the middle of the third game but gamely continue on and finally had his ankle all taped out after the medal presentation.
- After each match, both the winning and losing teams for the Japanese had to listen to each of the team coaches for feedback (there were three of them) on the match and areas for improvement, etc.
- The Olympics bound Canadian team (Toby, Grace, Michelle & Alex) stayed the whole time to have their pictures taken and autographs. All the best to them as they head off to London today!
- The Japanese team members were all on hand throughout the day watching and supporting their team mates and on hand to take pictures of the medal presentations

. Finally they left as a group to walk back to the hotel except for those who were selected for dope testing.
- it was strange to see Kyle Hunter compete in this tournament given that he is an official with Badminton Canada who is one of the sanctioned partner of the event.
- Lots of local hopefuls competed in the tourney and luckily (as far as I know) none of them ended up a 21-0 score. The worst was a 21-1 with a number 21-2 and 21-3 scores.
- Nice to have dry-fit shirts given to the volunteers instead of the cheap cotton ones.
This is the final year for the event to be held in Richmond, it is kind of sad to see it go but it has been a fun 3 years and it is up to the next Canadian badminton association to raise the bar.