Non playing: As mentioned in other forums the concourse activities were poor. I don't blame Yonex for banning other stalls from parading their wares, but they should at least have planned more interesting activities to stop people moaning about it........ The Relaxtion zone was no more than some (about 8) comfy chairs - hardly adequate for the 2000 plus spectator, and as it was in the middle of the concourse it was hadly tucked away in a quiet corner....... The History Zone was pretty much a larger version of the past winners you find every year in the programme (with a lot of Spelling/naming errors and inconsistency eg Gao LIng one year, Ling Gao the next........ Why did the T-shorts run out? I don't neccessarily buy them but my Mrs does & they apparently ran out on Friday, before the two sell out days, surely a large mis calculation in quants?.................. Playing: The beginning of the end for Lin Dan IMHO, sad as it is and legend as he is......... WD standard nowhere.......I can't see who in the next 3 yrs will challenge CHN domination of this event...... XD Standard pretty poor. The best two pairs were in the final, but They are by know means perfect. I want LYD to step up his game....... WS......Chinese WS are they bored of winning? I want to see players dominating the games, not struggling through matches as most of the WS players did...... MS.....I am looking to Rumbaka (INA) & Shon (KOR) to make big breakthroughs for next year....... MD.......Only one thing I want JR to Win OG!!!!! Linejudges..........I am not player, but for the players calling for Hawkeye or other technology (video replay is not good enough for me) would you rather have 1/2 mis calls a match but more prize money or less prize money and accurate calls. A the end of the dy Hawkeye is expensive & it will only be on 1 court, is it worth taking more money out of the game for a minor inconvenience? Yellow/Red cards.......What is the point? I am sure I will think of more later.............
Btw, this venue is supposedly going to be where the 2012 Olympics Badminton and Gymnastic events are going to be held, correct? The NIA?...
No, NIA in Birmingham, It is likely the OG will be held in Wembley court. It was oing to be a temproary facility close to the village. There has ben much discussion about the location being moved to save money.
You mean the old Wembley Arena? Had fond memories of that place, a long time ago when All-England were played there. Haven't been there since it got renovated, though.
I can't find where it is due to be played, only That it will be in London. I doubt it will be the old Wembley arena - It might be in the new one if completed?
Really???.. ..are you serious??..in the new one??..i thought the last i heard the Olympic organizer is going to scrap that idea and instead use an existing venue??.. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78207&highlight=london+olympics&page=5
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/8381208.stm Indeed, It is therfore highly likely WC11 will be there too then...
Good write up james, got a few more things to add: 1) Ban on photography - Sux! (I assume it was imposed by the NIA rather than BE). I am of the opinion that as long as there wasn't flash on during the games, it would be a good way of getting young people more into the sport - taking pic of the top players. Good thing was they weren't really strict about it, but this might change in the future. 2) The History Zone - numerous errors, including wrong countries! 3) Kiosks running out of numerous food items at around 3pm Finals day. 4) Watching the Hall of Famers having a game prior to actual competition, really good showmanship, especially by Poul EHL and Rexy. Mighty entertaining and had the crowd in laughter and gasps! Shame it had to be cut short though. 5) Length of the matches during the finals day - went on for quite a bit! Had to miss the half of the rubber of the WD and all of the MD (was really looking forward to it) to travel back home. Next time probably would stay another night to give more flexibility. Still, thoroughly enjoyable and looking forward to the next ed.
I knew there wa something I forgot: ...Yes I heard people complaining about the length of the Finals day, but It has always started at 1300 & there has nevery been a problem before, it was just onne of those years. All finals went to three long games & the MS which didn't was long for a to setter......I Like it, makes it worth it more than even though just 5 games..... ........The exhibition - I thought it was a joke. It stated in the programme KDM was playing, but it appers he couldn't make it so Rexy stood in. The match wasn't very serious, which wasn't a problem, but I thought they took it to a level which wasn't even entertaining. And the fact it should have started at 1200 made it worse that it started late & they stopped it at the interval. I thought - what is the point?!!.......
More badminton for your money, I don't understand why people complain. And so many left before the MD as well, even though it was a really good match. The exhibition I thought was really good fun, but yeah, definitely should have let them play a full game. The drummers I thought were good, but really, not what I came to the AE for hehe.
I left to take my brother to a train. I was gutted..... Drummers, yes but dragged a bit. The dancers were ok, but after a while could do with a change, I like the cheer leaders 3 years ago. Couldn't they have dancers for in between games & Cheerleaders in the intervals?
..yeah, i noticed this yr's Finals Day was longer than usual..and that's before counting the award presentations time for each event.. ..thanks for sharing your experience, gsloh! Did they also prohibit people from taking pictures in the hallway, around the history zone area?..
They only prevent you from taking photos during the matches, to be honest. Stewards didn't seem to mind if you took photos of the players when they were doing a lap of honour, signing autographs or on the podium etc. Because of the lighting arrangement in the NIA, where it's only the courts that are illuminated (the stands themselves are in darkness), I can sort of understand how flash photography would be an issue with distracting the players. Even if they only said "No FLASH photography", most people wouldn't know how to turn off the flash anyway so the problem would still occur. It's quite frustrating from the point of view of someone who does know how to disable the flash... Of course, distracting flashes might not be the reason for the ban at all, I don't really know.
Not complaining because it was more badminton - it was cos a lot of us had to miss matches to travel back home (trains, few hours drive etc), as it was a sunday night! Photos wise, yes, they weren't very strict about it, although they kept anouncing "no photography of any kind is permitted in the arena". Even the tickets had the message on, so I assume it was to do with the NIA management. Most people sneakily did it anyway, but my fear would be that they'll start enforcing it rigidly in the future, such as confisticating or asking spectators to erase the pics taken.
Often, rules are there to help organisers manage crowds better. Some of the rules are meant to be broken. And won't hurt the organisers. Which are the ones to be broken? The ones that the organisers will require a lot of effort to enforce. Like cameras! Why? Are they gonna confiscate them? The organisers won't want to do that cos they don't want lawyers' letters (even if they were right.) Are they gonna store cameras for you? Where would they have the space or manpower for that? Just ask yourself these questions and you will know which rules are meant to be broken.
Yes any cameras found upon entry in your bags were stored. Repeat offender taking photos during games were also confiscated, although they weren't too heavy handed.
