Just to announce a discovery. Compared to previous years, the venue is all spruced up and more organised. There's plenty to buy. Yonex souvenir shirts of past tournaments. The harimau (tiger) motif of this tournament is tempting. Had a chat with Rexy. There's too much to talk but not enough time for it. By the way, to prevent misleading, the teh tarik this year is terrible. Different vendor. Food is still good but be warned;my standard's questionable. The matches are worth coming by. More to look out for new talents and realise there's hope for the future of badminton. Some will make it; some will not. Who would have known five years ago that LCW will be World No 1 today?
Thanks for sharing.. ..yeah, who would've thought, 6 yrs ago, LYD would be one the top men's doubles players today, if not arguably the best?.. Any pics to share??..
the crowd in the JB Stadium is fantastic and they supported the Malaysian Players whether they win or lose. Of course the crowd hero is our Dato Lee Chong Wei. Lee Chong Wei is humble despite his fame and no wonder he is popular. The Yonex shop selling the T shirts are reasonably prices but the tickets to the stadium is expensive with the 1st round u have to pay $10 for morning session and $10 for the afternoon. Tomorrow will be $20 for morning and $20 for the nite. Season ticket are price at $70, if can watch till final then it is worthwhile buying season ticket. Meet up with alot of players.The Chinese players are well sized and they are tall and well built. Saina is also a humble girl and she is intelligent and she knows what she wants. She will be popular with the fans.
I would say, LYD, it was obvious as early as 5 years ago,he would be a star because of his movement and his court intelligence. But with LCW,it wasn't obvious to me at all. He had to deal with so many non-badminton problems before he finally showed great badminton. The greatest thing about LCW is how he has been able to surmount all the odds to become and stay on as WR1. Better yet, even playing at his present level, he's still improving and with lots of room to do so. Sorry, no pics. Jennifer is gonna take a long time to produce them, what with her zero IT skills and my email-only skills. Loh would be the best person, with his gift of photography and caption details.
Agree with Gemini12 the crowd has been fantastic. CL is gonna have a chance here because fans here are appreciative of good badminton, regardless of nationality. Actually because of his 'rookie' status,CL got applauded when he played very well yesterday. Even with 'recession-insensitive' prices, the crowd size was good for Round 1.So expect it to grow. There's enough excellent matches in store to be worth the trip. Plus, of course, the attractive Yonex deals. What you save on Yonex will more than pay for the tickets!
Hmm.. ..5 yrs ago LYD was only 15 yrs young. A year removed when he first played in the 2003 U.S. Open. I don't recall anything of significant from him other than him sitting down with his buddies & watching Tony G. play in the MD Final. Did you see him play 5 yrs ago??.. LCW, i remember the first time i saw him play, abt 3 yrs ago, if i recall. I thought he had the movements and court intelligence. Just not as consistent.
It must be when LYD was 16 plus 1 years old,so when he was 17, being fast tracked by coach TKH. Now i know why i failed history. So that must be 3 years ago. It's like CHN's Ma Jin. She's just so uncanny in her opponent reading. Most of the time she gets it so right, she earns the privilege of being a minimum-effort winner. Oh, LCW was so inconsistent 3 years ago;life was so hard for him for he had to play against a team. Now the team's not so consistently linked,maybe that's why he's more consistent. That tough period turned out to be good training for him.
How can we compare LYD and LCW of five years ago? Five years ago, LCW was above 20 while LYD was only in his mid-teens. Having said that, LYD emerged very early. He already got attention when he first won his World Junior title, and that was when he was still eligible for the next World Juniors.
I heard that Fu Mingxia of Singapore [above] is a close cousin of Fu Mingtian, the Olympic diving gold medalist from China...
It is Fu Mingtian of Singapore, not Fu Mingxia Fu Mingxia is the Olympic diving gold medalist of China
