Yellow livery is changed to red as Li Ning thoroughly dominated the "marketplace" within the stadium ..... Yup, there was just no place for Maybank, Proton or Yonex ..... But first ....... ...... a welcome note from the tournament sponsor. Li Ning Apparel in full glory ..... and this is only from the store inside And their athletes' prowess is undisputed ..... With weapons like these, there is no chance of failure .... Li Ning demo station .... how to be a champ These, are the official shirts of the Sudirman Cup. Tournament umpires swear by them ..... of course they got theirs free ..... we need to part with MYR 59 (around USD 20) What do you need to become a successful head coach as Li Yongbo? Apparently, not much ..... All you need, is a cap, LYB's book, a towel, a white racquet, shoe bag and racquet bag ...... .... and it only costs a cool MYR1988 (that's less than USD 700).
So, where do we start for today ..... Well, the big battle between INA and IND, of course. But first, a message from my old opponent, the Indonesian Cheerleader ...... like the Malaysian Cheerleader, he has been around for very long, and may it be even longer still. An "olde enemy" takes centrestage ..... now he has an assistant, the lady with the Indonesian flag. .... but before the battle, comes this message ..... .... and war is unleashed. Lindaweni Fanetri, the reason for Indonesian success. .... but Mr Rumbaka is out of his depth
This is the one that mattered, the tight women's doubles match ..... if the tables were turned and India took WS, I am not sure how this would have ended. Powerful bazooka from Ashwini Ponnappa .... too bad she lacked finesse Ponnappa, preparing to pounce - and the shuttle went into the net ..... Nitya : Hey! Do I block to the left or the right? Polii : Who cares!! Just get it out of here ..... Polii : You know .... their coach is not bad looking ..... why can't ours be more handsome? During halftime break ..... IND Coach : Ashwini, we Indians are known for delicacy. So strike the shuttle with some delicate balance. INA Coach : You girls do know that the court is only this wide ..... then why the heck did the shuttle go all the way to the other court? Once victory was achieved ..... Looks of relief from the INA bench ......
I just found out the reason for the resurgence of the Kiwis ..... they had imported the Korean lady coach who listed Indonesian fried rice among her favourites. She was in the coaching chair for all 5 ties, and they beat the more technically adept Sri Lankans. It all started with the mixed doubles siblings ... The Leydon Davises in action ...... .... powered by this lady, an ex-Korean national player from the 90s. But there's nothing she could do for Anna Rankin ..... ....because she was too slow to reach the shuttle ..... Meanwhile, some part-timers from Austria wanted to show off their skills .... .... and so a steep smash was delivered .... ..... but they forgot that they were facing real pros .....
The big man in orange shirt with specs aka huangkwokhau looked very relaxed He was probably relaying a message to Krisna about the INA victory
Japan vs Singapore was another big clash in Level 1. Big not because they are evenly matched (they are not) but because Japan is big in providing cute faces ever since Kenichi Tago's mum started playing in the 70s. We even had some form of, errr, nudity in the last match of the tie. But first we start with, Women's Singles ....... Remember this dynamite, Minatsu Mitani ..... ... who wrought havoc on Gu Juan ..... .... with her deception and attack .... .... while still keeping her defences intact. Even the Coaches applauded ..... such a masterclass. After that, came this man, Takuma Ueda, had to dig deep to pummel Derek Wong into submission .... Having been forced to a decider by the Singaporeans, in an attempt to find ..... more elevation ...... ...... Hashimoto contemplated .... .... playing shirtless .... ..... before he was told off by his supremo coach ..... ..... no such luck in seeing Maeda topless ...... ...... the closest we got to see was her getting stretched to the limit .....
More random pictures from the afternoon session ..... P Kasyap .... although his win was just small consolation .... .... his defence was really marvellous Netherland's Patty Stolzenbach, just back from a deep tanning session, it seems ..... .... but it didn't stop her from vanquishing Natalie Ziesig here .... Ukraine WS player, Marija Ulitina, her lips salivating another prey ..... .... played really well to beat Phillipines' Alcala Sri Lankan girl Lekha Shehani .... who beat slow moving Anna Rankin Austrian XD pair attacking the net .... Ukraine's Anna Kobceva concentrating hard during service at deuce ..... This is the Sri Lankan WD pair, to all intents and purposes superior than their NZ opponent ..... .....but it didn't stop these New Zealanders from winning .... ....... because they had a coach with Olympic pedigree (4th in Women's Singles in Atlanta 1996)
Now, we are on for the evening session's pictures from Day 2 ..... Let's start with the Swiss, making their debut by thrashing Kazakhstan 5-0. There's are reason women should stay in front in mixed doubles, so that they don't smash to the net ...... ..... nonetheless, they did enough to break Kazakh defences .... This is the Swiss WS player, Ayla Huser ..... ...... not a bad mover and looker too. But I do love those rear ends ..... Once their opponents have succumbed, the Swiss took their time on court to .... ...... immortalize their achievements with team pictures. I just wish the rest of the teams had the same foresight.
France vs Canada was another tight clash - both teams making their debut on the second day. Unfortunately the Canadian XD pair were affected by lack of sleep, brought about by their no 1 BC fan madbad not being able to stay up to witness their, ahem, historic defeat ....... French XD pair primed for battle ...... ..... yup, they could even afford to do some ballet dancing ..... In contrast, their opponents had difficulty in just reaching for the overheads ...... ..... and you could see the tiredness in Grace Gao's eyes. Game over in 20 minutes. Then, Brice Leverdez took over, with a powerful display .... ..... to put his French Canadian opponent into pasture ..... The Canadians responded too late ...... it was 0-3 down before .... .... Michelle Lee came in to register their first point ... .... at the expense of Miss Le Buhanic The best match was left for last ..... no quarter was given ..... The Canadian WD pair ..... .... up against this French combination .... The French applied their Kungfu ....... ..... and full artillery barrage .... ..... but the Canadians had a huge fort of an Alex Bruce .... ...... and so, celebrated the victory with a sigh of relief. Too late to rescue the tie, but their pride is intact.
But the most unforgettable match was between Korea and HK XD. Lee Chun Hei out-Koreaned the Korean style of play ..... he could be Korean himself. The Koreans were severely under the weather .... .... and KSH's smash didn't have the proper effect ..... .... therefore the HK camp celebrated history ...... ..... which made Kim Ha Na cry ...... ..... and she had to be consoled.
Germany's defeat to Chinese Taipei was a possibility - but what was unexpected was how comprehensive it was .... given that Germany is one of the best European teams. No doubt part of the problem is the roster of players for the tie ..... their top singles players were not in action. Still, no doubting that TPE is one of the in-form teams of the competition, deserving of their place in, err, the likelyhood of avoiding China in the quarterfinal tie on Thursday. Unless, of course, INA does the unthinkable this afternoon. The German's highly rated XD pair started off brightly .... but had brain freeze during critical moments of games 2 and 3 ..... ... and so despite almost colliding with each other a few times, the TPE pair took it home ..... .... and the German supporters look to the sky for divine intervention ..... ... but neither the towering Domke ..... ..... nor their top MD pair ...... .... nor the petite Schnasse ..... ..... nor the WD combination could deliver. Thus the Germans are forced to a corner and either they or the Malaysians will exit the competition by tonight ......
