No, I didn't follow them to their hotel, it just so happens their hotel is just beside mine ..... wakakakaka.
Here are some pictures of the booths and stalls within the Arena. In this respect, the Wembley Arena is superior to the NIA, based on the interior layout. Pics: The Yonex booths - the one on Ground floor is almost empty, the one in 1st floor is full of people And they sell these official T-Shirts for the World Championships. I should look good in black To keep track, there is always tournamentsoftware.com Stringing area at ground floor Big Ben has shrunken down in size Foodstall for those who are not fasting Box Office Ticket Booth for those who did not "Prepare Themselves" VIP Entrance, for Media, Personnel and Players The so called "Best Seats of The House"
And now, back to the pictures of the action ....... you didn't think a "yellow card" would stop me from taking pics, eh? First off, the MS match between the defending champion and the World No 1: Pics: A confident pose from the defending champion But soon, he was forced to bow to the World No 1 "Oh shXt, I am falling!!" "Dammit, I have fallen" Just look at those upper arm muscles A picture of calm, from the Malaysian coaches "Don't you dare lose us the title!!!" Next, came the shell shocked Japanese girls. Yeah, you would be shell shocked too when hit with Wang Xiaoli's artillery barrage: Pics: Miyuki Maeda receiving serve Japanese pair at the ready Chinese heavy guns ready to fire Under relentless "bombardment" Faces of dejection after another rally lost
Indonesia vs Korea MD - The Koreans were just too fast and too accurate for the Indonesian change of pace game to take effect. They could even afford sitting/diving on the floor and still win the point - such is the accuracy of the modern MD game now. INA and MAS pairs are being left behind. Pics here: Bona Septano and Muhammad Ahsan, good effort. Just not good enough. YYS smashes away, defended by Bona, only to be put away by KSH Here comes the WS match between Schenk and CSC. The blonde CSC recovered from a very bad start to put Schenk to the pasture. Unlike most players, she doesn't panic in this situations. Should have more than enough energy left for a final push against Wang Yihan. Pics: The "Asian Blonde" Cheng Shao Chieh Who initially goes down to the ground But recovers well to progress to the final
A British History Badminton England (and Scotland) got their wish of placing a finalist in the World Championships at home, England's last success being 5 years ago, also in Europe. Except that it was the wrong pair that made the grade, since hopes were more on Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, beaten by Malaysians in the 2nd round. In a match where the Indonesian 2nd seeds were supposed to win hands down, Imogen Bankier was the star of the match. Totally dominated the net to the extent that almost nothing loose got past her. Good looks too, pity she didn't wear the BWF-approved skirt/skort. She would have looked much more elegant. To be fair, it was a match that was as much lost by the Indonesians as it was won by the GB pair. A jittery Tantowi Ahmad was not helped by a subdued Lilyana Natsir - and in their eagerness to catch up, mistakes were made. Pics here: The excellent Imogen Bankier Just look at her no-nonsense eyes, reminds me of Susi Susanti Chris Adcock fires away The English boy, the Scottish Girl, and the crowd celebrate a historic victory. Could be good for attendance in the finals. And now, off to the interviews
Talking about skirts and skorts, here are some of the approved examples I find refreshing on the eyes .... . Of course, it helps if the players so equipped are photogenic and pleasant to look at (ie. not Du Jing type). Pics here: Examples from the Indian camp And these are from their Chinese opposition Finally, comes the most accomplished MS player of the modern era, Lin Dan. Playing with the forever young Peter Gade (on his last World Championships), Lin Dan was put under a lot of test before subduing Gade in 75 minutes. Pity that we shall never see matches between them again at future World Championship stages. But it makes for a great final recipe - LD vs LCW yet again in Britain. Pics: The great Lin Dan - great sportsmanship too now that he has "gotten old" A typical Lin Dan "guided missile" OK guys, that's all from me in London. Other pics - if any will only be uploaded when I get back home. Next up: 1. A shower 2. Packing up and Hotel Checkout 3. Attend the Finals 4. Go back to Hotel and take a Cab to Heathrow 5. Go home and arrive after midnight Tuesday morning local time
Thanks for all the photos. On the one with ZYL/TQ, are you secretly escorting them? Are they your favourite players?
The Scottish gal has lots of potential and she's young, easily another 10 more years to her playing career. Cool and steely. The English boy is very dynamic, with good movements around the court, as XD guys need to have. He needs to have more power in his smash, but he's still very young, only 22. So look out for this pairing for next 10 years. Too bad they can't compete together in Sudirman Cup or other team championships, but good to go for all other tournaments, including Olympics, thank goodness.
Finals Review Hi guys!!!! I'm baack!!!!! After a 22 hour flight+layover+drive home time, that is. Anyway, the end result of the tournament boiled down to only two things: 1. China made another clean sweep of the titles - Congratulations to China. But there has been great progress made by other countries to challenge the Chinese might. 2. The MS Final match was the only one that went right to the wire and worthy to be called a proper final - Congratulations to Lin Dan for winning it and for Lee Chong Wei for making a very valiant attempt. But first, lets talk Women's Doubles. With the title secure for China, the match was only relatively keenly contested in game 1. Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang were banking on their superior firepower while Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei were capitalizing on their superior speed. Eventually power defeated speed in a close scoreline in game 1. But by the start of game 2, it was obvious that the losing pair were dropping points by, err, making errors or judgement, loose returns, long clears, you name it. Really, you have to be there to see how obvious. Next, came the Finals of the new Century - LD vs LCW in Men's Singles. It was a battle where no quarter was given and none was taken. I had expected the real LD to show up that day - his motivation comes not from winning so many major titles, but from the challenge presented by LCW. Both players did not disappoint me and it was well worth all the expense of coming here. Probably the best match in their 25 matches head-to-head history spanning 8 years. All throughout the match, the scorelines were very competitive, except for a brief period in game 2 when LCW lost his way a bit. Extreme angles, saves from point blank range, tight net dribbles, you name it, they got it. Even at game 3, you have no inkling of who would come out tops. At the tailend of game 3, Lin Dan showed his edge in keeping his powers of concentration. A few times, such as at 13-16 down and when he had to save 2 matchpoints at 19-20 and 20-21, Lin Dan was able to concentrate and plan the next rallies so well to save the point. It was the one and only thing that proved to be the difference in the match. When it all ended, amidst the celebrations, Lin Dan showed that he too had human feelings and consoled LCW for his defeat. Definitely a champion deserving of respect, and the Super Dan moniker is apt indeed. Likewise, Lee Chong Wei had given his all in this match, and his defeat here was not a disgrace. As they say, there is more to this than just about winning. Without a great challenger like LCW, there could be no great champion like Lin Dan. And when both of these players retire, we will be the poorer for it. In Women's Singles, Wang Yihan was just heads and shoulders above Cheng Shao Chieh. Always keeping the shuttle high enough that Cheng needed to move back, it was very easy for WYH to manage the rallies and keep control of front court. Nothing CSC did could stem the tide. Men's Doubles as expected, went the way of the defending champions, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng. They were only briefly made to struggle by KSH/YYS. By the time it came to game 2, the Koreans have started to tire and the, ahem, older Chinese pair took it home very efficiently. So much for Korean kimchi. Mixed Doubles was what the majority of the crowd was waiting for. Briefly, their hopes were kept burning by some fighting qualities by Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock. Up to 15-15, at least. And then, came the Collapse of Epic Proportions. Without being under so much pressure, errors upon errors came from the GB pair, and they fell after conceding 6 pts in a row. It was even worse in the 2nd game, when they were not even competitive from the get go. Probably affected by stage fright. On the spectator turnout, we were boosted by the presence of Chinese supporters on finals day. They took pretty much almost a quarter of of the seats, 2nd only to GB supporters (who were prim and proper and do not make so much noise). Malaysian supporters are a distant 3rd. More pictures will be posted up soon.
Yeah, you could say that. Good looking girls like them need all the protection they can get. Remember, there's a riot going on, right?!!
Camera Use Rule ...... ..... went out of the window on Finals Day. The huge horde of Chinese supporters did not bother to follow prim and proper English rules, and the language barrier perhaps forced the organizers to just bear with the "illegal snapping" of pictures. Anyway, first, let us look at some podium pictures. I snapped everything but the Mixed Doubles winners - by that time my time in UK soil was up and I had to scurry back for my Airport pickup, followed closely by Tine Baun and her husband (but not in the same transport - you wish). Pics: What they were all fighting for - the highest step of the Podium The real reason why China won all 5 titles And their only challenge, came for this small group Next - Women's Doubles Podium pictures here: The Women's Doubles Winners - note that the happiest one is Miyuki Maeda of Japan
Men's Singles Winners This was a match that was so full of artistry and wizadry that it superseeds even the Men's Doubles finals match of two years ago in Hyderabad (since when is Men's Doubles artistic anyway?). The Match of the New Millenium. A match that both Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei deserved to win. But to borrow the catchphrase from "The Highlander" movies, in the end, there can only be one ...... Pics: LCW : "Urgh!! The smell of your sweaty body is worse than my defeat. It's gonna take me years to remove." LD : "Hey, I thought u wanna win the Olympics next year. Was only giving you some of my aura of invincibility ......" The dejected face of a Malaysian hero As he accepts his runnersup medal The Return of The King The Men's Singles Podium Winners
Women's Singles and Men's Doubles Wang Yihan was very convincing in her victory of Cheng Shao Chieh. I was expecting a closer encounter, but it only happened in the first half of game 1. Pics: The New Queen - Wang Yihan Pictures of Women's Singles Winners Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng were in the class of their own throughout the tournament - or even previous World Championships for that matter. Their previous total offense game has given way to more intelligent, but still highly pacy, drive, block and attack game. Testament to the fact that they were only beaten once in the last 5 World Championship encounters dating back to 2006. Pics: Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng - enjoying Champagne at Wembley The Men's Doubles Winners Next up - pictures of the action on Finals Day .......
Pictures of Finals Day Action Here are some select pictures during Finals Day, for Women's Doubles, Women's Singles and Mixed Doubles Women's Doubles Pics: The eventual WD Winners - Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli ZYL : Remember the drill. If we lose this game, we throw the match ...... I need energy to beat Bankier at the net. TQ: Aw shucks! What does that leave me? These two girls wouldn't look out of place as fashion models Women's Singles (actually Wang Yihan) pictures: After two years of World Championships heartbreaks, this face finally rules Another striking pose by this leggy beauty Pictures of WYH in action at the net A sigh of relief as she picks up another point Mixed Doubles (or rather the GB pair's) Pics: The GB pair - Adcock and Bankier during the first 30 pts of game 1 Mere minutes after I took these pictures, their game fell apart, also known as The Collapse of Epic Proportions.
over the 5 days i was there, i ran up and down the stair as much as i can tried to watch and learn from the master at work. all alan ever done was stenciling YY on the already strung rackets! or back to his desk updating customers information. there were 7 sexy ES5 Pro there and i only saw him anywhere near 1 for about 5s then back to his laptop.