Golden Moments at Melbourne Commonwealth Games

Managed to capture some shots of the badminton competition, prize giving ceremony, interviews and poses of and with the players:

 

Some comments on the photos;

1st photo. I believe Siana(on the right) will be a top ranked player of the future.

22nd photo. It shows how flexible WMC can be.

44th photo. It must be YOU with Tania Luiz.

45th-48th photo. Now I know which Kim you are referring to. Kim knows me as chris@ccc Box Hill. I am also surprised to see Adelina there too. During the Games, I was always seated about 2 metres from her, in her IBF press stand. In fact, I invited her to have some hits in the warm-up/training courts, but she said she wasn't allowed there.

49th-50th photo. You are looking happy



Hi Chris and all,

I'm glad you like the pics and are able to relate to some of them. I met all of the BC members, except Twodogs and tze yang, who perhaps would very much like to pose with Tania as well. I wish we had known you earlier so that you can also join in.

Adelina is not only a good journalist, she is also a good badminton player and Chris, it's a shame that you did not spar with her. I partnered her during one of our rare sessions in Southern Star Stadium and she did most of the leg work (at the MCG she jogged most mornings before she reported to work) when we played Kim and Maz to a two-game draw.

Yes Kim is the giant among us and just like you and Adelina, he hailed from Malaysia many years back. Maz's parents, now residing in Sydney, apparently came from Singapore and she umpired a few matches at the MCG. I understand from FEND that Maz is also a coach like you and she might have gone to Perth to accompany the U-17 at around this time.

In a separate post, I have paid tribute to Saina Nehwal in photos as the next Indian shinning star. She really impressed me at the MCG and is indeed someone to watch in world badminton. The team bronze medal is going to spur Indian badminton to greater heights and we should see more of Indian shuttlers competing in world events in the near future.

The view of Melbourne city from the Railto Observation Deck was breath-taking. The Yarra River was most distinct with bridges crossing here and there. Melbourne is a mosiac of new and old buildings and this makes the place so much more interesting and exciting to me. I was surprised to see the trams given such a prominent position in the public transportation system in the CBD. The trams have long gone in Singapore.

And recently Melbourne has been voted as one of the best cities to live in after Sydney in Australia. Our BC friends in Canada, particularly in Vancouver, which is ranked third in the world after the Swiss, I believe, must be a very contended lot! Singapore was ranked around the 30th mark but still held the distinction of being arguably the best in Asia.

In the last pic, I took the train with FEND at around 9.30 in the morning to meet Kim and Kong at Glen Waverly Station. Thereafter we proceeded for early lunch in Kim's car to try the Vietnamese noodles (at Springsters (?) which Kim recommended. It really tasted very good, especially with the different sauces (as shown in the pics). We ate early because we had to watch the individual semi-finals at 4 pm at Melbourne Exhibition Centre (MEC). But not after we met up with the rest of the gang to play our fun games at Southern Star stadium starting at around noon. Hagane (Elton) was kind enough to fetch our two ladies, Adelina and Maz, to the venue and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Wished BadFever (Kevin) and Twodogs were there to bash with us too.

Here are some more pics of mainly the MEC area, alongside the Yarra River.