both Taiwan and Danish teams have moved from the Olympics Village to a hotel closer to Wembley. the 1.5->2 hours journey each way from Stratford to Wembley will certainly take a toll on players.
If I'm not wrong, or heard wrongly Apparently the Malaysian team are staying near Wembley Arena in a hotel
A bit more side news.. A few more to share.. - Fengwei told me a bit more players came today and the activity level picked up. He got to work an extra overtime. He mentioned the CHN team came again today as well as the Korean team. Also, Fengwei told me, one of the CHN players, Chen Xu, who plays 2 different events, got some sort of bruised or rashed on his eye, not sure how severe it is.. - With this latest news of the badminton players being moved from Stratford area (Olympic Village) closer to Wembley PH, it makes it much more accessible to see players..Hopefully the securiy won't be as strict as it is @ the Olympic Village Went to Stratford area today to check out the stadium and surrounding venues and it is far (at least from Wembley)...timed the travel time from there and it took abt a good 40-45 min. by train/tube to Brent (where Fengwei & i are staying), near Wembley..And it definitely will take longer by car or bus..
it will be much quicker by the OLY's car/coach as they got their own Olympic routes thro' London. my guess is around 30 mins but the hotel is only 5 mins walk away.
when a writer starts an article saying how badminton is not like the backyard sports that most people play in the backyard, it pretty much can assume that he knows little about badminton. http://news.yahoo.com/cost-usa-badminton-players-olympic-dream-054300731--oly.html I mean, stop it already, focus on the topic and stop mentioning the backyard. do we see baseball articles prefaced by how the real sport of baseball is not like the throw and catch you do with your father at the park? no!
A few more notes: - Yes, Fengwei also told me, LCW came with his "gal" (supposedly), with both of them arm in arm.. - GB & Denmark teams came today..with Jonassen & Gade sparred for a few pts to the delight of cheers from their respective GB and Denmark teammates..Fengwei also told me Gade played doubles and partnered Thomas Laybourn and sparred against Boe & Mogensen.. - The entire JPN team came today and had a close practice..They also came on Tuesday.. - Saina came again.. - France team came today, with PHY and Brice Leverdez.. - HK, Canada, Austria, Chinese TPE teams came today and practiced.. - Indonesia team came today but no sighting of Taufik, with only Simon Santoso, the doubles players and the WS player.. - South African, Sweden & maybe Norway teams today.. - No sighting of the Australian team y'day or today.. - 80 linejudges just came today.. ..okay, we gonna go and stalk for players at the WPH tonight..
LCW: Is that water cold enough for you to... errr.... you know..... LD: Hey, buddy, it's room temperature! I got it from Beijing, the wife packed it for me. Would I lie to you? Here, talk to Xinfang ask her yourself, ok? LCW: I want to know right now, mister: do you intend to let Jin win or not? LD: Hey hey, old friend! You know that's out of my hands; I'd do it for you if I could, but LongBow calls the shots, y'know? LCW: You're in my way. LD: I know, ol' pal. It's always been like that, hasn't it? Look, I'm sorry and all, but come on, give us a hug now, eh?
Why do the HK, Aussie and American team outfits look like they come from the Edwardian Era? These athletes would look right in place in Southampton, circa 1912 ... getting ready to board the Titanic.
lcw : is that a special water you brought from China or did you buy it here? ld : whatchoo talkin' abt, it's Kangen water!!
Stalkin' the players.. ..okay, call us crazy..but we did go & check out the WPH.. Re the recent transfer of hotel, here's the scoop i got. It is meant to be & apparently the organizer had already planned this move from the beginning. So, this hotel was already booked as the primary hotel, with the realization that the travel time would be a problem. It turned out correct, thus the move. The thought was, they would only reserve the hotel from the actual start of competition and only place all the players @ the Players Village during the team preparation period. On the way to the hotel, which is abt 5 minutes or so walking distance away to/from the Wembley stadium, Fengwei & i met 3 INA staffers on their way back from the Olympic Players Village. I then asked 1 of them who would win the MS? and they told me LCW and LD will be in the Final but Simon Santoso is gonna win it all! Then i asked the guy, who would win it for WS, and the guy told me CHN but be wary of the India gal.. They've confirmed most of the the teams have moved to this WPH hotel and a few are staying @ Ibis hotel. Altough, there are still a couple other teams staying @ the Olympic Players Village. They do have security to screen all the people going in/out of the hotel.. anyway, here are photos.. - Saw 3-4 members from HK team (Yip PY & Wong WK) - Saw INA players, Tantowi Ahmad & Lilyana N & Ricky Subagja.. - Apparently the landscape people just planted those greens and trees on the sidewalk and curbs TODAY !!.. - Also, noticed a Box Ticket Office booth..?!?!..and i was thinking, "what the, are they gonna sell tickets afterall @ the box office?".. - Also some exterior photos of the Wembley arena itself, all adorned with the Olympic logo and colored spotlights. There are still people with military style uniform outside the arena. ..but tomorrow, stay tuned for more pics of players..