Day 4 (Semifinals) pics - Doubles events pics.. ..here are the Doubles events pics.. Doubles actions..
Day 4 (Semifinals) pics - Misc. pics.. ..and here are a few more off-court pics...There was a gentleman who was doing some video recording on all the U.S. squads' matches. I guess it's for the U.S. Olympic videos??...And they had a special cheering section for Eva & May.. Misc. pics..
Turning back the clock a bit... Didn't have time to post these misc. pics up from Day 1 & 2... Day 1: -2 of the players going over some items with their coaches (below 2 pics)...Our smashie54, 1st pic, talking with her own special coach.. -And the tournament's official t-shirt (they had 3 colors actually, with the same design; black for court officials, blue for players and green, if i recall correctly).. Day 2: -The Trinidad & Tobago team's emblem, nicely stitched to one of the player's jacket.. -Bob M. is always relaxed.. -And for Halim, if he's not playing, he's gotta do double duty as a father... ..okay, those are for today....chat with you guys later..
Yep, should be correct.. ...they could swap the MS & WS order of play...but the ending is always with the MD match...Hopefully, the WD & MD matches will turn out to be exciting, as both events feature pairs from the same countries (Chinese TPE & US, respectively)..
Halim Haryanto HO[USA] Yun (Grace) PENG[USA] -[CAN] Mike BERES [2][CAN] Valerie LOKER 21-13 21-16 Lili ZHOU[USA] -[IRL] Chloe MAGEE [5] 23-21 21-16 Andrew DABEKA [1][CAN] -[DEN] Martin BILLE LARSEN [8] 21-14 21-9 Li Ying CHANG [3/4][TPE] Shih Chieh HUNG[TPE] -[TPE] Pei Ling TSAI [2][TPE] Chia Chen YANG 21-19 21-14 Howard BACH [1][USA] Khan Bob MALAYTHONG[USA] -[USA] Halim Haryanto HO [5/8][USA] Raju RAI 21-14 21-19
Snider is not Canadian champion for nothing. Saw him training at RichmondPro just before the TC/UC and observed he wasn't a flashy player, just a consistent, sound one who gets everything back. He must take the next step up as Bobby Milroy pretty much part time these days anyway. Congrats to David for getting to the SF and pushing Martin "Billie Jean King" Larsen hard
Quick recap of the Finals Day.. Phew, finally, it's all over....Both relieved but at the same time, will miss it (i'll tell you guys why at the end of this post)... It was a special night for the U.S., as they not only won 3 out of the 4 titles, but also made a special send-off for the current U.S. Olympic bound squad. XD - It started slow but ended almost like it started, with a bit of excitement in the middle. No doubt, the U.S. pair came out aggressive & dominated the net area and made less errors than the CAN pair, who simply couldn't cope with the consistent play from Halim & Grace. Congrats to Grace & Halim for winning their first U.S. Open XD title! WS - This was a close and pretty good encounter, esp. in the 1st set, as both players kept it basically neck & neck all the way through. Chloe was on the verge of closing out the 1st set, but a bit of concentration lapse caused Lili to rally & tie the score. And the indomitable Lili came through and secured the 1st set. Chloe tried to keep it close in the 2nd, but to no avail, as Lili pulled away and won her 2nd U.S. Open WS title in as many years. Congrats to Lili for winning the U.S. Open WS title! MS - What a performance by Mr. Dabeka this week. In this match, the tall & lanky Martin "Don't call me Billie Jean King" Larsen tried to unsettle Dabeka's game, but it wasn't meant to be. Every drop or placement or clear shots which Bille Larsen attempted was chased down. Only on a few occasions which Bille Larsen was able to unleash his smashes. In the end, with some unforced errors, Bille Jean had to bow down to the more consistent game of Mr. Dabeka. Congrats to Andyyyyyy for winning his first U.S. Open MS title! WD - Well, it turned out to be somewhat of a fun affair, with many smashes, drops and exquisite placements, left and right. But Hung & Chang finally closed shop after a really entertaining 1st set. On the other hand, their opponents didn't look very energetic... Congrats to Hung SC & CHang LY for winning their first U.S. Open WD title! MD - Last match of the night went pretty much as expected. With Howard putting on a serious face before the game started, the no.1 U.S. MD pair took it to Halim & Raju and never looked back. They secured their first ever U.S. Open MD title (as a pair) with a convincing straight sets victory. Congrats to Howard & Bob for winning their first U.S. Open MD title (as a pair)! Howard and Raju then made a very brief speech thanking the Chew family for all their support in their badminton careers (it sounded like it was a final farewell speech from both of them). ..okay, rest of the pics will be shown in a bit while... * News: Okay, here's the news. Not sure if others (kwun) have heard about this or not, maybe it's an old news and it's not confirmed or anything, but heard from a couple of reliable resources, that this yr COULD POSSIBLY be the last time the U.S. Open will be held @ OCBC. Yep, the talk is, next yr, the event could be held somewhere else, pending bidding by other U.S. cities.............kwun?? will it finally be held, up in the NorCal area???...
U.S. Olympic squad send off.. And in between the WD and MD match (if i recall), the organizer held a small send off ceremony for the U.S. Olympic bound badminton squad; with Ben Lee doing the "official" intro. and invited all 5 U.S. badminton players who'll go and represent the U.S......They all thanked the crowd and all their support...."4 yrs ago, the U.S. only had the MD representing in the Olympics; but this yr, we have all 5 events covered. With a hope that they will at least get on the podium", as i try to quote Howard's speech... (Hope to see you guys in Beijing!) Pictured left to right (1st pic below): Bob Malaythong (MD & XD), Raju Rai (MS), Eva Lee (WS, WD & XD), May Mangkalakiri (WD & XD) and Howard Bach (MD & XD)
Gratitude to Chris We are so fortunate to have Chris is "da house" to cover this event so well. Please give him a round of applause for the job well done !! Nice work Chris. I really love the pictures and comments.
Day 5 (Finals) pics - Alrighty.. ..(sorry for a bit of delay)...here are the Singles events pics... - to robin7 & george@chongwei: you got it! (thank the camera & lenses along with lots of help from Daylightkiller, as well!) - to harimau: did you go last night to watch the Finals?? If so, i didn't see you, at least, helping out as a line-judge. I saw Nick, though. Singles events pics...
Day 5 (Finals) Day - Doubles events pics.. ..and here are the Doubles events pics.. Doubles events pics..
Day 5 (Finals) pics - Misc. pics.. ...so, before all the pomp & circumstances begun, they passed out the always popular balloon-clappers, courtesy of Yonex...And boy, did they pass them out in droves or what, as almost everyone got one..... Also they held a Jr. Tournament pitting the SoCal All-Stars vs. NorCal All-Stars. Now i know why Ben and his young players were here (kwun might know??). They then held a brief award presentation to the All-Stars (as they'll be, hopefully, the future of U.S. badminton). And Bob being attended to, by a trainer, prior to his MD Final match (last 2 pics). Misc. pics..
