the gym is FREEZING in the morning. i was stationed at court 3 today for the morning, and the draft is terrible. i didn't manage to see how ronald exactly got injured, but he couldn't walk. the laybourn/steffensen game against new zealand was good. did anyone see chen hong vs. wacha? 17-14
i read from the newspaper, the stadium is more suitable for ice hockey or basketball and the air cond system is blowing from the top thus a very strong draft.
Yes, it's true..It was built mainly for ice hockey and basketball..The arena wasn't built for a sport like badminton, esp. with shuttles flying all over.. The temperature is not too cold actually, if you wear somekind of a jacket or coat. But you can def. feel the breeze and A/C draft even sitting down below.. I don't know how they'll "fix it", but IMO, there is 1 "plausible fix" without sacrificing the comfortable "cool" temperature:Since most likely there is ice underneath the playing courts, and they have to put the arena in certain temperature most if not all the time, is to put somekind of cover(cloth) way on top of the playing courts, just below where the A/C draft is coming out. It might take sometime to put and hang those cloths up above, but that's the "fix" IMO. So the draft will be funneled and sent out to the sides. I don't know how it will look "image wise", but they have to do something. It's too bad, they have to sacrifice 1 day of full competition to "fix" this. But hopefully it's not too late and they can figure something out soon. If they don't "fix" this soon, I'm afraid this is going to be a "not so memorable" WC(esp. with all the injuries, W/O etc.)...
Yes, I just browsed through the Chinese website, Sang/Zheng did pair up and won the match. I think the tie btw the Chinese and Malaysia's Choong /Chew should be in favour of the latter.
I think Ronald paid the price dearly by not being able to acclimatize early enough. He complained of jet lag and the inability to get enough sleep, more or less suffering from insomnia. Apparently, this is his first trip to the US and the 15-hour or so journey has not been too kind to him. To a certain extent, his coach is also to blame for not getting him there much earlier. What a waste of effort! Imagine, just 2 points away from victory! :crying: :crying:
That's the thing, my guess is that they need to have the A/C at certain temperature throughout the arena, the whole time..Most likely because there is ice underneath the playing surface. I'm sure they've thought about reducing/llighten up on the A/C, but i don't think they can do much about it..It could be the A/C system is one big centralized system, providing the temperature inside and outside in the hallway..
that's just unfortunate. but honestly, i am not sure if there is much to be done. it is 80 degrees outside the arena, and it is a really really big arena that wasn't built for badminton. so the A/C wasn't designed to minimize draft. as one of the Chinese team players have said, all arenas have their own air-flow problem. as everyone are competing in the same location, while it is not ideal, it is fair.
Hey. Check out Chen Hong being taken to extra points by the world's #43 player! I was right about Hwang Hye-youn not having enough to beat Salakjit. Too bad. I like to see the Thais do well, too, though. A couple of Canadians won today, too, but no real upsets that I can see apart from what has already been mentioned.
CH was up 14-8 or so in the 1st set and missed a few set winning shots by a few inches. Also, Wacha hit some really nice shots to tie it up at 14-14. Then CH closed out the tie-breaker 3-0 to take the first set. I give credit where credit is due and Wacha was impressive coming back in the 1st set.
Well, maybe Chen Hong didn't have one of his best days, but Premyslaw Wacha is actually not a bad player at all. His ranking does not correspond to his abilities. On his best days, he can trouble (but perhaps not topple) the big guys. He is fast and sharp, with good deception (especially his attacking clears are incredibly well masked). If only he could improve on his shot selection he could be a serious contender.
If Ville can stay healthy and keeps on training as hard as he does now I'm sure he'll be one of the top players in the future. He's only 20, and gets good training from dane Lars Uhre. Unfortunately the next round opponent (Korean Lee) will probably be too much for him now - but I'm sure he'll give a good fight in that match too.
Did Tony/Howard win? Anyone knows? I left early yesterday since I am carpooling with some others. The live score still shows 0:0 now. :-(
