Singapore Open 2010 Experience Excellent pix, guys!!! Now, time to have some, err, written description. I was there from the q-finals and missed the heavy downpour that "wreaked havoc" on the courts and caused millions in SGD damages at Orchard Road. It was great to see Saina Nehwal in impeccable form, the best I've ever seen her play. Avataar was right, Saina has no pressure when playing out of her home country. Restricting the World Champion to single digits and making mincemeat out of the Asian Champion is no mean feat, especially taken into context against her Asian Championships tame defeat earlier. But the TPE girl Tai Tzu Ying is another possible star in the making ...... Sony too showed how the best mind can always overcome physical limitations. I rate him among the top 3 in MS for mind management alone (alongside Gade and LD), something that more physically complete athletes (Simon Santoso, LCW etc) has not achieved all these years. The fact is, Sony's back was still troubling him, which makes this victory worth the pain. Singapore should be proud of their first Super Series title, toppling the Korean giantkillers of the CHN World No 1 WD pair only a month ago. Nice to see the nerd SG coach Eng Hian too, with his, err, captivating glasses. Could have been a case of overconfidence on the Korean side, they left it too late at 9-17 down in game 1, and failed to force rubber despite a good number of game pts in game 2. MD was a revelation. All the MD top pairs from Malaysia, Denmark and Indonesia were humbled and the 2nd TPE pair took the advantage to win their first MD SS title by beating two INA pairs (including the reigning Olympic Champs), one Danish, and one USA ex-World Champs. XD final was a bit disappointing, though. Nova/Lily succumbed tamely yet again to the World Champions in the final. But the fact remains that they are still better than other INA XD pairs ..... a big headache to Indonesian coaches. Finally, a note on the Li Ning event. I find that the atmosphere and ambience is a bit muted than during Aviva's time as main sponsors. The crowd wasn't really in full force (Singaporean finals representation helped though). There was a time when I was practically alone on the highest elevated seats. Even the choices at the Li Ning apparel booth were more limited compared against Yonex in previous years or even the Li Ning booth at the Thomas/Uber Finals. Li Ning did, however, set up a demo booth with badminton court outside the main stadium which attracted some attention. It was very difficult this year, juggling between badminton and World Cup "live telecasts" on the other side of the Causeway/2nd Link. The final crossing cost me two World Cup matches, stuck at the Singapore ICA and Malaysian Immigration Checkpoints for a good 3 hours. Luckily, all the goals are captured on web video.
Singapore Open Finals pictures Thankfully I also missed the heavy downpour on that particular day as I went in the late afternoon but had to endure the extended hours well past the scheduled hour. Despite INA being represented in two events, the MS and XD, in the finals, Indonesian support was relatively mild but that at least broke the silence when the familiar chants of "IN-DO-NE-SIA" pierced the air followed by a melodious Indonesian folk song, it seems, sung by a group of much younger fans. INA's popular 'independent' cheer leader, who is normally dressed in his elaborate costume and makeup, was conspicuously missing. Maybe he is saving his best for the forthcoming Indonesia Open. Malaysia's own cheer party was also similarly absent, unlike a day or two earlier when MAS players were represented. This year's Spore Open badly missed the chance to sample again MAS cheer leader's vocal power to rival Indonesia's. There were scattered shouts of "INDIA-CHINA" during the WS match (possibly because Saina Nehwal's goal is to beat the Chinese at their game) from small groups of visiting Indian supporters during the WS match without any corresponding refrain from Taiwan. But when it came to SIN v KOREA in the WD, suddenly the stadium became very much alive, with an unabated string of chorus from the VIP contingent who chanted "SI-NGA-PU-RA" (Lion City in Malay), followed by the banging of the balloon clappers four times. Other Singaporeans joined in to lend support to Yao Lei and Shinta which eventually led to their victory over the more facied Koreans. Here are some pictures from my album. Those relating to the WD have been posted in the "Singapore Also Can" thread. WS Saina Nehwal (IND) (1) beat Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) 21-18, 21-15
MD Final pictures TPE's young pair of Fang Min Chieh and Lee Sheng Mu proved too strong for USA's Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan (8) when they won 21-14, 21-15 in 28 min.
MS Final won by Sony Kuncoro (7) against Boonsak Ponsana (4) 21-16, 21-16 These two must be two of the most 'gentlemen players' in badminton. But they are also*silent killers as Sony and Boonsak slayed all the challengers before them including Gao Huan (CHN), Tanongsak (THA), Joachim Persson (DEN), Hu Yun (HKG), Dicky Palyama (NED), Lee Chong Wei (#1 MAS), Peter Gade (#2 DEN) and Kashyap Parupalli (IND). * While Boonsak had to overcome Peter Gade in three games in the SF, 20-22, 21-17, 21-16, Sony had the harder task of beating Lee Chong Wei from*the first*game down in the QF, 7-21, 21-19, 21-15. He was also strongly challenged by Boonsak's younger aspirant, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the preliminaries 16-21, 21-6, 21-18. Boonsak was in better form during the earlier rounds. * It must have been a most satisfying victory for Sony.
Thanks for the many encouragement. To compensate for the poor image quality, I selected photos that I could string a story. Unable to match Uncle Loh's professional level images. Lita Nurlita is the one with the short hair and white jersey. This Indonesian lady has long (chest-length) hair and with the full-length white dress. Later, she was seated alone and stole a glance at Boonsak. Too bad for Boonsak's fans - he lost in the final. I found out from here http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3803473&id=100290198531 that he wasn't sporting a new (hair) crew cut. Evidently, Boonsak had shaved his hair to be ordained as a monk for 15 days a couple of months back. No wonder it looked like he was trying to hypnotise this lady! Li Ning, being the title sponsor, probably shut out its competition from the venue and co-sponsorships. The result was a lack of bazaar/carnival atmosphere usual in previous Singapore Opens. The organisers should decide in the future whether the profile brought by Li Ning will either help or hurt the development of badminton as a spectator sports in Singapore. Personally, I feel that the absence of dominance/monopoly makes for more interesting competition. Let's say if China were to send their top players to this Singapore Open 2010 - would we get to witness new talents like Tai Tzu Ying, Fang Chieh Min - Lee Sheng Mu and Shinta Mulia Sari - Yao Lei, shining through?
Thanks for sharing the pics.. ..thank you cxqtmy, joeytan, tpcml, spoileddelights & Loh for taking & sharing the pics!; and others for scouring the internet for other photos...what happened to the other reg. S'pore based BCers-photogs who usually take photos and share them here?..anymore to share?..
