As much as I LOVE having fun, I also hate it when the fun stops and I have to force myself to get back to reality. There's nothing worse than having to endure heart-breaking withdrawal syndrome!
I left for Birmingham on Friday after a head-spinning week (imagine having lectures, labs, workshops, and a coursework plus a test due on the same day). It was a relief to be past that now but the test was shite. Can't remember the last time I felt so hopeless about my performance (hmm, actually I think I do - it was the PH2106 exam last autumn which until today I don't know how I managed to pass). The PK test on Friday was so depressing that I thanked God there was something to take my mind off it soon after I finished.
And that was what brought me to Birmingham.
The sports enthusiasts among you might have guessed that it was for the All England Badminton Championships but not to worry if you didn't. Just as long as you remember 11th March as the day we made history by winning the MEN'S DOUBLES event in 25 years!
This whole talk about going to All England started way back last year, when I thought my Brummie friend (correction, my Malaysian friend studying in Brum) was going to graduate this summer. Decided to ambil kesempatan and made him buy me the tickets the moment it was out for sale (yes yes, Adeline the Kanjiong Queen :D). And thanks to Anson's efforts, I was there to witness a weekend full of world-class badminton!
I was quite lucky - in that the matches that were played after I reached NIA on Friday evening - were those which featured the Malaysian team in action (matches started at 5 but I only got there at about 7.30). Tan Fook and Wan Wah were leading in the second set against the Danes but they lost at the end, going down in 3 sets. After that, it was Kien Keat and Boon Heong who took on the never-say-die Koreans which saw them win in straight sets to book a place in the semis. To add icing to the cake, our women's doubles team did us proud by beating the 4th seeds to reach the semis, which I believe is a first for the women shuttlers in the entire history of Malaysian badminton. Too bad Mew Choo couldn't join her compatriots as she lost to the aging Zhang Ning who - despite her age - is still winning matches (way to go girl).
The semis ensued without any hiccups on Saturday, and I guess it was time the spectators sat up and took notice of this small but proud nation. The Malaysian fans literally took NIA by storm with our ever feverish Malaysia Boleh chant throughout the match in which KK and BH demolished the Danes (who beat WW and TF the day before). Many Jalur Gemilangs were hung or draped with so much pride that no one could deny our presence even if they felt compelled to.
Badminton wise, KK and BH played exceptionally well (imho). They were so calm that the Danes were making a hill of unforced errors which gave the game away! Anyway, who cares lah, their loss is our gain!
Unfortunately, Pei Tty and Ee Hui couldn't repeat the feat of their male counterparts and went down tamely to a Chinese pair. It would be nice to have a non-China representation in the women's event for a change, as it is becoming more and more of a stalemate if you don't mind me saying!
Think about this. If a badminton fan like me woke up on Sunday morning with butterflies in my stomach, you can imagine the gamut of emotions that the players actually go through on the day of the finals.
Men's singles was played first, and Lin Dan won against his team-mate whose name I forgot (sorry mate, it was an all-China final). I was praying and hoping that the Men's Doubles event would be the last to be played so that I wouldn't walk out of the stadium an hour after reaching, but no, they were up next. The lunch that I had bought earlier had to be put aside because I was too nervous to eat. Honest. Adrenaline was pumping in every single blood vessel of mine and it was no wonder my heart was beating at 200 bpm. Ying Yie, Anson's friend who I met at Brum that weekend, had to calm me down as I grew quite tensed. And if you had seen me on Sunday, you wouldn't have thought that the idiot who was shouting and screaming at every opportunity was actually your friend Mun aka Adeline. Positive, without a doubt.
But in my defense, every self-respecting Malaysian was cheering on KK and BH with Malaysia Boleh and you'd be losing out if you didn't follow suit!
Haha, I think it was more of the nerves talking than anything else to be honest!!!
Our opponents in the finals were top seeds and World Number One Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng. Our players started the set superbly with well thought out shuttle placement and lightning reflexes, which drove the Chinese pair in circles, forcing many shots into the net. We won the first set quite comfortably but had to stifle a minor comeback from the opponents in the second before sealing off the championship point in style. No prizes for guessing who went wild on the last point :)
I think part of the reason why Ying Yie and I went ballistic (ooh, a pun unintentionally intended) was because we both fancied KK. Aiyar, don't roll your eyes lah, we all know cute guys are a sight to behold :P, no? I was lucky enough to congratulate KK and BH when they did their lap of honour after receiving the prizes, but I must say, I was a bit put off by my man's expressionless reaction when I went over to shake his hand and said congratulations. He looked at me rather dazedly and managed to only nod slightly as I gave him an arm-breaking "well done mate" hand-shake. I mean, what the hell?! You just won the All England championship for goodness sake...you're supposed to be feeling on top of the world!
Or maybe he was just shell-shocked. Either by the win or my beauty, oops my enthusiasm, only he knows...
Funnily enough, I actually stayed on to watch the rest of the matches before heading to New Street station to catch my train back in the evening. I guess I needed time to finish my unfinished lunch which I had abandoned some 40mins ago :) The all-China women's doubles was surprisingly an interesting match because both pairs wanted to win badly. It certainly wasn't like the men's singles final, which was more of an exhibition match than real competition.
Then came the highlight of the day, or what Ying Yie accurately described as 'war'. England had a finalist in the mixed doubles event and the spectators were naturally thrilled to have a representation in a competition blatantly dominated by Asians (and Scandinavians to a little extent). Donna Kellogg and Anthony Clark did the St George proud by reaching their first All England final, and they gave the locals something to cheer for, which they did with utmost pride and passion. China's Gao Ling and Zheng Bo were obviously the favourites to win, but they were sadly a shadow of their true selfs in the first set. They just couldn't find their rhythm and nothing was going for them. Nonetheless, they came back strongly in the second set to force the match into a rubber. Eventually, they got their groove back and proved too strong for the English who were, if I may add, a little unlucky to have been the runners-up.
So that was it. My exhilirating, lung-stretching, adrenaline-rushing weekend. I guess the phrase "time flies when you're having fun" couldn't have been more apt even if a little cliched.
A note to 2007: promise me there's more of this to come!
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