Singapore Open 2019 Press Conference and earlier rounds

Managed to get a ticket for 11th Thursday game, cheapest seat, costing SGD21.

After coming back from Malaysia Open 2019, I find the price a bit high.

The sponsors of the tournament is Li-Ning.

This year, the security are pretty strict with video, selfie and professional photographers.

Perhaps, too many fans were taking selfies with the players in the stadium...

There's also a meet and greet session or press conference at the Wisma Atria, featuring the following players.

The world number 1, Kento Momota is one of the biggest name that made it to Singapore Open. The host asked him a few questions.

The media people were are videoing and shooting photos.

PV Sindhu mentioned she likes Singapore, because there are many Indians here in Singapore.

The training venue for the players is the OCBC Arena, where players can walk to the Kallang stadium right after training. Hence the OCBC Arena is closed to amateur players like me.

Here the Chinese National team heading back to the hotel after training at the OCBC arena.

Singapore Open 2019

This week is the Singapore Open and the venue is the Kallang indoor stadium.

I may drop in for the earlier rounds.

May have a badminton burnout after watching Malaysia Open the week before.

Anyhow, this year's Singapore Open is arranged right after Malaysia Open which is different from the previous years.

The ticket prices are pretty high, but this year many to players are participating.

More updates to come.

Malaysia Open 2019 Holiday.

I attended the Malaysia Open 2019.

It was an awesome experience, with money well spent for short vacation from Singapore.

In addition, I met many fans from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Europe, Japan and China.

This time, I stayed at Bukit Bintang where I can take the monorail and transfer to one of the LRT direct to Bukit Jalil, which cost about RM5 one way.

The player hotel is the Istana hotel which is located near the Pavilion Mall/Changkat Bukit Bintang area.

The 3rd round and quarter finals are the best bang for the buck where 4 courts are in action.

The spectator area is blacked out and it can be dangerous walking around in the dark to find a seat.

Some of the national team jerseys are sold in the stadium. 

I must say Victor have very nicely design shirts. Of course, I bought a few.

I bought the cheaper exclusive Malaysia Open shirt. 

Pretty nice souvenir, nice looking shirt.

The racquets sold at the stadium. It is a bit pricey that I didn't buy any.

The best part was I get to get my items autographed by the players.

Ticket prices are reasonable before the semi-finals. I paid cash at the ticket booth at the stadium.

Fan engagement at the stadium.

Funny thing is at the player hotels, at the lobby there were many fans camping outside to take selfie with the players and getting their autographs. 

I managed to take a lot of pictures, but the low light makes it challenging to get a nice money shot.

All and all, an enjoyable experience for my 4th Malaysia Open. A memorable badminton holiday.

badminton injuries - part 1

Last year, I experienced my first calf strain injury which resulted in a severe pain and an audible snapping sound of a breaking rope.

It happen when I lunged to lift/pickup a drop shot from center court. It's my first time experiencing this injury. I bought a calf sleeve with compression to ease the pain. I guess you see those professional players wearing compression on their legs, it's with a purpose, i.e. to warm the muscles/tendons so that the muscle stay active when contracting.

I now see the value of calf compression and do warm ups properly before each games.

Another nagging injury I experienced recently is heel pad pain.

After playing about 3-4 times of tennis/badminton per week, I started to develop pain on my left heel pad. The pain occurs wherever I wear sandals but goes away when I wear sneakers.

A gel pad can mitigate the pain after trying out a gel insert underneath the heel pad.

Keep playing badminton and stay injury free!

Malaysia Open 2019

Next month is the annual Malaysia Open Super Series competition in Kuala Lumpur.

I plan to go there which will be 4th Malaysian Open. Unfortunately, the defending champion Datuk Lee Chong Wei won't be playing as he is not medically fit to play.

Stay tune for more report. I will test out my GoPro Hero Black 7 as a vlogging camera.

Head gear in badminton

I recently noticed many professional badminton players are wearing sweatbands.

As an indoor sports, badminton tournament are air-conditioned and players rarely sweat into their eyes.

However owing to the intensity of the games and genetic predisposition to sweat profusely on the forehead, many people wears sweatbands in badminton.

Figure 1. Most commonly are sweatbands as sported by Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan.




Figure 2. Anders Antonsen.

And Anders Antonsen of Denmark.

As a person who wears headbands, I can appreciate its uses to prevent sweat from getting into the eyes.

There are 4 types of head gear to prevent sweat from getting into your eyes.

1. Headband
2. Head tie
3. Hair tie
4. Bandana

1. Headband
A cotton version of the wristband that wicks sweats away from your forehead.
Pros: ample absorption
Cons: a bit uncomfortable owing to the tightness of the elastic band's pressure on your skull.

Figure 3. The Adidas Head tie vs the Nike Hair tie.

2. Head tie
Basically a long rectangular piece of cotton or polyester cloth with a triangle tip.
Pros: The cool factor. Think tennis pros like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Cons: Less absorbent than the headband.

3. Hair tie
It's essentially a longer version of the head tie
Pros: The cool factor, especially for ladies. Think Serena Williams.
Cons: Less absorbent than the headband.

4. Bandana

Figure 4. Picture of a tube bandana, a versatile piece of headgear.

Figure 5. Picture of the traditional Square cloth tennis style Bandana from Nike (100% cotton).

(There are two types, one is the 'Buff' type head tubular gear and two is the traditional long piece of square cloth that are folded into place.)

Pros: The cool factor and super-absorbent. The perfect sports head gear. Tennis pros are using it for a practical reason, so should you, the badminton player.
Cons: None, except for haters.

Gosen Inferno Ex Review

My first impression of this racquet is it is unique.

The frame shape is in a form of sinusoidal shape like a wave.

Racquet is brilliant red.

The racquet is aesthetically pleasing.

The shaft is made from pyrofil.

The racquet is made in Taiwan.

The specs can be seen here.

Had it strung with Yonex BG66 at 26lbs.

The recommended string by Gosen is the G-Tone 5 strings.

                                         Figure 1. The T-joint

                                         Figure 2. The unique frame shape

Figure 3. The shaft

The meat and potatoes of the racquet...

THE factors: Balance & Flex

1.  Head heavy balance
2. Stiff flex.
3. Aerodynamic shape frame.
4. Weight of racquet: 86g

Conclusion: I have been playing with this racquet for 2 months now.

I would rate it as an excellent racquet for power and handling. In terms of control, it is surprisingly good even though the frame is kinda funny, the 86 g weight of the racquet makes it stable. Suitable for singles and doubles. Favours the attacking player.

Numerical ratings:

Power: 9.5/10

Control: 9/10

Defense: 9/10

Maneuverability: 9/10

Feel: 8.5/10