The day started well as we were all able to sleep in. For once there was no need to rush the breakfast. As usual the night before I had been farming water by transferring from a 3 litre bottle to small bottles for the kids. Such is the tedious life of a supporting parent at a competition. Sometimes there is some excitement from dealing with other parent's expectations but generally, it is all good fun.
The teams got into the stadium at 1:30 pm for their last team match against ACT Combined.
The 1st match was between Tyzton/Edmund and ACT's top seed Anthony Joe (AJ) and Tom R Yahev.
The game was quite evenly matched as AJ is quite strong but his partner is much younger. Tyz and Ed have been playing together for some time and are quite familiar with each other's tactics. The game went to 18 all before Tyz and Ed got to 20-18. Tyz got the serve for the game point and sent it to the net. The next ACT serve was smashed by Ed for a winner.
On the 2nd set, at mid point the boys were down 11-7. They brought themselves up to 14-13. The score went up to 18-16 in WA's favour. ACT sent the shuttle out on their serve. WA got up to 20. On the return Tyz jumped out to smash but missed the shuttle. Luckily Ed returned to the other team. The smash from AJ was returned to the out side winning WA the point and the match.
The girl's doubles was Phing Teo/Silvi v LY Khoo and Josephine Liu.
The girl's double started with a win of the 1st set to the WA team.
The 2nd set was won easily by 21-13.
Sorry I cannot be at 2 places to give on the spot updates for both courts. The reports from 1 court may be detailed and the report from another court sketchy.
The next game was with Jaz/Titus against Daniel Cho and Raymond Venus. Jaz's knee is feeling a bit sore from the last 2 days. I had already bought a knee protector for him today. He had to dig deep today.
You can generally see the quality of the players when they warm up. This ACT team seemed an unknown quality.
The 1st point went to ACT as Titus thought it was out. The boys gave away at least 3 points thinking they were out. At mid point WA managed to get to 11-5.
WA then gave away 5 points before winning the 1st set. The final score was 21-12 to WA.
The 2nd set was much better. At mid point the score was 11-5 in our favour. WA lost 4 points in a roll at 19 before getting a point to 20. The serve for the game was high and Jaz got smashed. Luckily there was a good return of a serve by a Jaz smash to get to 21 for WA.
The girls double was with Alexandra/Olivia v Grace Ngiam/S Ramasundra. This was be a tough game. Grace is at least 1 1/2 heads taller than our 2 girls. Apparently she had trained in Malaysia. Her Indian partner was just slightly shorter.
At mid point WA was down to 11-8. The 1st set was lost at 21-14. The 2nd set was lost 21-6. Grace was just too strong and tall for the girls.
WA was now at 3 games to 1.
The singles game started with Silvi v Josephine. At mid point it was 11-8 for WA. Silvi won the 1st set at 21-18 and the 2nd set was 21-17. It was quite a close game but Silvi stayed strong to complete the task.
Edward played against Ethan Nguyen. At mid point the score was 11-10 in WA's favour. At 17-20 Ed's drop went to the net and just dropped on the wrong side giving the ACT player a 18-20 score. Luckily Ed managed to win the final point. The first set was won by WA at 21-18.
The 2nd set has WA at 11-9 in WA's favour. At 21-12 Edward lost 3 points in a roll before winning the game. The game was finally won by Edward at 21-17. This is Edward's first win and he must be totally ecstatic.
The Singles game for Alexandra started with her losing 11-9 at midpoint for the 1st set. She lost the 1st set at 21-15 after staying with the game closely. She finally lost at 21-10.
Titus was playing Raymond Venus for the singles boys. The 1st set was so close. Titus was leading at 19 but they had a close fight to 25-23 in ACT's favour. The 2nd set was won by Titus through sheer determination and with encouragement from his team members. Titus was slogging away in the 3rd set of his game and finally winning at 21-15. What a trooper.
The next singles was Olivia v S Ramasundra. The set at mid point was 11-4 in ACT's favour. Olivia looked like she had hurt herself in her foot at one stage but she continued. She was down 4-11 but came back so strongly to win the 1st set. The 2nd set ended midpoint at 11-8 WA. She was leading at 20-14 but lost 5 points in a roll before dropping a cross court for the winner at 21-19. That was close.
The next game was the girl's No. 1. Phing v Grace.
At that stage my computer battery went dead and I am now recollecting the events.
I know that Phing lost 2 sets after fighting hard. She was quite disappointed.
The next game was Edmund v AJ. Although Edmund played his best, he could not contain AJ and lost 2 sets.
Jaz then went on court for his singles and won easily against Anthony Cho in 2 sets.
It was then down to the mixed doubles. Tyz and Olivia managed to get a convincing win.
Edmund and Silvi were unable to beat Grace and her partner.
It was down to Jaz and Phing. They played strongly to win in 2 sets.
WA beat ACT convincingly but it was an enjoyable game as both sides were friendly and respected each other. We are both underdogs but determined to prove ourselves. The kids were so friendly with each other that I invited the ACT and NT team for a joint dinner tomorrow.
The next question was where to go for dinner. A chinese smorgasbord restaurant was suggested. I drove over to the restaurant after dinner to see what they serve and was not very impressed with their KWAILOH food. I then went to Peking Restaurant and had a chat with the boss. They did not seem very friendly. Hence I think it is the smorgasbord we are going to tomorrow.
The only other issue is how we are going to drive there as there was an argument tonight regarding policies and regulations when driving the team. Hopefully common sense comes through but I must say common sense is not that common.
It will be a great night for the kids to get to know some new friends. The spirit between ACT and WA is very friendly as both sides are totally different from NSW and Vic. There were some concerns about lining by Vic and NSW players. That will be the subject of another blog.
Kim came back for dinner wth the schedule for the individual events. Jaz and Phing have been seeded 3/4 for the mixed doubles. I am so impressed with how the kids have progressed and improved through the last 3 mths of training. All the parents should be proud of what the kids have achieved. We came 4th out of a field of 6 teams. We are talking about teams that are funded compared to our MFF (Mother Father funding). I would say all our kids have the necessary skills and we can play and fight with the rest of Australia and hold our heads high.
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Stephen, if you are reading this, please get BAWA to link this site as the kids need all the encouragement they can get for the next few days. They are playing with their hearts out there for WA. Be proud of them.
Tomorrow will be another day for them. I am just concerned about Jaz and his sore knee. Will he be able to fight?
Till tomorrow, good night.
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