BadmintonWAunder15s 2019: 1st day of competition

Dear friends and readers,

The day has started well. The 1st team WA played against was Victoria's No. 2 Team.

Amos played the first boy's single. The first set was won by Amos easily. On the 2nd set, Amos lost concentration and lost. The 3rd set was close but Amos stayed focused and won at 21-14.

At the same time, Phing was playing her singles. She won easily at 21-4 and 21-12.

The next game was Dennis and Amos against Eddie and John. This was a close 3 setter and WA managed to win after a few close calls.

Eunice then played her singles and won easily in 2 sets.

The closest game was the 2nd boy's singles. Xiang won the first set after a close 20-22. The 2nd set was lost at 21-14 by Xiang. The final game went to a close 25-23. Xiang just could not close the game even though he was fighting to come from behind. Xiang saved a few match points before getting a chance to win the match. He was not able to finish the game as he looked tired. The last shot of the opponent hit the net and tumbled over winning the opponent the game. Xiang must be congratulated for fighting all the way.

The next game was Olivia and Tyz in the mixed double. It became a close 3 setter. Tyz and Olivia won the 1st game but lost the 2nd after losing concentration. They managed to catch up from behind before winning the game at 21-19.

Silvi and Amos also won their game in a close 3 setter.

We won Victoria 2 7 games to 1. We lost them last year and this was good revenge. It was so different from last year when we started our 1st game with NSW 1 and lost all our games.

This promises to be a better draw as the players are getting the right experience at the right time.

They are now preparing for their 2nd game against NSW 2 after having rested for lunch and a nap. My god, they even had time for a nap.

The 2nd game against NSW3 was also a good match for WA.

Xiang and Amos played the 1st doubles game. They had no problems beating NSW 21-18 and 21-17. It was good for Xiang to win his first game.

Phing and Eunice played the girls doubles. They again had easy wins at 21-6 and 21-6. They are both becoming quite a formidable doubles pair.

Amos played the 1st singles and won Justin Lee easily at 21-12 and 21-14. He is becoming quite a dominant player for the tournament.

The next singles game was Tyzton against Calvin Lai. The first set went to 20-17 against Tyzton. Through determination, he managed to catch up at 20-20 saving game point 3 times. The comical point was when he reached 20-20 and he thought he had won. He proceeded to collect his basket of belongs and was going to move to the other side before he was asked by the umpire what he was doing. That was so embarassing.
Tyzton then went on to win 23-21. That was so close. The 2nd set was again close. Tyzton was again behind 20-19 before catching up again before triumphing. He showed so much character in coming from behind to win, not once but twice.

After that his personal coach Paul Kong asked him how if felt to win after coming from behind twice. The coach said to enjoy the feeling but NOT to do it again.

Phing then played the singles and again dominated 21-5 and 21-10.

Olivia played her singles and won 21-11 21-14.

Dennis and Eunice then won their doubles 21-6 and 21-18.

The last game was won by Tyzton and Silvi 21-15 and 21-9. Silvi played well and has improved so much.

Ailing played a great part as coach today. Her placing of the players was well done and her words of encouragement and advice ensured the team performed at optimum level.

Meanwhile Ailing was doing well as a coach and making sure all the players stayed in line.

Tomorrow we are playing the Territories 1st. This is so different a feeling compared to last years 1st day. Last year at this time, all the players were wondering why they were doing so badly against bigger and better players. There was so much doubt in their young minds. This year, WA seems to be sailing and playing strongly. There is great hope this year. Hope they play well tomorrow.