I went to see the badminton quarterfinals
today with Mom and Nam at the Anaheim Pond, and it was sooo awesome
^_^. World-class playing for 5 hours was really exhilarating to watch
as we cheered on the players (China had 2-3 players in each of
categories so Mom and I had plenty of opportunity). The shuttle got
smashed around so quickly that at times you could barely see it in the
air, and the players' reactions were so fast that they could even
return smashes like they were nothing! There were lots of exciting
rallies, including one when the player returned three volleys after she
fell down sitting on the ground. Slams across court were quickly
followed by light-hitting net play the next second before switching
back to power shots. Drop shots were liberally used, and several times
the shuttle would balance on the edge of the net before falling during
net play. It's really cool to see the players almost fencing with their
rackets as they flick the shuttle so quickly.
The atmosphere at the stadium is so different from at home where I'm
staring at the tiny TV screen. Each player had his or her own band of
groupies clamouring to get signatures on t-shirts, backs (whatever
stays still long enough for the player to sign), and shouting matches
bounced between fans cheering for different countries. China got
trounced a couple of times, but at least there is at least one Chinese
team advancing in each category. What's really amusing though, is that
ethnically, many of the matches are held Chinese vs. Chinese. There was
one case in the mixed doubles in which two teams from China were
battling it out and another incident of Germany vs. France in which
both players were Chinese judging from their names. The final of the
afternoon was in fact Taiwan vs. Hong Kong, so they're technically both
Chinese players. :-P
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