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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I watched the YOG Table Tennis Singles matches on Monday 23rd Aug.

Not wishing to miss the chance to watch LIVE Olympics action, Eric, Vincent and I bought tickets to watch the Singles finals, which fell on the day that included the semi-finals as well.

And that amounted to the 8 most important Singles Matches, from semi-finals to Bronze Medal Play-offs and the GOLD MEDAL MATCH.

The venue: Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The first semifinals match in the morning was our Isabelle against Thailand's Suthasini, who was seeded and ranked higher than Isabelle. She raised the nation's hopes high and kept us excited after winning the favourite to reach the finals in the evening!

The second semifinals match was between China's Gu Yuting and Korea's Yang Ha Eun. Both played very well. The China's player was good at her attacks. World class match. If Singapore was to play against any of them in the semifinals, we probably would have lost.

The boys' semifinals match saw Japan's Niwa Koki against France's Gauzy Simon. The Japanese 'genius' played well. This top-seeded player in the YOG didn't disappoint.

The second semifinals for the boys, was between Taiwan's Hung Tzu Hsiang and a Hungarian Lakatos Tamas. It was quite a thrashing by the Taiwanese, who won the sets by large margins. And hence, made the match not as exciting.

We went for a long lunch break, before the Bronze Medal Matches resumed in the evening. Just before that, there was a performance from NTU students, who did a Stomp item using Table Tennis bats.

The first Bronze Medal match, was between Korea's Yang Ha Eun and Thailand's Suthasini. The Korean won by 4-1, with Suthasini putting some good fight.

The boys' Bronze Medal match, was an all-angmoh affair, between France's Gauzy Simon and Hungary's Lakatos Tamas. The Hungarian faltered again, and made it quite an easy feat for the French, who took the Bronze.

And then comes the Gold Medal Match, between Singapore's Isabelle and China's Gu Yuting. We lost 0-4, but Isabelle was a very composed player. She didn't falter due to pressure, but instead kept her cool and was patient in her playing styles. She is a defensive chopper, but made some aggressive attacks at times.

Guess what! Isabelle's mum (in pink) was sitting just behind us, which explained why there were cameras pointing in our direction. Together with her, was Isabelle's sister and aunt; and other mums of our young national team players (local-borns). The supportive mum tried to emphasize Isabelle's feat by shouting "15岁的李思韵, 加油!". OH ya, I must mention that there were really cheers from all over the stadium for Singapore, with many shouting "Singapore, you can do it!".

It is as if I heard the inner voices of Singaporeans, that we (the locally born and bred), can one day win top Olympic glory by ourselves. This Gold Medal Match attracted almost 2000 people, the most out of all 8 matches played yesterday. And especially during the Singapore-vs-China match, I can feel everybody's anxiety. EVERY strike and smash was followed by a unison "wooh", "aaah!", "ayeee", "Hai...". It was sometimes very serious, anxious and quiet during the rallies in the game, that I almost didn't dare to breathe.

After losing the 4th set, the crowd became wild. The country cheered hard, because although we lost to the top-seeded China, we've won ourselves yet another SILVER medal. A big feat for the 7th-seeded Isabelle, really!

The boys' Gold Medal Match was quite a close fight between Niwa Koki from Japan, and Hung Tzu-Hsiang from Taiwan. Both played well and certainly deserved their top medals.

We stayed till the Victory Ceremonies. The first was for the Girls' Singles.

Gold to China; Silver to Singapore; Bronze to South Korea.

Then it was the boys' Victory Ceremony. The Japanese dude was really small-sized.

We went dinner after that, and caught Isabelle and her team-mate Clarence! Lucky choice to choose to eat at Koufu at Leisure Park after the events. We requested successfully to have a group photograph with these Olympians; had firm handshakes with them; and had them to autograph our tickets! These stars are 7 and 8 years younger than us.

Note the autographs on the ticket! Very valuable, because it bears the YOG Singapore 2010 logo; the Event--Table Tennis; the Date and the Venue. S$30 is well-spent here.

人生是黑白的.
11:52 PM <3

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Week 2, Monday, 16th Aug 2010.

"First tutorial. When tutorials start, I don't have a life anymore."