Well Done to all the winners!!! Lets enjoy another tournament which is the Malaysia Open. Hopefully it'll be as entertaining.
Aviva Open Singapore 2006 FINAL What a day it turned out to be....Team Indonesia is the overall winner of the Singapore Open 2006, returning home with 2 titles yet again (also in 2004 and 2005). It seems that Singapore has been a pretty good hunting ground for them. The first match today was the All-Chinese final in the women's doubles, with Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen beating their younger counterparts Zhang Dan/Zhao Tingting in 2 straight sets 21-18, 21-18. The second match was the All-Denmark final in the men's singles. The crowd favorite, Peter Gade, finally claimed his first Singapore Open title after a straight-forward victory against Kenneth Jonassen, who was the winner in 2004. The third match was more interesting, with Mia Audina playing against Pi Hongyan. Mia displayed some accurate shot-control in the first set and I thought she would have wrapped the set when she led Pi by a huge margin. However, Pi began to impose herself and crept back into the game. Mia had game points at 20-18, however, she could not finish the game and let Pi take the set 22-20. The same story happened in the second set, with game points yet again to Mia at 20-18. Still, Pi was not even bothered and she clinched the match 22-20. The match of the day certainly lived up to its billings and it was an epic battle that lasted for over an hour. There were plenty of dramas and both pairs actually had match points. In the beginning of the first set, the World and Asian Champion, Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir trailed the Commonwealth Champion, Nathan Robertson/Gail Emms 6-9. They kept their composure and once they were ahead in the interval at 11-9, there was no turning back and they clinched the set 21-16. Robertson/Emms were again the more dominant pair in early stage of the second set and they held a 15-9 advantage at one point. Yet, they could not maintain the lead and let the Indonesian pair come back into the game and had match point at 20-19. Nova/Butet were unable to convert the match point and Robertson/Emms pounced on the opportunity to win 22-20. The third set was tight from the very beginning but Robertson/Emms still had a 2-3 points advantage until 20-18. The Indonesians levelled it at 20-20 and still let the England pair hold another match point at 21-20. Yet, Robertson/Emms still could not convert it. At this point, luck favored the Indonesian pair and they eventually clinched the third set 23-21! What a game...I was practically breathless at the end! The last match between two new pairings Flandy Limpele/Sigit Budiarto and Thomas Laybourn/Lars Paaske turned out to be an anti-climax. The Indonesian pair was simply too dominant from the very beginning. They won the first set 21-8 in a convincing fashion, esp with Sigit at his best. The second set was closer, however, they were never in trouble once they established a 3-4 points lead. It ended 21-16 and Flandy/Sigit clinched their first title as a pair. I am looking forward to see how they perform at the Chinese Taipei Open. Finally, I bumped into my Indonesian friends and we managed to meet up with Nova/Butet, Flandy/Sigit, and the two coaches Richard Mainaky and Herry IP. We chatted a little bit with them but there were just too many fans surrounding them. There were also some staffs from the Indonesian Embassy. Flandy and Sigit were the last to leave the stadium and they already had a private car waiting for them. The rest were travelling back to the hotel by using the tournament bus. Overall, the tournament was definitely worth my money. It was also nice to meet new friends such as Loh, Mike, Ants, Kyiyu, and some others at the stadium. I hope to be back next year!
wow ...... didn't know this part ........ I left the stadium directly after prize presentation for Men-doubles ........ I knew so many fans went to the main gate ........ somemore I sat at the normal seating only and the premium one. Anyway, if you have a pics of Nova/Butet, could you post it here ?
Eh, maa...didnt see you yesterday at Aviva. Anyway while we were on our way to the bus stop we saw Nova too.
I was at the West side, near the children group which using yellow T-shirt ...... Yesterday I would like to see Nova coz one of his fans from Indo asked me whether she can talk with him using my mobilephone .....
OK, one of the following girls must be yours! I must say that Zhang and her partner, Yang, were in great form as you can see from some of the pics, Zhang was smashing (literally speaking) and she seemed to be doing a jig in one pic. Even our BF member, EastDevil, could not resist asking for her autograph as they were passing where he was seated in the Premium Ticket, front row section, as you can see in the last few pics. EastDevil owes me a huge debt for capturing such a rare scene from the opposite end of the court, unfortunately quite a distance away from the courts. Otherwise, I might be able to get a closer and clearer expression of his face!
So, the S$50 Premium Season Ticket is well worth it eh! I saw some petite Aviva girls serving drinks, including beer. Wonder whether you also received such exclusive treament? BTW, I hope the pics I posted here are good enough for you.
How could I not oblige after your 'idle' experience compared to BadMania's? Hope you like the pics. But I can tell you that BM worked very hard for Nova/Butet's win. Inspite of being hoarse and almost voiceless, BM saved his last ounce of energy to cheer his darling heroes, which include the 'scratch' pair of MD eventual winners, Flandy Limpele and Sigit Budiarto! Just wonder if Sigit had partnered Candra, would he have such luck? In the pics you would discern a 'changed' Butet, who has been transformed into a lady of concentration and focus. Nova continues to give the occasional scare by being a little frivolous with his returns (into the net). But on the whole, the Indonesian pair just possesses that little extra in the dying minutes to eke out a slight but precious victory!
here's my last batch of photos... sorry I missed the women doubles finals... here you go: Singles Finals
hopefully before the next Singapore open I'll be able to afford my own Digital SLR camera/lens... i took a 10mins crash course from Mr. Poseidon on how to use a borrowed canon 350D and all those photography jargon - white balance, aperture, ISO, shutter speed etc etc... and I'll remember to get tips from Loh and Storkbill. Cheers.
Is it reasonably affordable? I will consider getting one SLR digital one for next year. And it has to have automatic features for the not-so-inclined ones because I might have to ask strangers to shoot me with the players and I don't want to explain too much how to do it.
can anyone give me the actual price of NIKON D50 (standard package) in spore (Sim Lim Sq price)? Thanks. Just wanna compare with German sale item.
