Maybank Malaysia Open 2012 - Part 2

Friday, January 13, 2012
Quarterfinals started at 5pm.

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On Friday(four years after the 'Lu Yi case' in 2008), I met another player off-court before I even saw him in action on-court. He's not that new. It's just that I hadn't been following badminton news much that I never knew him before this.

Kim Sa Rang of Korea. Played men's doubles with Kim Ki Jung(usual partner of Shin Baek Cheol) at this Malaysia Open. Kim/Kim were the ones who sent our Koo/Tan off as early as in round two, and he was going to play Hashimoto/Hirata in the quarters.

I met him before his game and he made a promise that I didn't really expect him to keep. I actually wanted to say 'You guys must win this', but I was so busy sending him off to get ready to go on court that I had forgotten to do so. In the end, Kim/Kim lost to the Japanese. And I was thinking if they could have won if I told him to win. ahaha. Well, maybe not. 

Another interesting person I met on quarterfinal's day must be Chan Peng Soon(partners Goh Liu Ying in mixed doubles). They defeated some really good pairs and made it into the semis on Saturday. On Friday, they survived a crazy game against a Singaporean pair, where the rubber set ended in 27-25! I liked the way they exclaimed in joy when they entered the backstage. "Wahlau-A!" That was so Malaysian. :D 

Chan Peng Soon. Pretty good looking I'd say.
Maybe not very Junho-ish but he sure looks like someone to me.

As for Lee Yong Dae, he and Ha Jung Eun didn't survive the match against China's Xu Chen/Ma Jin. Sad to say, as well, I hadn't met him that day.

When they lost to the Chinese, I was sitting in the stadium, working on my article. But I didn't notice when they got defeated and retreated backstage! When a journalist friend from China Press came and told me about it, he said, "Eh, your Mr Lee is leaving. Go stop him before he leaves! Like in Winter Sonata. Grab him and say, 'Don't go..!' "

Crazy, but I did leave my seat to go see him, so maybe I can get him to say something about the defeat. I never really ran that fast the whole week, until then. It totally felt like my version of Winter Sonata as I was hurrying down to stop him before he leaves. Too bad, he was no where to be seen when I arrived backstage.

So in other words, I didn't see him the whole day on Friday.

Jan O lost to Chen Jin, but was still very nice after that. :)
Photo credit: Yves Lacroix for Badmintonphoto.

When I got home, close to midnight, I was so drained. Someone said it's because I didn't see Lee Yong Dae the whole day. But I thought it's probably because most of my favourite people lost that day. 

And it was Friday the 13th. I didn't notice until someone mentioned.

[End of January 13th's entry]

...To Be Continued