September : Frustrating Month

September was a frustrating month. Somehow, the club training intensity has dampened due to circumstances beyond my control and the boys were not getting the benefit they needed. I tried to salvage the quality of training by supplementing them with our own private sessions in Bukit Jalil but an unexpected shoulder injury from my routine badminton session has hampered my right arm movement.  A harsh reminder that age is catching up. My wife was also busy with her work schedules and her long term knee problem has not got any better.

Already Aaron has lost about half of the training hours due to his nasty ankle injury sustained in the beginning of the month. As at the end of September, he is still not 100% and cannot be loaded yet. To top it all off, the school final academic exams are in early October. So some training days will be sacrificed in the last weeks of September and just as well for the boys to rest their aching muscles. Why not? Afterall, its already a frustrating month.  

Lateral Ankle Sprain

We hope Aaron will have a speedy recovery

The injury jinx befell Aaron again. This time he twisted the outside of his right ankle ala Lee Chong Wei style during his training session last Saturday at MBA. The boys were to take part in their school ranking match later that morning but this unfortunate incident meant the much awaited match with Lee Jia Quan will have to be put in the back burner for now. Instead Ryan will have his opportunity to take on the Harcroft Number 1. Despite Ryan leading 15-14 before the change over, he lost steam in the second half and went down 18 – 30 to a more polished player.

After Aaron’s injury was examined by a sinseh, he was advised to rest for a week or two. The swell and pain was getting to him as he has low tolerance for pain. This was a big blow to his training programme, especially knowing that the major tournaments were just around the corner. I wasted no time to start Aaron on his ankle rehabilitation, exhausting all traditional and home remedy treatments I can think of, scouring youtube and internet 'How-Tos" on ankle massages and remedies available. 

It will be a race against time now.

PIALA PUSINGAN TAN SRI K.R. SOMASUNDRAM SEMPENA HARI MERDEKA 2013

This is the third junior tournament of the year organized by Times Badminton Academy.

Aaron continues to progress well in the U10 category reaching the final but lost to Thaanesh Devar from Melaka by one solitary point. The break through came in the second round, when Aaron beat his nemesis, Wong Vin Sean 30 - 28, as the latter was the defending champion in the second tournament by Times BA, with Thaanesh Devar, the runner up. Aaron’s head to head record with Vin Sean now stands 2 – 1 in his favour but the SSBA club player remains a tough opponent and should not be taken lightly.

Ryan made it to the third round in the U12 category to cross sword with Chong Ee Jack again. Ee Jack was the same player who halted Ryan’s run in the first Times BA tournament last April. Ryan could not bring up his game as Ee Jack was visibly a much improved player since the first time they met. Ryan’s head to head record with Ee Jack is now trailing at 0 -2.

In the U12 doubles, the brothers qualified for the semi-finals by beating their team mates, Lee Jia Quan/Abdul Rahman in a closely contested match 30 - 28. This was a significant win for the brothers as they claim their bragging rights in the Putrajaya camp. However, their semi finals vs Putrajaya’s circuit pair Clement Lau/Ho KaTim was beyond the brother’s level. The brothers could have gotten a more respectable score if not for Aaron conserving for his U10 singles final.

Overall, I can say it was a satisfactory tournament for the brothers. Aaron won two medals, silver for U10 singles with cash RM70 and bronze for U12 doubles, while Ryan took home a bronze medal for the U12 doubles. They displayed better maturity in their doubles partnership thanks to the private trainings albeit only in its infancy stage but is gradually seen to be bearing fruit.

Times BA will again run it’s forth installment in 19^th October and we are looking forward to it.

Boys Singles Under 10 Results

1^st Round  :        Aaron vs Jason Manimaran         30 -  9              

2^nd Round  :       Aaron vs Wong Vin Sean            30 - 28

3^rd Round  :       Aaron vs Hadrian Soh                 30 - 15

Quarter Final :   Aaron vs Wu Zhen Bing               30 - 15

Semi Final :       Aaron vs Low Hong Seng            30 – 21

Final :               Aaron vs Thaanesh Devar            29 - 30

Boys Singles Under 12 Results

1^st Round :         Ryan vs Lai Lit Theng                 30 -  8

2^nd Round :        Ryan vs Lim Yi Ke                     30 - 28 

3^rd Round :        Ryan vs Chong Ee Jack              20 - 30

Boys Doubles Under 12 Results

1^st Round :         Ryan/Aaron vs Chan Jun Han/Phuang Hong Wei              30 - 16

2^nd Round  :       Ryan/Aaron vs Liew Zi Wei/Yap Zi Nam                           30 -  2

Quarter Final:    Ryan/Aaron vs Lee Jia Quan/Abdul Rahman                      30 - 28

Semi Final :       Ryan/Aaron vs Clement Lau/Ho Ka Tim                             7 - 30

U10 Boys Singles L to R : Thaanesh Devar, Aaron Wong, Low Hong Seng & Teoh Hong Kai

U12 Boys Doubles Semi Finalist

Another awesome results by the Wira Tangkis Team

WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE

Last Sunday, despite a mild stomach discomfort (after his bouts of vomiting two days ago), Ryan still went ahead with training at Precinct 11. However, Aaron was left at home as he had not recovered fully from his injured knee after visiting Perak BA.

My otherwise insipid weekend was about to change unexpectedly. After some shuttle drills, Ryan sparred with his school mate, Jia Quan in singles. I sat up with interest, entertained by the two boys heated contest. Despite his weakened state, Ryan surprisingly beat Jia Quan in the first set 21-11. Jia Quan came back in the second to win 21-18. There was no stopping them for the decider. However, the match was halted at 11-10 in favour of Jia Quan when the coach put a stop to the match as Ryan was visibly exhausted.

I knew the boys would eventually catch up with the Harcroft No.1 sometime in the year. Seeing Ryan stealing a game off him earlier than expected has certainly given the boys a positive boost.

Beginning August, we decided to change the training regime by engaging private coaching replacing group centralized training in MBA. No doubt, their court hours will drop off the chart but we had to address the skill gap that was felt wanting in the tournaments especially measuring up against players in the quarterfinals and beyond. We are hopeful the focus on dedicated trainings in skill development will shift their game towards the next level.




Private coaching "green bar" will gradually replace the "blue bar" from now onwards.

 

DOUBLE BLOW AT PERAK BA

Wira Tangkis at Perak Badminton Academy

Today, a double misfortune befell on the boys. Today, Wira Tangkis had planned a trip to Ipoh for a friendly with Perak Badminton Association.  Ryan woke me up at 6am convulse and quivering all over as he had a bad stomach all night and had just vomited. However, he felt better after that but during our two hour long journey to Ipoh, he vomited again. His bout proved too much for him and finally had to sit out on his match.

However, we still have Aaron left to play, or so we thought.  He started his match against the like of Anson Cheong and was going blow for blow. As the match progressed, Aaron’s game deteriorated. In the middle of the second set, we noticed he was limping slightly. In the end of it, he lost in straight sets. We didn’t heed him as he was left to rue in his defeat.

Aaron's left knee in bandage

Having known Aaron being the type who suffers in silence, my wife being the more attentive one by her fair nature decided to take Aaron to a chiropractioner to examine his troubling knee.  It was found that the internals of his knee was swollen. Only then we realised he must have picked this injury up during the Young Apologist tournament last Sunday. He was to be rested for another three days.

Reluctantly I broke the news to the head coach. He fully understood the situation and urged the boys to be fully rested.  A double blow like this was indeed unwelcomed and this lost time incident would mean the boys would have to lose a weekend worth of training.

2013 YOUNG APOLOGIST SG BULOH JUNIOR BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIP

L to R : Tan Wei Tze (Jia Quan replacement) , Tan Jae Yang, Ryan & Aaron

When the draw was published in www.malaysiabadmintontournament.com, I couldn’t help myself giving a cheeky yelp on the good fortune as the boys have avoided all the top players in this tournament.

In U10, I saw a clear path to the semi-finals for Aaron being drawn to the same group with the girls.  Only Ting Wen Xuan stood in his way in the second round. If he could get pass Ting (runner-up of 2013 KLBA U9 Junior Closed Tournament), Aaron would cruise all the way to the semi-finals meeting a high profile Fazirq Razif, the son of the doubles ace Razif Sidek. Unexpectedly, his run was instead halted by a certain Wong Vin Sean in the 4^th round, the same player whom Aaron had beaten before in the USJ23 Tournament. As we saw it, both were of the same calibre but Aaron was clearly disturbed by some injury picked up during his doubles game earlier. It was truly a let off on this one.

Similarly in U12, Ryan was drawn in the quadrant of unknown players. As the known state players were group in other quadrants, Ryan’s path was lit up for him until he crosses over in the semi-finals with a state player, either KLBA No.1 Chua Yue Chern or PutraJaya No.1 Ooi Zhin Yang. However our optimism was short lived as his run was also halted by an unfamiliar Chan Jun Han in the 4^th round.

In the U12 doubles, both brothers were bundled together at the eleventh hour after learning Ryan’s regular partner Lie Jia Quan could not attend the tournament. Nevertheless, the brothers made it to the third round before going down to SRK(C) Puay Chai’s top pair of Lok Chong Ming & Danish Ravindran.

It was another dismal outing for the boys given that they couldn’t take advantage of a favourable draw or perhaps we were being too ambitious. Be that as it may, it was evident with the present skill level they have, they are only as good as 3^rd or 4^th round players. They lack competitive mind set and game astuteness to match the players at the next level – quarter final and beyond. It becomes necessary now to equip the boys with higher level skill set and game resilience which they require badly for their circuit preparation next year.  

Boys Singles Under 10

1^st Round             :  Aaron vs Walkover

2^nd Round            :  Aaron vs Ting Wen Xuan           30 – 25

3^rd Round             : Aaron vs Keegan Khoo               30 –  3

4^th Round             : Aaron vs Wong Vin Sean            18 – 30

Boys Singles Under 12

1^st Round             : Ryan vs Bye     

2^nd Round            :  Ryan vs Visnuvaaman                 30 – 11

3^rd Round             : Ryan vs Nazim Naquiddin            30 – 11

4^th Round             : Ryan vs Chan Jun Han                  19 - 30

Boys Doubles Under 12

1^st Round             :  Ryan/Aaron vs Bye

2^nd Round            :  Ryan/Aaron vs Kok Choon Han/Liew Jun Y        30 – 14

3^rd Round             :  Ryan/Aaron vs Lok Chong Ming/Danesh R        21 - 30

FLYPOWER Badminton Tournament 2013

Wira Tangkis Team A (L to R)
Lau Hong Quan, Ho Ka Tim, Saw Hong Jay & Ooi Zhin Yang

Wira Tangkis sent two teams, 4 players in each team. Team A consist of the circuit quartet Ooi Zhin Yang, Lau Hong Quan, Ho Ka Tim and Saw Hong Jay (all 12 yearls old) Whereas team B made up of the Harcroft Quartet Lie Jia Quan (11), Ryan Wong (11), Aaron Wong (10) and Tan Jae Yang (10).

In the singles event, all 4 from the first team made it to the quarter final. Only Ooi Zhin Yang in a class of his own marched on to the semi final and eventually won in the final again.

In the doubles category, 3 pairs from Wira Tangkis booked their tickets to the semi-finals and as predicted, both pairs from Team A were the ones left for the final scrape of the U12 doubles title. Ooi Zhin Yang/Saw Hong Jay eventually won in the doubles category beating comparriots Lau Hong Quan/ Ho KaTim which means a clean sweep for the Wira Tangkis team.




Wira Tangkis Team B (L to R)
Daryl Foo (Friend), Aaron, Ryan & Tan Jae Yang
(Absent Lie Jia Quan)

Aaron surprisingly fell in his first round singles. He seemed to have a thing with slow mornings. However, he made amends with his debut doubles partner Tan Jae Yang to make it to the semi finals against fellow mates Zhin Yang and Hong Jay. The seniors by two years proved too hot to handle as the juniors fell in straight sets.

Also in the singles, Ryan could not get past Selangor BA number 3, Jeffry Wong in the second round. Later, Ryan paired up with school mate, Jia Quan but also found it tough going and fell flat in the first round.

Although the boy’s performance were dismal here but playing under the Wira Tangkis banner with exposure of state level badminton will hopefully rub off some winning culture on the boys. Although time was on their side, but Team B still have lots of catching up to do.  The gap between both teams were miles apart.

Boys Singles Under 12

1^st Round             :  Aaron Wong vs Bronson Wang               20 – 30

1^st Round             :  Ryan Wong vs Lee Juin Xian                   30 – 11

2^nd Round            :  Ryan Wong vs Jeffry Wong                     16 - 30

Boys Doubles Under 12

1^st Round      :  Aaron Wong/Tan Jae Yang vs Chong Yaw Cheng/Gan Yi Zheng 30 – 21

Quarter Final :  Aaron Wong/Tan Jae Yang vs Bryan Wang/Bronson Wang         30 – 23

Semi Final    :  Aaron Wong/Tan Jae Yang vs Ooi Zhin Yang/Saw Hong Jay        6 – 21, 10 - 21

1^st Round      :  Lee Jia Quan/Ryan Wong vs Daryl Foo/Ong Hsien Jun                25 – 30