ARA GOLDEN EAGLE BADMINTON CLUB KL JR BADMINTON TOURNAMENT 2014

This club based in Selayang, KL is managed by the former chief coach and council member of KLBA. The organizers did not restrict state players from participating. Therefore we were rather apprehensive coming here. Sure enough when we received the draw, Aaron was crest fallen.

For boys U12 singles, his draw couldn’t be any more hazardous when he was drawn to meet 3 high profile players in the first 3 rounds ie. Muazzam Danish, Jimmy Wong & Wah Jia Wei. As anticipated, he could not get past the Selangor state player Muazzam Danish who was in devastating form here. He steam rolled his way to become champion. This is the second time Aaron has lost to him. Ryan also couldn’t get past the first round - losing to the eventual runners-up, M Shaarveen.

The boys were left with the doubles to salvage whatever pride was left in them. Although they had an easy passage in the second round, but they eventually fell in the quarter final in straight sets. Aaron in this tournament made many uncharacteristic errors. I was unsure if he was unaccustomed to the court lightings or probably due to a reverse backlash from last week euphoric final in Cheras. Here, he seemed lost. Even Ryan who was suffering from stomach virus all week had a decent game.

It was indeed a tournament to be forgotten and to be put behind us. Like it or not, the boys were only left with a little more than a week before the MSSD 2014 tournament takes off. Aaron’s dip in form is quite worrying and we will have to work hard to get his confidence back – in time!

Boys Singles U12

Aaron Wong       vs            Muazzam Danish              14 – 30

Ryan Wong         vs            M Shaarveen                    15 – 30

Boys Doubles U12

1^st Round          Ryan/Aaron       vs         Bye

2^nd Round         Ryan/Aaron       vs         Low Eng Seng/See Yu Rong      30 – 12

Quarter Final     Ryan/Aaron       vs         Edmund Onn/Lee Kai Wan         14 – 21, 12 - 21

TRIVIA Part 1

Q : Which was your most memorable tournament?

R : Bukit Jalil Golf & Country Resort Jr Tournament 2013 – Champion!

A : 14^th Inter MBA 2013 – Champion!

Q : Your most disappointing tournament?

R : Perak Chinese BA 2013 – lost 1^st round badly to Too Ming Yap.

A : Hooi Yee Sports 2012 – Gave walk over after vomited because of stomach virus.

Q : Worst tournament organized?

R : 14^th Inter MBA 2013!

A : HKC Sports 2013!

Q : The coach that made my game improved noticeably?

R : Coach Kent (NEBA)

A : Coach Alex (MBA)

Q : Most memorable win against?

R : Tan Ming Yue (FZ Forza 2013)

A : Wong Vin Sean (Piala Merdeka PBVKL, PBWKL 2013)

Q : The opponent I admire most?

R : Lim Ming Hong (Penang)

A : Daryl Foo (Selangor)

Q : My favorite racquet?

R : KX All England 100

A : Yonex Arc Saber 009DX

Q : My favorite shoe?

R : Asics

A : Asics

Q : My badminton Idol?

R : Lee Chong Wei

A : Lee Chong Wei

Q : Best court I have played?

R : Bukit Jalil Golf & Country Resort

A : 89 Arena, Klang

Q : My preferred doubles partner?

R : Aaron Wong

A : Darren Tan

Q : Most bizarre incident?

R :  A junior player name Taufik Hidayat.

A : 5 racquet strings snapped in a week! Followed by another 2 racquets two weeks later!

KEJOHANAN BADMINTON PBWKL, PBVKL “PIALA PUSINGAN WPKL 2014”

Aaron (centre) receives RM50, medal & cert for Boys U12 Singles Runners-Up.
His club mates, Jie Yang (L) & Darren (R) made it to the semis for Boys U12 Doubles.

I had an uneasy feeling about this tourney because based on last year’s experience, the quality of this tournament left much to be desired. It was originally scheduled on 15 & 16 Feb 2014 but was later postponed to 22 & 23 Mar. These were tell-tale signs that insufficient thought process was put into it.

When the draw was published in www.sportscentral.com.my in the evening on 21^st Mar, my worst fears came true. It was a sketchy hand-written draw without match number and time. I had to call twice to clarify the confusion as I belief many parents/coaches would have done the same.

The person behind the phone number verbally informed that U10 & U12 will start at 9am and finished by noon, followed by U14 in the afternoon and U16 to be played in the evening. The intention was to complete all U10 & U12 in the morning so as we do not have to wait the whole day. This was far from the truth.

Because there was no match number and time, we had to be jailed in the stadium to listen to the announcer to bark out names of players all the time. Secondly, the majestic Stadium Badminton Cheras had 10 courts but was not fully used at any one time. There were insufficient empires let alone schooling kids taking the high chair without linesmen and worst of all, with only one playing shuttle.

To cut the long tale short, we had to wait until 6pm before all U10 & U12 completed their singles (up to last 16) & doubles matches (up to quarter final). At the end of the day, the boys and I were mentally drained. This agitation was aggravating when Ryan had to bow out in both singles & doubles in the first round. What was agonisingly disappointing in the singles was that Ryan had beaten his opponent just a week ago in a friendly match. In the doubles, both brothers also went down uncharacteristically to the SJK(C) Puay Chai No.1 doubles who eventually took the boys U12 doubles title.

Only Aaron was left to battle alone in the boys U12 singles which lifted our otherwise insipid weekend by making a fine run up to the finals before bowing out.

In the end, although the organisers tried hard to make up for their blunder on the second day,  only Aaron gave us something to cheer about  and lifted our dampened spirits.  Otherwise, this will surely go down as one of the most poorly organised public tournament we have participated in.

BOYS SINGLES U12

1^st Round – Aaron vs  Bye

2^nd Round – Aaron vs Wong Jia Lee          30 – 4

3^rd Round – Aaron vs Ng Ee Hern              30 – 16

4^th Round – Aaron vs Jason Cheng            30 – 21

Qtr Final – Aaron vs Mohd Haris Sufian      30 – 21

Semi-Final – Aaron vs Chew Chen Hong    21 – 15, 16 – 21, 21 – 19

Final – Aaron vs Tan Jia Jie                      17 – 21, 15 - 21

1^st Round – Ryan vs Hadrian Soh               28 – 30

BOYS DOUBLES U12

1^st Round – Ryan/Aaron vs Tan Shau Heng/Daryl Foo      23 – 30

The brothers before their doubles match.