2016 YONEX SUNRISE Hong Kong Open – Kowloon, Hong Kong

 

 

It was an incredibly rushed trip let’s start with that, I was only in Hong Kong for 1 night and not even 2 full days. The thing was that I didn’t find out I was going to the tournament until just 4 days before the tournament was to start. So that didn’t leave me much time to book my flight and hotel and let’s say that it wasn’t that easy seeing how little time and how expensive everything was working out to be. Lucky I found a flight directly from Beijing to Hong Kong for around $400 with air china so thankfully it was a star alliance airline. The hardest part was the hotel though, the official hotel was the Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel in Kowloon and it was crazy expensive at about $204 US a night which was even more Canadian around $260 for one night which is super hard to justify for a struggling athlete but at the same time it was such a unique experience to play in the event so was justified that way.

 

Hotel room doesn't look to bad

Now that all that was taken care of it was just time to prepare, the tournament started on Tuesday morning with the qualifications draws at 9am. My flight was Monday morning and I would get there Monday afternoon just in time to attend the team managers meeting at the hotel. Thankfully nothing was delayed and I made the connection to the bus to get to the hotel in time and was able to attend the managers meeting at 6pm on the Monday. I got to the hotel and lots of players were arriving and around so I checked in and got to my room which for the price was incredibly small but then again it’s the location and the hotel that made it so expensive for such a small room.

 

Until you realize exactly how small it is foe what it costs

 

That same night they had a welcome dinner, something that the china super series didn’t have despite being a higher level tournament. But let’s talk about the dinner itself, it was a buffet but the quality of the food was amazing and they didn’t skimp out at all on anything. There was an orchestra there playing live for everybody as well as some live singers throughout the night. The food was plentiful and abundant but the taste and variety was amazing from Alaskan king crab to caviar and some top cuts of meat. Then there was dessert, oh my gosh the dessert section was out of this world, cakes, pastries, anything and everything sweet that you can think of and everything that does not fit into an athletes diet.

Some of the food from the buffet, there was so much

So many desserts they were amazing

Live orchestra and singers

 

So I spent some time at the dinner but I was alone for it as I didn’t know anybody there very well, I recognized a few faces but nobody who I was close friends with and had hung out with before. After a few platefuls of food (I hadn’t eaten much at this point, the last time was the lounge in the Beijing airport) I headed back to my room for the night to rest and prepare for my match the following morning. Now keep in mind I got into Hong Kong at 4pm and to the hotel at 5pm then the managers meeting at 6pm then the welcome dinner at 7pm. That means I actually didn’t get to practice in the venue at all or even go over and see the venue period so I had no idea what to expect other than what I have seen from pictures of the event in the year past. My match was one of the first few up and there was nobody to warm up with let alone any room on the warm up courts to even have a hit. This meant I just had to warm up very well and get ready to adapt to the courts during the warm up.

We got a nice invasion to dinner and my player tag and program

Tournament venue, very cool set up

 

My opponent was from Hong Kong, Lee Chak Wai and like the greater majority of my opponents he was younger than me, not quite a junior but still younger 20’s. There was 4 courts in the venue and it was a very intimate venue, the courts were in very close proximity to the crowd and for a Tuesday morning the stands were completely packed with people watching the event. I was on court 4 which was on the far side of the stadium right next to the stands. Hong Kong super series is always known for its giant banner, this is the promotional banner that is behind the courts and serves as an amazing backdrop but very colorful and somewhat distracting at time. The venue dynamics itself weren’t horrible, the lights while bright wasn’t blinding and there weren’t horrible drafts it was just the case that one side played faster than the other with not much wind movement side to side. Once again the match started good, as always I’m able to rally and keep up with my opponent but then there’s that moment when I try and force it to much and make too many mistakes or they push more and put more pressure on me. Overall given the situation of not practicing at all or having a hit in the venue other than the warm up I’m pretty happy with how thing went, of course I hate to lose but I was fortunate enough to qualify and play a second super series even being the first Trinidad player to play one let alone two. So that was my super series experience in Asia none the less where badminton is at its greatest. These tournaments would also technically help for my world championships qualifications for men’s singles but not by much as I didn’t get to many points because I was qualifications, more points than first round of some of the lower level tournaments.

 

 

Since I was out of the tournament and my flight back to Beijing wasn’t until 8pm that night I had some time to kill. I had been to Hong Kong a few time before and seen the city more so the harbour front at night which is a beautiful sight with all the lights and the light show. This time it was in the middle of the day but the weather was not favorable and raining but that wouldn’t stop me. I ventured outside and headed to the walk of stars but it was actually closed this was a bummer but they moved the statues to a garden close by now calling it the garden of the stars. The Bruce Lee statue was there and that I of course what I wanted to see and got my chance.

Harbour front on a slightly gloomy day

I do love me some panoramas

 

Bruce Lee statue

After walking around that area I headed down to the harbour front and spent some time there getting pictures during the day this time as well as enjoying the view and avoiding the rain. I have been to Hong Kong quite a few time before but always ended up at the harbour front in the night, not really the day. That killed a decent amount of time so I headed back to the tournament hall to get through the rest of the time before leaving to the airport and to eat as well. I had already packed up everything and left my bag at the hotel storage. Since this trip was so last minute and so expensive already I didn’t bring or take out any Hong Kong currency and was actually able to get away with not spending any money on food or anything else.

 

 

Outside the Tournament venue

 

Outside the tournament venue

Back at the venue spent my time in the players’ lounge which was outfitted with players’ Wi-Fi and of course the most important part food. After spending some time eating and browsing through the web it was getting close to head to the airport or well more so I was ready to head there early and spend some time in the lounge before my flight. I was happy to be heading back to Beijing even if just for a day as my flight home was the next day but that meant since I would arrive back to Beijing after midnight and my flight home was not for another day so I booked a cheap hotel for the rest of the night. The flight leaving Hong Kong was delayed a little but what happened when we landed in Beijing wasn’t the most fun experience. When we landed the hydraulics on the airplane failed and the front landing gear gave out. We ended up stopped on the runway just waiting there to be towed into the gate, but this took a long time and was slightly nerve-wracking. Eventually we did get towed in be in very slowly but got through custom and claimed my bag then got a taxi to the hotel which was very close to the airport.

 

Gotta love lounge food

 

Security and all coming to our rescue while stranded on the runway in Beijing

This would mark the end of the super series tour and at this point it had been about 2 weeks and a bit that I was away from home so it would definitely be nice to get home for a little while. I was happy to go on the trip and finally play my first super series tournaments, they are the highest in the world and it was an honour to collect some player’s badges from them to add to the ever-growing collection. I just had to sit through the 12 hour flight back home and that would be it for this long trip. One last tournament for the year and that was the 2016 USA international challenge down in Orange County at OCBC. A tournament I had played many times and also a venue I have played at even more times.