2016 Canada Open

 

Nationals had come and gone and I didn’t play another tournament after that, 2 months later Canada Open rolled around and once again it was in my hometown of Calgary. This is a tournament that I have played multiple times since its inaugural showing in Vancouver back in 2010 at the Richmond Olympic oval. It has a soft spot being in Canada but at the same time being in Calgary where everyone that I know can come watch. Last year I played a player from China and unfortunately didn’t have a great match but this year was up against a Canadian who I knew. I would play against Andy Ko from Edmonton, Alberta which was set to be a good match. Even though we were from the same province and had both been playing for a while in the Provincial circuit we never did play each other in singles until now. I would lie if I said that I wasn’t nervous for the match, I wanted to win and knew that it would be a tough one.

 

Practice time at the Venue

Match day rolled around and we once again went up to the Winsport facility at Canada Olympic Park (COP) where the arena was set up to host the tournament. I had friends from the USA come to participate this year as well. Yuko and Tuck, Tuck and I would be playing doubles together and he would play mixed with Yuko. We were able to get a good amount of practice in at the venue and as always the place looked great but to play there was sort of a nightmare due to all the distractions visually. None the less it was game day and do or die moment.

 

I stepped onto the court to play Andy and right away I was feeling nerves come over me, I haven’t experienced this feeling before. Not even when playing in my national championships or the Pan Am Games which was such a huge tournament. But I knew I had to conquer them else it would work against me. The match got under way and I had Ardy as well as Bryan sitting behind my chair, it was reassuring but at the same time nerve racking too. The match unfolded and it was a battle, point by point went by and we were close then Andy took the first game. I fought back and won the second, that meant that it would go to 3. I was feeling confident and playing well and had to lead when we switched sides and all went to hell. Something happened and for whatever reason I didn’t have an answer for his shots I stopped controlling and started reacting which ultimately in the end cost me the match.

 

I was disappointed, I was devastated, I was done I just didn’t know how to react. Loosing isn’t something that I want to do, it’s something that nobody wants to do. A loss in 3 games that close is just heart wrenching, especially in front of all the kids I coach, all my friends, etc it just broke my heart. I didn’t know how to feel, I felt like a failure like I shouldn’t even be competing. But that was an emotion that I would have to get over and I didn’t let it affect me for long. It is still one of those moments I look back on and have an uneasy feeling about. Andy played great and is a great player, which I would never deny him that. I usually don’t discuss my emotions and the emotional side of badminton but this is one that just got to me, coming of a national championships win to this just hit hard.

 

That was that though and it was time to move on to doubles. Tuck and I had just played the Manhattan Beach international together back in January and decided to give Canada Open a go. We were up against a Canadian pair of B.R. Sankeeth and Adam Dong which was an incredibly strong pair to play. Despite our best efforts we were beat relatively easy. So Canada open was done for another year, not the best performance or performance that I would have liked.

 

The following week would be US Open but before that it was time to show Tuck and Yuko around Canada as it was their first come coming to their friendly northern neighbour. On the agenda was showing them around downtown Calgary followed by a day trip out to Banff and Lake Louise. Which despite rainy weather ended up being quite a beautiful and fun time. Dean joined us as well and we headed up to Lake Louise to take a picture with the picturesque backdrop. Despite the rain and overcast the lake came out brilliantly green and just perfect. We walked around there for a bit but it started to rain so we darted into the hotel and hung out for a little whole the downpour passed. As we were driving back to Banff the weather of course cleared up (Calgary/Banff can have all 4 seasons in 1 day) and we headed into the city to walk around. We hung out in Banff for a little while and ate lunch there then it was time to head back to Calgary.

 

Picture Perfect at Lake Louise. Left to Right; Tuck, Dean, Yuko, Me

 

 

The following day we went back to COP and Yuko, Tuck, and Dean wanted to do the bobsled run. In the summer they put the bobsled on tires and will launch it from a little under half way up the track so you get a somewhat experience of what it’s actually like. I have already done it before so I let them go ahead and do it. After that they wanted to do the luge which is essentially a soapbox racer with breaks that you ride down a hill steering around corners and obstacles. Pretty much some of the best fun that you can have and it is awesome going fast. Yuko did it once and was happy enough so I took the rest of her 2 runs down the hill with Dean. Dean likes speed and dam he was ahead of me the whole way aside from one point where I passed him but he overtook me on a turn with only 1 of the 3 wheels touching the ground. That night we played some badminton and then before you know it the week was done and it was time to head to LA. Yuko left first in the night of July 1 and then Tuck the next day. I would leave July 3 in the morning and meet them in LA or well meet Yuko in LA as I would be staying at her place. Just enough time for some Canada Day celebrations and when I arrived in LA it would be 4^th of July, something I have seemed to be celebrating more and more over the years.

We were gonna leave tuck behind

Luge at Canada Olympic Park

 

 

 

2015 Canada Open Grand Prix

So because I choose to go to Mauritius I decided to skip the US Open this year which is a tournament I have attended for the past 5 consecutive years. This meant that after coming back from Mauritius I had just a week to prepare for the 2015 Canada Open which would be in my home city of Calgary, Alberta. That was a nice change meaning that I wouldn’t have to fly anywhere, or stay in a hotel, I would be at home. The venue for the tournament would be up at Canada Olympic Park in the Markin MacPhail center where the hockey arenas are located. Over the past few years the tournament was held in Vancouver notably at the Richmond Olympic Oval (home of the 2010 winter Olympics) and then moved over to the UBC Thunderbird arena for one year before getting moved to Calgary. This time Jeff Bell, Badminton Alberta’s director and my boss would be in charge of setting up and he did a fantastic job on the arena turning it into a world class venue for badminton. Another major perk was that Lee Chong Wei would be coming to participate due to his ban for 8 months and being in need of points.

Canada Olympic Park

Tournament Venue

The draws were released and I had a tough one right off the bat. The previous edition of the tournament in 2014 I made it to the 2^nd round and lost to a player from Korea. This year I would play a player from China named Huang Yuxiang first round. I wasn’t afraid and was excited to go out there and give it my all, especially with having everybody there to watch me. This meant getting some practice time at the facility first though. So I was able to get some court time with a Lithuanian player and a Jamaican player who would both end up becoming great friends. So we got to practice 2 days in a row at the facility which helped and I felt really solid playing there.

Practicing with Lithuania and Jamaica

Japan and Chinese Taipei practicing 

The facility was is located on the opposite side of the city from where I am but my dad decided to come watch me play which was really nice. My mom had the opportunity back in March to watch me win my first national title at the Trinidad and Tobago National Championships so maybe having my dad come watch me for the first time would be good luck. The tournament got underway and my match was one of the first one up unfortunately. The reason to that was because it meant not a lot of people would be off work in time to come watch but there was a decent amount of people in the arena. My match was called and as a first I had Kamasha Robertson umpire my match, she is a player/umpire from Trinidad and Tobago so that was different having her umpire my game at Canada Open. The match started and I had my coach Ardy Wiranata sitting behind my court, my dad in the stands as well as kids that I coach and their parents all watching me. That match was one of the toughest I have ever played. The caliber of this Chinese player was miles above me, I wasn’t able to move him as easily and winning at the net proved to be a lot tougher than I previously anticipated it to be. In the end the score was low a mean 3-21, 7-21 but the quality of the game was different.

Ardy talked with me quickly and then I saw my dad before he left, I was going to stay and watch some more matches because a lot of my friends still had to play and so did Lee Chong Wei. There were some good matches on for the rest of the night and a few upsets happened through the tournament. Canada Open was the last tournament I would play before heading off to Pan Am Games beginning of July. That being said I was incredibly busy coaching and would not have much time to watch the rest of the tournament. I went to see the semifinals on the Saturday evening after coaching which turned out to be pretty good but ultimately that was the Canada open for me. A quick match against China and early exit in front of a home crowd, no second round like at the 2014 edition of Canada Open where I beat a Canadian player and then lost to a Korean.

So that was a very quick entry not much else to say, I didn’t have to travel to an international for once in my life, I got to stay at home in my own bed, eat my own food and be in my own city. It was quite the different experience but I did enjoy it. Well it was back to the grind come the Monday morning, only a week until I would leave again and I had to coach an all-day badminton camp as well which would cut into training times. Next stop though, Pan Am Games…the biggest tournament I would play to date. 

Always focused on the task at hand...and damn those quads

2014 Canada Open Grand Prix

So I had only about 2 weeks until the Canada Open from when I returned from Venezuela. That was not much time considering at that point it had been 2 weeks since I really trained or did any sort of fitness and weights (aside from some stuff in the hotel room). That being said I was signed up to play only men’s singles for the tournament. It was originally to be held out easy but due to some stuff the tournament stayed in Vancouver for this year. Unfortunately due to the short notice of the change it would be at a new venue, no longer the Richmond Olympic Oval but rather the UBC thunder dome. As far as venues goes the Olympic Oval was a good location and drew in many people to watch but as for the quality of the venue the Oval was a shitty place to play in for many reasons. The simplest being the vast size of the venue, it is huge and high, there are windows and lights all over not to mention some major drafts (yes that is the issue with a lot of venues all over the world). Badminton Canada didn’t have much time to get everything together and although players did complain about the conditions, court mats right over the concrete so hard floors, the set up was very well done and looked quite professional. It is actually one of the few big venues that I felt very comfortable playing in.

Panorama while courtside during practice times

The full set up, practice courts on the left and main courts on the right

Like always I was the only Trinidad and Tobago player playing the tournament but I had many friends playing both from other countries as well as many Canadians that I knew too. This allowed me to get in a lot of practice time at the main venue. The best part was the practice courts were right beside the main courts (separated by a divider) but that meant that the conditions were exactly the same and made adapting a lot quicker. Something that is not the norm at all tournaments with them having different areas for the practice courts and the main courts sometimes with drastically different conditions.

Since I was living in Richmond this meant that I didn’t really have to fly anywhere or spend money on hotel which was very nice for a change so that I could save some cash. I just had to take the bus to UBC and that’s all which was easy to do. The draw came out and I would play the winner of a qualification draw, in the end that ended up being a Canadian junior player. I was feeling a little nervous but in the end I prevailed after a scare, I won the 1^st game very close and then lost the 2^nd game in extra points. The third game came around and that’s when I found my game, that’s when I wasn’t nervous anymore and just went for everything, the score wasn’t close in the 3rd I won 21-7. I feel like the match shouldn’t have gone to 3 but what can you do in the end a win is a win regardless. So now that I survived the 1^st round I would get a nice boost of points which would be great and then I would play the winner between the 2^nd seed and a Korean qualifier. That night was an upset as the Korean qualifier won against Eric Pang of the Netherlands. So the following evening I would be up against Ju Hyung Shon of Korea and that was a fun match, there was no expectations on me and I could play freely, but that didn’t stop me from making poor strategically choices which cost me the match after having good rallies with him. It was fun to play against a player like him and he was very nice after the match too. All is all though the experience was a good one, winning a round at a grand prix level tournament felt nice and after the crappy tournaments that occurred in South America it was a confidence booster that I dearly need.

 

Damn dat ads, HaHa yes I do have a squat ass

Uh oh I almost went the wrong way

Getting ready to serve

*Photos courtesy of Oliver Shou

After that it meant that my time at the Canada open had come to an end, I was knocked out of the tournament but was happy with the final result of making it to the 2^nd round. I would only have a few days left to prepare for US Open which this year had been moved to Long Island in New York. That meant that I would be flying out again this time to NYC, I have family there but would only get to spend 2 days with them after which it was off to Calgary yet again this time to get my bottom 2 wisdom teeth out. Something which I had been putting off for a while and was not looking forward to.

 

My match against the Korean Ju Hyung Shown with my good friend Oliver Shou doing the cheering: