2016 THAIHOT China Open Super Series Premier Fuzhou, China

I hadn’t played a tournament in a month at this point which for me was a weird thing after playing 4 in a row. But this would be a special trip, this would be my first super series tournament, and a premier super series at that. Let me give you a little breakdown of the levels of badminton tournaments in the world, I’ll do that with a helpful little chart. Not to long of a read but gives some context to how special of an opportunity this was.

BWF tournaments

Olympics – top of the top, highest level tournament and requires players to qualify over a 1 year period

World Championships – same as Olympics just a level down, still need to qualify over 1 year period (64 players in men’s singles, 48 players/pairs in all other draws)

Team tournaments – Surdiman cup, Thomas cup, Uber cup

Super Series Premier – top 40 in the world regularly attend, top 10 always present (32 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)

Super Series – top 50 in the world regularly attend, top 10 always present (32 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)

Grand Prix Gold – usually players ranked top 100 in the world will play (64 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)

Grand Prix – usually players ranked top 150 players in the world will play (64 in main draw, 16 in qualifications)

International Challenge – low level and ranges by region for strength (32 or 64 in men’s singles and 32 in all other draws, 16 in qualifications)

International Series – low level tournament (32 or 64 in men’s singles and 32 in all other draws, 32 to 64 in qualifications) 

Future Series – lowest level tournament and does not have any prize money, minimal world ranking points as well

 

Now in order to get into any tournaments listed below the team ones it is all based on your current world ranking at the time of entry (1 month before the tournament). This ranking will be used to make the main and qualifying report which lists all the players present in the tournament accordingly on theory world ranking. A super series of either level has a 32 size main draw meaning there are 28 spots guaranteed and 4 spots for qualifiers from the qualification. Super series of either level have 4 qualifiers and a 16 size qualification, meaning you have to win 2 matches to make it to the main draw. On top of that there are players who simply won’t be ranked high enough to make either of those lists so they have what’s called the reserve list, listing players in descending rider of world ranking. This is in case a player from the main draw or qualifications withdraws before the draw or even after, then players from the reserve list can be used to fill their spots.

So based on all this information for me to actually make it into the qualifications was a decently big deal. Be it that I was only in the qualifications it was still a Super Series Premier event and I was thrilled. I was also on the reserve list for the Hong Kong Super Series that was happening the week after China. China Super Series has always been notorious for not being well attended despite being the week before Hong Kong, so this was my best chance to play one and I wouldn’t be passing up the opportunity again. Earlier in the year I had been on the reserve list for the Australia Open Super Series but did not find out until 3 days before the event that I had been promoted into the qualifications. Because of the short notice and how long it would take to fly to Australia I was unable to attend the event. This time would be different as I already knew I was in the qualifications draw when the draws came out so I booked my flight. I did not know for sure about Hong Kong though so I booked my flight to stay in China past Hong Kong just in case I did get into play.

Lounge in Beijing, I am no stranger there



Lounge food in Asia is easily the best period

That time again to head to the airport, a place I hadn’t been in a whole month. Boarded and started the route with a flight to LA, then to Beijing and finally to Fuzhou where I would be meeting up with Yuko and Tuck who were playing mixed. The flights were long and it had been a long time since I went to Asia so that 13 hour flight from LA was a little long but nothing I hadn’t done multiple time before. Arriving in Fuzhou it was late at night and I made it to the room to see Yuko there and get some well needed rest after all the travel, Tuck would arrive the next morning. Let’s start with the breakfast at the hotel...the buffet was simply amazing so much variety and choice. After eating for what must have been an hour just trying all the different food mostly the Asian items, we went back to the room and waited for Tuck.

Breakfast at the tournament hotel, yes all that is just for me

We had practice in the main hall that day as well as in the practice courts which words cannot describe. The venue was amazing and not to mention had some intense security outside to go through. We were given our players accreditation which had a special chip inside that would be scanned when we passed through scanners. The arena though let’s start with the area shall we. This tournament was being held in a sports park and it was huge it had everything from a swimming center, tennis center, stadium and many other buildings for sports and other activities. One of the later days Yuko and I wanted to see what there really was around so we did a walk through the park and saw it all. There were not many people using the facilities at the time though but that might be due to the tournament taking place. So we toured around and saw the giant stadium as well as all the other buildings, amazing for a sport park and something that you would never really see in North America.

The main stadium

Practice hall

 

Now getting onto the venue, this was a super series after all and the set up was nothing short of amazing. Macau Grand Prix Gold was the best set up tournament that I had attended up until this point but seeing this venue blew that out of the water. Maybe because it was a super series that’s what made it that much more amazing but it was huge. That also meant that it was very hard to play in the main hall, the practice court area itself was huge too and you could easily hold an international tournament just in there. We spent quite a bit of time in there as we didn’t have a court in the main hall as of yet. That is when we saw the majority of the top international players, super casually we were surrounded by players ranked top 10 in the world. Famous names like Chen Long, Rathanot Inatanon, Jan Jorgensen, and many more. This is when we took the opportunity to get a picture with Chen Long, another top player to add to the collection (Taufik, Lee Chong Wei, Peter Gade, were already in the book) and later on would be fortunate to get one with Viktor Axelsen but we will save that story. After some time of hitting in the practice hall we finally had a court in the main hall and moved into there to practice with 2 other USA players, Beiwen Zhang and Maya Chen.

 

 



Playing in the main hall was so different than the practice courts for sure. It was easily 3 times as large not to mention a few drafts and you can’t hear your shot at all. Despite all this we were able to get a great session in before qualifying started the next day for Tuck and I in single and first round mixed doubles was also after qualifying for Tuck and Yuko. As that was it for training we headed back to the hotel and went in search of food for the night. Luckily there was a mall across the street with an abundant supply of restaurants and a grocery store. This was the first time Yuko went to China so everything was very new and shocking but to me it was pretty straight forward and I had been to China many time before. Later that night came the second picture with a big player of the trip. Yuko is very close friends with Viktor Axelsen and long story short his room was next to ours in the hotel and on top of that he brought his bronze medal from the 2016 Olympics to show Yuko. So to sum it up I got to meet Viktor and hold his medal while getting a picture with him. That means that at this point the only picture left that I wanted to get was with Lin Dan (he wasn’t at this tournament despite it being in China).  

Thanks to Yuko I got to know Viktor and hold his bronze medal from the 2016 Olympics

Also got fortunate enough to get a picture with Chen Long, Olympic gold medalist

Now it was time for my match, due to this being a Superseries it started on Monday with qualifications for all events in the morning and first round of mixed. The matches came around, Tuck was up first for men’s singles qualifications first and we all watched that one. I was up next with my match and it was definitely a fun experience. I was fortunate enough to play on court one, show court, and on top of that I had one of the best badminton photographers to take pictures of me during the match. I was playing against a Chinese backup national team athlete, Wu Xin and that was a tough one to begin with. The match started off pretty good we had some long rallies and then he stepped it up a gear taking the lead. I was able to rally with him though and through the match was able to control him around the court. He wasn’t always able to just overpower me or hit straight up winners which was a nice feeling. The hall wasn’t a bad one to play in and didn’t have a crazy draft the day of matches, it was almost ideal situation for such a huge venue. Ultimately in the end though it was my mistake that ended up costing me the match. Just like that my superseries experience was over but we had a few days left in Fuzhou to experience the city and culture.

 

First up Yuko wanted to really get a cupping session done as well as a massage so that was the first thing for us to find. We (each country) were given a certain number of volunteers based on the amount of players that the country had. I was given 1 because it just me but Tuck and Yuko being part of team USA were given 2. So we went to our respective volunteers and asked if they would be able to help us find a place. Low and behold they were able to and we soon jumped into a taxi and were off to our destination. The place provided massages (lower body, upper body, whole body) as well as cupping on top of that. Tuck and Yuko choose the lower body massage while I picked upper body, then we all got cupping done on our backs. Going into the room we were given these retro looking clothing to put on and then lay on these chairs/beds waiting for the ladies giving the massage to come in. The massages started with screams from Tuck and Yuko as their feet were being massaged not only by hands but also by wooden dowels and various other instruments in addition to scolding hot water. I, on the other hand had a very relaxing time as the lady worked over my shoulders, arms, back and the rest of my upper body. Now that all that was over and the screaming had stopped it was time to bring out the cups for use. If you have never seen or had cupping done then it is when there are glass cups which are heated up and placed on the skin in strategic places. At this point the skin is then sucked up into the cup because of the pressure differential and it is left on the skin for 10 minutes or more. At this point all the blood has been drawn to the surface and then the circle I a different shade of red, the shade represents the amount of “toxins” in the blood and the darker the circle the more bad stuff that has been removed. Overall it was a great experience and a fantastic bonding experience for us all to have together.

It was very relaxing

Somebody say fire

During

The aftermath

 

Once that was done and we were beaten up but built a new it was time for a walk and to find some food. There was a street market outside which we took a few walks up and down, checking out all the local goods, counterfeit items, street food and various other things present. This marked our second last day in the city and the following day was the last we would have together as Tuck and Yuko were heading back to the states and I would go into Beijing and stay with my friend for a little as I awaited to hear about the Hong Kong superseries. So the Wednesday came and we started with Yuko and me going to the tournament venue to watch matches while Tuck rested at the hotel. We watched some matches and checked out the shops outside then headed back to the hotel and walked around the mall a little bit more. I ended up going for a workout later in the day which was nice even despite the small and limited gym that the hotel had. We all went out for dinner together and then settled in for the night, packing bags and getting ready for departure the following day as we were all on the same flight back to Beijing.

The stadium from the outside

Giant Soccer stadium

 

Up bright and early we headed to the airport and checked in, we weren’t the only players heading back home as a few of the Europeans whom had lost were also on the flight. The flight itself was a nice quick one and definitely not too hard to handle like the 12 hour flight to Beijing. Now it was just a waiting game for Hong Kong, I sent an email to the HKBA (Hong Kong badminton Association) and was just awaiting their reply to see if I had been promoted to the qualifications draw of the tournament. Until then it was time to relax in China and have some awesome food as well as experience the culture.

2016 Columbia International Nevia, Columbia

This would be the last tournament for a month and a bit but at this point I at least had a week off after 3 in a row. Now it was time to go to Columbia for the Columbia International, my 7^th tournament for the year and 3^rd tournament with Matt for doubles. This was in yet another little city and not one of the main ones so it meant quite a few flights to get there, 3 to be exact. After arriving into Bogota in the early hours of the morning we had to take a small propeller plane at sunrise to the city of Nevia which was where this edition of the tournament was being held. On arrival we were picked up at the airport which was actually a surprise for me since in South America if you get picked up by the tournament can be a hit or miss. Checking into the hotel we noticed that we were in fact in the center of the city but there actually wasn’t much around in terms of food. The hotel itself was relatively nice and it had a roof top where you could have a 360 degree view of the city.

 

Our hotel, pretty much in the middle of the town

The same day that we arrived we were able to go to the tournament hall and get some practice in, the tournament would start 2 days later. We were fortunate to have a good amount of time to practice in the hall and believe me when I say it was much needed. The venue was in the top 5 for worst venues that I have played in and of course all of them have been in the Pan Am region mainly the Caribbean and South America. This was an open air facility aka there was slits in the wall for air/wind to come through as well as giant open areas so there was a lot of wind and weird drafts. The lighting wasn’t the best but all these holes also allowed for the sunlight to come through and create massive blind spots on the court.

 

The open air venue that we would be playing in

For this tournament I was first seed in singles and we were 2^nd seed for doubles, Guatemala made up the majority of the other seeds for the tournament. Due to this when Matt and I were practicing there was a lot of Columbian players around who pretty much stopped what they were doing and started to watch me practice. It was humbling and made me nervous at the same time as I’m usually the one watching the top players practice when I go to these big tournaments but this time the roles were reversed and I was being watched. It was a different feeling, one that I have only felt a handful of times like in Tahiti back in 2013 when I had lots of fans cheering for me as I won round after round. Aside from this we were able to get some good practice in at the main hall and it would be crucial because as I said before this was an open air huge facility which was definitely not designed or made for badminton in mind.

 

The matches were scheduled to start with singles occurring first, I had a local Columbian player as my first match in single and the same for doubles. The first match went rather smoothly with me getting a feel for the player as well as the venue. The courts were taped out onto the floor and the draft was an interesting one changing every few seconds. I was able to stay on top and made it through my first round with a win, that would be all for the day and with a win I was into the quarterfinals since I had a bye first round. For doubles Matt and I had only played 3 tournaments together and were still coming together as a pair, figuring out what the other does and how we work best together. We had a bye and then would play against a local Columbian pair.

 

Courtside view of the facility, can you spot the badminton lines? Yeah it was really hard to see the duct tape courts.

The next day was both singles and doubles with singles being up first. I had another local player and this time it was a lot easier as I was more use to the courts and just played my game moving him around playing a consistency based match. I won my match with ease and was onto the semifinals in singles. But before all was over there was a doubles match to be played with Matt. This match was not as easy as we wanted, it was a match that would go to 3 games with us winning the 2 games that we did fairly easy yet losing one very close. It was a weird situation yet one that we came back from as a pair adding yet another win to our partnership. This marked the 2^nd semi-final that I would be in for the tournament. Now it meant back to the hotel to rest up and prepare for the following day. In both semifinals I would be playing against Guatemala, singles would be against Rodolfo Ramierz who I previously played at the Pan Am Championships in Lima, Peru back in 2012. In doubles we would be playing Ruban Castellaons and his partner Anibal Marroquin for the opportunity to go to the finals, I have yet to play them in doubles but had played Ruban in singles at the recently concluded US Open.

 

Setting up for the prize giving ceremony.

Semifinals day came and as always it was very windy in the venue. Singles was up first against Rodolfo and it was a tough match, nothing went my way I tried to force too many things and ended up losing due to my errors. This was not the way I wanted to start my first semi-final appearance in an international tournament. I would definitely be wanting to redeem myself in the doubles which would happen in a little while. Matt and I played good together, we were coming together as a pair and this time there was no go again, we lost the doubles semi-final but it was a close match just missing out on the win 18-21, 19-21. We were sad but happy in a way, that meant that I would get two bronze medals at the Columbia international which I was pretty happy about in that regard. Matt would however leave that night as opposed to staying for the medal ceremony the following day. Seeing as how these were the first international medals I would win for the year (aside from the team bronze medal at CAREBACO in Aruba a month prior) I wanted to stay and get my pictures on the podium with my medals as well as collect my prize money.

 

On the podium for men's singles, the other 3 players were all from Guatemala.

The finals day came and I went with everybody as there was only 1 bus there in the morning and then 1 bus back. Up till this point I hadn’t really talked with any other players at the tournament, not because I was antisocial but it just didn’t come up I would play and then leave. This time I sat in the stands and was approached by some of the local Columbian athletes playing and they spoke decent and enough English to have a conversation. So we watched the matches and talked about lots of stuff, they asked about my travels and we talked about school, badminton, etc. There was a substantial amount of wind though during the finals and that was noticeable by the flags that were courtside during the whole tournament. You could see them blowing in the wind as if they were outside just waving back and forth. Finally the finals finished and it was time for the medal ceremony. They brought out the podium and started to do them event by event. I had my name called and went up for doubles first followed by going up for singles to claim my second bronze medal. It felt great to be standing on the podium to receive a medal not only for me but for my country too. Afterwards we took some pictures of everyone followed by the awarding of prize money to the athletes which I got in both singles and doubles.

 

Got some medals and prize money too. Not bad for a few days work.

Now that was the tournament but we haven’t covered Columbia as a whole yet. I decided to write this blog post a little different and get the tournament out of the way and then discuss the exploration of the small town in Columbia. We were not in the capital of Bogata instead we were in the small town to the south about a 2 hour flight away called Nevia. It was a beautiful smaller town with a main river running through it and a small population. Their downtown wasn’t anything fancy but they did have a university and some other big buildings just nothing overly big. Across from our hotel was a large plaza which was always full of people and vendors selling anything and everything. Down the street was the same a slightly smaller plaza that was surrounded primarily by grocery stores and shops. Beside our hotel was also a church which I did venture into and took a look around, it was rather big and definitely stood out in the city.

 

Plaza under the trees across from our hotel, always looked like shady deals were going down

The big church beside our hotel.

Contrary to popular belief I didn't burst into flames upon entering.

Around our plaza at night the side streets or allies would be turned into a market with the entire street being taken up by more stalls/carts catering to anything you could every need. Finding food was actually on the challenging side as there wasn’t many food places directly around us. There was a burger place in the plaza opposite the hotel which I ended up eating most of my meals at. One day though we ventured up the street a ways and were able to find a bunch of restaurants none of which were open for lunch though. There was a Chinese place which Matt and I sat down and ate at and the food was great not to mention a large enough portion that I had food left over for dinner that night too. Aside from that most of the meals were eaten across the street at the burger place where the chicken breast burger was very delicious and filling for a fair price.

 

The side stress at night, set up with temporary shops selling anything and everything.

As for exploring there wasn’t a lot of stuff to see, walking down towards the river lead to some nice scenery and a fantastic statue which you would never guess a place like that had. It was hard to get a good picture of it though due to the lighting. I did miss seeing one thing though it was a giant head which you could climb up into and look out from. I didn’t venture far enough along the river to see it. Aside from some other plazas and statues there wasn’t anything crazy notable unlike the waterfalls and the dam in Brazil.

 

 

Finally though the string of tournaments had come to an end, I could go home for a month and not have to travel. As weird as that sounds to people, who would have thought but it’s true I’m travelling for competitions and not for pleasure. But not only that, for each trip I went back home to Calgary and then back out. That was 4 round trip flights from Calgary to the Caribbean (Aruba), South America (Brazil), North/Central America (Mexico), and back to South America (Columbia). I had gone through the Houston International airport 7 times with the exception of my flight to Brazil going through Chicago’s international airport. On top of this I had already acquired gold status with united and gold status with star alliance so that would make all my future flights even better with all the perks and upgrades. But alas was time to catch my small prop plane back to Bogota and then fly home for some much needed rest.   

 

2016 Brazil Grand Prix Foz Do Iguacu, Brazil

 

So Aruba was last week and now after a quick layover in Calgary, just enough time to do laundry and repack, I was off to Brazil. This was an exciting trip because although I have been to Brazil before this time it would be to a city that I haven’t gone and there was a major tourist attraction there, Iguacu Falls. The city is borders both Paraguay and Argentina but this waterfall is located on the Brazil/Argentina boarder and is massive so that would definitely be something that I would have to check out while there can’t pass up that opportunity.  But before any of that could happen I had to get there which required a flight to Chicago and then onwards the long flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil and finally a domestic flight to Foz Do Iguacu. The flights themselves weren’t bad, the flight from Chicago to Sao Paulo was a long one but nothing I haven’t encountered before.  Matt had arrived a day before me so he rented a car and when I arrived into the small airport he was there to meet me and we went off to our hotel for the night.

Matt booked us a hotel very close to the venue, it was about 2 blocks away so perfect to walk to the venue and not have to worry about catching transportation. This was my first time playing in this city but Matt had played this tournament before in the past and was very familiar with the city. The tournament was a very small one especially for a grand prix level event, the men’s singles was a 32 size draw and doubles was a 16 size at that. There were quite a few Europeans that came over but not many people from the Pan Am zone. It is true that it was right after the Olympics and most countries/players really didn’t have the money to spend on travel. This made it the perfect time to try and qualify for worlds and even better time to get a head start at the tournaments where people were not attending. At this point I was just thinking about qualifying for doubles with Matt, the idea of trying to qualify for singles hadn’t even crossed my mind yet and wouldn’t for a little while.

Our hotel 2 blocks from the venue

 

So we had a day before the tournament started to practice and adjust, the venue itself was actually set up very nice. For the location and the rest of the building they did wonders. The courts were great, no blinding light, no terribly drafts, and good lines of sight all around. There were 3 match courts and 2 practice courts, given the size of the tournament it would be more than adequate to run all the matches with no delays. We were able to get in a good amount of practice before the matches commenced the following day with singles in the evening. Matt signed up for singles as well and had drawn a local Brazilian player first round as did I. My player however did not show up for the match so I was granted a walkover, a walkover into round or 16 at a Grand prix level tournament was a lot of singles points to be awarded 2110 to be exact and more if I won the next match. I would have to play Milin Ludik of the Czech Republic the following morning for my shot at a quarterfinal appearance. That did not happen though and I lost to him, it was a fun match and aside from Aruba and Canada Open one of the few times I had a coach behind my court with me.

 

Singles was done and now it was doubles time, the real reason I had travelled all the way down to South America. We were up against a mixed country pair, how appropriate since we too were a mixed country pair, of Brazil and Paraguay. The player from Brazil was an accomplished player as well the guy from Paraguay was a former Japanese national level (not national team) player and had since moved to work and live in Paraguay but was now playing under their flag.  This was a harder first round than some of the other teams had, a local junior Brazilian pair would have been nice but that’s alright we were up for the challenge. The match started and it wasn’t as shell shocking as the US Open against the other Japanese pair, we were able to have rallies and actually win points. Matt is known for being able to control the net and serve exceptionally well and of course he demonstrated it here but he can also play from the back. Being this was only our second tournament together there was for sure some times of uncertainty with shots and rotation as well as sequences but that was something that we would learn as we went along. We lost the match but weren’t blown out so although a crappy feeling for losing it wasn’t as terrible a feeling as it could have been.

 

Tournament venue was set up very nice for a South American Grand Prix

So the tournament was over and we had a day left in Brazil before heading home. Me and matt were on the same flight from Rio to Houston but we had a different departure time leaving Foz Do Iguacu. The weather wasn’t the best during the week and had limited moments of sunshine with mostly rain both heavy and light. This did not make the most ideal weather to go see the Iguazu waterfalls and the Itaipu dam (largest hydroelectric dam in the world in power generation). But we caught a break, the Friday it was sunny and the forecast said that the rest of the day would be more of the same. This was the time we took the opportunity and drove out to the falls, it wasn’t that far from the city actually which was surprising. It was located in a sort of national park as you would call it and when we paid to go in we boarded a bus which drove us off to the various stopping points. We were interested in the falls but wanted to do the little trek to them in order to get a better appreciation for them as well as see the scenery. The hike started off with a nice open area before retreating to the side of the cliffs for a more intimate view of all the various waterfalls on route to the large main falls. Because we were on the Brazil side we were seeing the waterfalls located on the Argentina side. Likewise the people on the Argentina side would be seeing the waterfalls on the brail side.

 

The beginning of the trail

 

It was simply amazing

 

Nothing short of breath taking

We snaked our way along the trails, stopping at the various viewing points to catch more glimpses at the power each waterfall held. Finally after some time passed we were at the mouth of the beast, the devils mouth as it was called. There was a catwalk of a bridge leading out over the raging water and up to the edge of one of the falls. We were right in the middle of the beast, getting soaked by all the water blowing in the wind. The people on the Argentina side did not get the same experience as their catwalk was at the very top of the falls, allowing them to see a magnificent top down view but not an inside the area experience. From the Brazil side we were also able to go up to above the falls on a tower to get the same sort of top down view but we would do that after. Standing there and seeing all that water was an eye opener to the true power of Mother Nature and sheer force the water had. For those of you who can conceptualize it, Iguazu falls has a flow of 1,756 meters cubed per second of water flow. Once off the catwalk there was a landing area literally right next to the waterfall where you could stand, the area was a soak zone and oh did I ever get soaked. But you could see just how fast and how much water was coming down, not to mention the sound as well. Standing there it really made you think where is all this water coming from that this much flows through every second of every day every year.

 

Those are the waterfalls on the Argentina side

 

Getting closer to the main falls, time to bring out the rain jacket

 

In the soak zone, it was crazy to see so much water falling down

 

Upon completing my time in the soak zone we preceded up to the top of the observation tower and got a nice top down view. You could see the whole area from the river before the falls to where it all ended up, truly a breathtaking and amazing sight to see. We then walked a little further up river and viewed how calm the water was, you would never think there was that monstrosity lurking just a few hundred meters downstream. There was some gift shops and food places but that was about it so we took a quick look and then boarded the bus back down to where we had parked. It was still pretty early in the day though and we had one more stop. It was a dam, but not just any dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in South America and let me tell you it is definitely worthy of that title.

 

View from up top, Argentina is on the other side in the back

 

River up atop the falls, you would never guess what lies beneath and ahead

We arrived later in the evening but were fortunate as there was 1 more tour bus going out to the dam for the day, of course we jumped on to it and got ready to see what all the fuss was about. Matt had already been there before so he knew what was what but to me it was all brand new. The drive up was interesting, everything was so artificial and the dam actually served as a border between Brazil and Paraguay so on the far side there was border control for those driving the route but we wouldn’t have to worry about that. We stopped at 2 different viewpoints of the dam, the first was a ways away to grasp the size of it from a distance which was actually quite hard to do. You could see busses and trucks driving on the road that up the dam but they looked so tiny in comparison. The second view point was closer and offered a little more context to the scale of this man made giant. Ironic just earlier we viewed the waterfalls which was raw and uncontrolled nature but now we were viewing a manmade structure all about the control of nature. Finally the bus took us along the dam, driving the full distance and that’s when I truly got an appreciation for the size of this thing. To see the pipes and sheer size of everything running up and down let alone the distance that it covered was mind blowing. We then proceeded to drive along the top having a view of both the lake behind and then drop off to the waterway below.

 

Itaipu Dam, this thing was damn big... ha ha couldn't resist the pun

 

Driving on the lower level of the dam

 

Looking up from the lower level

The final stop was towards the back on the lake, there was a restaurant and a whole area purely based and run on tourism as nobody lived back there. There was also a cruise around the lake where a large ferry would take you for a soothing sail around the lake to enjoy the view but it had ended for the evening as we were the last tour. So we walked the little dock and took in the view of a setting sun in South America over a manmade lake teeming with the beauty of nature. Boarding the bus the ride down was peaceful and left one with an overwhelming sense of the sheer size of things. You think you can conceptualize distances, sizes, etc but until you are standing right in front of it and seeing it yourself then your mind doesn’t know what it thinks it actually knows.

 

Pristine lake that was created when they built the dam and an amazing sunset

So that was the end of Brazil, I would fly out to Rio the next morning on an early flight and then Matt would join me later in the day for the flight from Rio to Houston. Following that I had my final flight onwards to Calgary which at that point I was super happy to get home and sleep in my own bed for the first time in over 2 weeks. But it would not be for long as I would just be home for a few days and then heading back out to Guadalajara, Mexico for the Mexico international series. I was happy with this tournament, some big results in both singles and doubles getting major world ranking points and this was my first thought of hey my singles ranking is going to go up. I still wasn’t thinking about qualifying or trying to qualify for world championships in singles yet though.

Rio 2016 Olympic touch at the dam

 

2016 Trinidad and Tobago Nationals

The biggest tournament of the year and it wasn’t an international one, it was the Trinidad and Tobago national championships. This would be the 4^th time that I had played them and so far I had reached the final 2 of the past 3 times as well as won once the previous year 2015. This year would be slightly more pressure since I won the previous year, not to mention I was in all 3 finals, I would be expected to retain my title and capture another in another event. The last tournament that I played was Manhattan Beach International a few months back in February but it was now April and a while since I had been in that sort of environment. Regardless of that I had been training hard and preparing for this because I knew the second half of 2016 would be when I played the majority of my tournaments.

 

The photographer really liked to get pictures of me drinking water

Flying down to Trinidad is always straight forward and something that I have been doing for years. I fly united and go through Houston so it’s a full day affair leaving in the morning and arriving in the evening. Usually when traveling to an international I arrive 1-2 days before the tournament but when I play nationals I always try and arrive 4-5 days before so I can adapt and feel really comfortable on court. Although the tournament is held at my home club in Trinidad I don’t get to play on the courts other than the 1 week a year that I play nationals so it is nice to get that extra court time to readjust to the conditions down there. I am spoiled in Canada since we play and train in the perfect conditions which in reality you rarely every find outside at competitions. The previous year in 2015 I wasn’t seeded at all and that had been an issue to people as I was in the finals in 2014 and not seeded in 2015. This year I was 3^rd seed despite winning nationals the year before. That definitely raised questions to everybody down there, but in reality it’s whatever to me I don’t really care that much about seeding.

I left Calgary and arrived In Trinidad but that would not be the only trip I was taking this time. After playing nationals in Trinidad I would head out to Atlanta for a little relaxation and mini vacation. I would be spending about 12 days in Trinidad and then another 10 days in Atlanta being gone for almost a month. But back to Trinidad first and it was nice to have the heat hit me when I arrived. Calgary had an abnormally warm winter though without a lot of snow falling but nothing beats a tropical island in the Caribbean. Arriving was nothing new, get to the airport, grab something to eat, wait for my aunt to pick me up and then home we went. The first few days was nothing special I pretty much just played badminton at the CRISA arena in Chaguanas to familiarize myself to the courts and shuttle speed again. I was playing singles, doubles with Jason Ramjass, and mixed doubles with Kerian Quan Chee. My old mixed partner had gotten banned for a year and was unable to play nationals or play period at the time. Practice was done and the tournament was set to start, just 4 nights this year Wednesday through to Saturday night.

Funny faces are what I do best and frequently on court

Singles was up first and I played a slightly older recreational players who played for one of the oil companies, followed by the 2^nd round of singles that night where I played fellow club mate Alverio in which we had a fun match. That was the first night of action and there would be many more, not to mention newspaper articles as well. The second night consisted of another round of singles as well as a round of doubles and mixed. I played Sheraz another club mate in singles and then in doubles we had a fairly straightforward match and mixed was a lot closer as all of us on court were pretty similar skill. Day 2 done and was in all 3 semifinals.

 

More water bottle drinking pictures

So when the 2^nd last night rolled around I have to play a player named Will Lee who I had never played before but he traveled with us to CAREBACO last year and we sort of talked then. It was a match that went to 3 as I was actually nervous and played emotional badminton opposed to actual badminton. I was able to pull it off in the 3^rd thanks to Kerian and Naim for coaching me through it. That means that I was in the men’s singles final again. Men’s doubles didn’t go our way though and we ended up losing to Anil and Milind a German who married a Trinidadian girl and lives in Trinidad. He also won the other semi-final for men’s singles so I would play him in the finals, also he’s who Kerian and I beat first round in mixed. Mixed doubles saw us make the final as well when we beat Leanna and Jewel to advance. I was only in 2 finals this year, which was alright with me as can’t always get everything that I want.

During singles

Finals night, the night of all nights came around and I would be playing in the singles and mixed. Singles was up first and it would be against Milind Ogale a German citizen who is a resident of Trinidad and Tobago because he married a Trinidad woman. So you can imagine the newspaper headlines on that one, German Vs Canadian comes to mind. The match was pretty straight forward and there were no nerves this time to take it all the way and win my second national title in men’s singles.

Up next were the other matches and then the final match of the night, mixed doubles. Rahul had already won the men’s doubles final and now was going for title #2. Rahul and Stephanie had played together for years and this was the first time me and Kerian have played together despite being from the same club. The match went to 3 and unfortunately I would only be getting one national title this time in the singles.

So a 1^st place in singles, 2^nd place in mixed doubles, and 3^rd place in men’s doubles would be the medal haul for the 2016 nationals.

 

1st place mens singles, retained my title and 2 time national champion

 

2nd place in mixed for the 2nd year in a row

3rd place mens doubles

The previous year I flew out the morning right after I won nationals but this time I stayed an extra day. That extra day I celebrated in style a little winning another title we went out for dinner and then afterwards went to a club and lived it up, downside I flew out that next morning so the night was a little short lived. It would not be back home this time though, I would be making a stop over to Atlanta and spend just over a week there. A nice and well deserved vacation after winning nationals.