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.
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.
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 7th tournament for
the year and 3rd 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
2nd 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 2nd 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.
Just like that my time in my own bed was over and it was
back into the air to fly away again. Thankfully this time it wasn’t too far and
was still on the same continent. Mexico was the destination this time,
Guadalajara to be exact. Originally the tournament was scheduled to take place
in Cancun but just 20 days before the tournament they changed the location,
thankfully I didn’t book my flight yet at that point. Cancun would have been a
fantastic place, beach and everything but the location change was beneficial as
a bunch of players withdrew due to it. The singles draw was just a 32 size
while the doubles draw ended up being a 16 size draw but there was less than 8
teams present which usually would not award any world ranking points. Due to
the discretion of the tournament referee he choose to leave the withdrawn
doubles pairs in the draw therefore having it more than 8 teams and awarding
world ranking points.
Being in Mexico for so few days I didn't need much cash
But first before we even get to the tournament it was the
matter of flying there. I would once again be going through Houston airport.
Matt would have the same route but we would be arriving on different flights, I
got in around 8pm and Matt arrived just after midnight. So I waited in the
airport for him this way I wouldn’t have to taxi by myself, I did send in a
transportation request though but when I landed there wasn’t anybody around to
pick me up. So I was waiting for matt for sure. We made it to the hotel in one
piece but it was super late already so being able to crash into bed was greatly
appreciated. Not that it was super long flights I had to endure but just
cumulative it was a lot of travel already and taking a toll on my body.
The tournament venue was set up really well
This is the unfortunate blog entry because I really didn’t
see much in Mexico I was just in Guadalajara for a grand total of 3 days. But
first things first the following day we were able to head to the hall and
practice and the set up wasn’t bad. For an international series it was
comparable to Brazil the week before, of course Brazil was better but Mexico
was in the right direction. The venue itself was good no windows, there was a
drift but not the end of the world like in other venues. We used the practice
courts behind the main courts at first and then eventually we had our time on
the main courts later. So feeling decent about playing there the draws were
changed for singles due to the withdrawal of players. I had a bye then a local
Mexican for my first round followed by Hock Lai Lee of USA, which was not the
most ideal match. But I would worry about that the following day when the
tournament started, Matt had a local Mexican first round too.
First day of competition kicked off and it went really well,
I played against a junior and won my match fairly easily. It was the only match
that I would have for the day and I was feeling good about playing Hock the
following day as well as doubles. When the second day rolled around I played singles
in the morning and boy was that quite the adventure it was a tough match
against a good player. Hock use to play under the Malaysian flag and trained
with current world #1 and 3 time Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei. It was
an uphill battle the whole way as he just had so much more experience than me
and was able to read the game so well as to what I was going to play. We did
have some good rallies and it was always when I was able to rally him I would
win the point. It was not the match that I wanted, if I would have won that I
would have made a semi-final and gotten a medal which would have been nice. But
alas it was not meant to be that day and I lost, I would have to regroup fast
though as we had doubles shortly afterwards.
Doubles came around and that was quite the matchup, we would
play both the players we played in singles. It was quite the battle with both
me and Matt making lots of mistakes and letting the youngsters score lots of
points against us which isn’t what we would have liked. 3 games in and it
wasn’t our day either, 3rd tournament for world championships
qualifications and we had a disappointing loss in the semifinals. After that
happened we were scheduled to leave the next day back to Canada and USA
respectively but we decided to try and leave that same night. I had just
acquired gold status with united which also gave me star alliance gold status
to. This being said we were able to fly on standby and were successful getting
through to our destinations a whole day early.
But aside from the tournament I didn’t see much at all in
the city. There was a plaza not more than a few blocks away from us but I was
so busy that I didn’t get time to go over and fully explore it. Just the quick
stroll down the street as we went to find food to eat. There was a giant
Guadalajara sign in the plaza though that I would have really liked to get a
picture with but that didn’t happen. This just happened to be one of those
times where I only saw the airport, hotel, and tournament venue. The real life
of a professional athlete not always getting to see the city I’m in or explore.
Some things that people always get jealous of me for getting to do or so they
think that I get to do. But the truth is most of the time I’m in completion mode
and my schedule can be quite packed with training and matches. Usually I will
get one day though to at least go out into the city and try and see as much as
I can.
I don't even have a cool shot of anything, just this random street in Mexico
3 tournaments in a row done for me and just one more left. A
week back home in Calgary and then it would be off to Nevia, Columbia for the
Columbia International. I was already starting to see negative effects of so
much travelling. I had been living out of hotels for 3 weeks and not always
able to eat the same quantity or quality of food that I am accustomed to at
home. Not to mention all the flying back and forth from each destination. My
body was starting to break down and muscle mass deteriorated. But to sleep in
my own bed for a week is definitely something I was looking forward to at the
time. Thankfully it was a quick flight home just to Houston with a short
layover and then straight to Calgary. Something that doesn’t happen much having
either a long flight 6+ hours or long layovers 5+ in the airport. At least now
I could go into the star alliance airline lounges. But this trip to Guadalajara
I didn’t see anything. Hopefully the next tournament in Columbia I would get to venture out and explore the city.
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.
