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.
