I know it's already been 6 months since the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, but since I've finally uploaded some footage, I figure I could do a little post on it. For starters, our trip to India was delayed because of the delay in the completion of the Athlete's Village. We were supposed to leave on September 27th but we delayed our flight time until September 30th. Unfortunately, we were further delayed on our flight as an Indian lady had a medical complication and needed to be rushed to a hospital. A lot of people weren't happy when they saw the flight route make a big U-turn on the big screen TV. Worst of all, was that poor Jon Vandervet happened to be sitting beside this lady!
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| The guy in the bottom left was snoring SO badly... |
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| Paramedics on the plane |
After having to turn around and stopping at tip of Newfoundland, Canada, we had to wait another hour or so to refuel and everything. By the time we made it to Belgium for a brief layover (more refueling I would assume), we continued on our journey to India, which was another 7-8 hour flight. We arrived in the early morning of October 2nd and we had to wait in the airport for our bags, for some registration, and until they figured out what to do. We were supposed to be in a bit before midnight on October 1st, but by the time we made it to the village, it was already 7:00am on October the 2nd. Unfortunately, not all our players made it on the flight, as Alex Pang, Joycelyn Ko, and Michelle Li had to come in the day after. Fortunately, they made it in at the scheduled time with little complications.
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| Price of sushi in Belgium airport o__O |
Overall, the Athlete Village was decent, but for brand new facilities, it looked like everything was like 20 years old. We had pretty nice apartments, in which they had about 4 separate rooms with 2 beds and a washroom each, with a common living area and kitchen. They also had a single washing machine to use between every body. It kind of reminds me of the dorms in Korea, though more spacious but more poorly made as well. Our washroom didn't even have a working hot water tank! Fortunately there were showers at the venue that worked. The internet access was rather poor as well because the whole village was probably trying to access it, as there wasn't too much to do, other than eat. The food there was alright, because they had a western section and a pizza/pasta section, but the Asian food was more Malaysian/Sinapore style, so they were a lot more heavier on the spices. For two weeks, I was hoping for a simple noodle in soup sort of thing, and for two week I was cursing their menu. There was ample fruit, desserts, and ice cream, but that didn't really help. I didn't try too much of the Indian food, as I was trying really hard not to get sick. For the first week, I was fine, but I guess it just gets to you after a week...
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| Lot of flies at night time o___O |
The medical center was great though. Lots of Canadian doctors and physiotherapists, with WESTERN style medicine and treatments. I am a little fickle about the type of medicine I use, because I always like to know how things work. With Western medicine, I can learn about the science of it all, whereas Eastern medicines tend to be a little too esoteric for me. Anyway, I got sick the second week, but I was treated amply at the Canadian medical center. I also received physiotherapy as well. Though I've never experienced it before, it was definitely a major plus having a physiotherapist following our team! Special thanks to Bob and the medical team at the Games! =)
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Team Canada (Badminton) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
(L to R) Front - Anna Rice, Grace Gao, Joycelyn Ko, Alex Bruce, Michelle Li
Back - Ram Nayyar (Coach), David Snider, Alex Pang, Toby Ng, Jon Vandervet, Jeff White (Coach), Bob (Physio) |
Okay, enough complaining. On to the badminton! The badminton was awesome. Period. The venues were good, as both the practice and tournament venues were done very nicely. There was some minor wind in the tournament stadium, but that's normal nowadays in big events. The competition was really good as well, even though it felt more lopsided: either we win easily, or we lose easily. Either way, it was a great chance to play some good teams, and I'd have to say I was very lucky because I got to play all three XD medalists in the Individual events. However, we started the tournament with the Mixed Team Event, so Canada was seeded 5/8 and was in the same pool as England. We also had Mauritius, Uganda, and the Falkland Islands in our pool. Fortunately, we got to play England on the final round robin day, so we could play better because we had more time to adjust to India. Unfortunately though, we ended up losing 4-1, with the sole victory going to Anna Rice in the WS. In the QF, we drew India, so it was kind of cool to play against the home country, as everyone is cheering against you and going crazy every time your opponents won a rally. We didn't do that well, as we lost 3 straight to India, but it was a good experience nonetheless. Check out some of the footage I have. The matches against England and India are much better, though I have also uploaded some of our matches against the other countries if you wish to check them out.
Draws:
[TournamentSoftware - Team Event]
[TournamentSoftware - Individual Event]
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| Grace and Joyce warming up on half court. Coach Jeff White warming up Jon Vandervet on the other half. |
The Individual tournament wasn't bad either; however, I didn't get any footage of it. They had TV cameras on almost every court so I was hoping for better footage. Canada didn't fair too well in the Individual events except Michelle Li, who defeated a seeded player from Singapore to make the Quarter-final. That pretty much sums up most of the badminton. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to watch the finals because Grace, Joyce, and I had to leave India early to make our trip down to Brazil for the 2010 Pan Am Championships. It was the longest I've ever traveled: India to Canada, arrived in the evening, then Canada to Brazil at 7:00am the next day...
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| Grace, Ram, and a malnourished dog |
Well, hope you enjoyed this post! Thanks for visiting! =)
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| Ram napping on the bus! |
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