Tired and disappointed...

so school is re-opening on monday.. makes me sad to see my holidays fly by with only a movie outing.. my holidays have been taken up by extra training in preparation for Penang Junior Open.. but all that extra training went to waste.. my tournament dreams were shattered by a back injury.. so here it goes......

Penang Junior Open - Day 3

(8th June 2007)

my 11am match against Fakrul was moved to 10.30am and i wasn't prepared at all.. but i stretched and quickly went to court 6 where my match was going to take place.. i took the first set 9-3.. but in the second set, my troublesom back gave me problems and i lost the set 7-9.. the third set was tough because i had to withstand my back and finish off the match.. after struggling, i finally finished the match winning the third set 9-6..

that wasn't all.. i had another match coming in the afternoon session.. i got my racket restrung and did some stretching.. my match was scheduled for 5.30pm but seeing as my morning match started earlier, i decided to get ready earlier just in case.. and it paid off..

my racket : restrung with Technifibre string..

my match started at 4.30pm instead.. my opponent showed up 5 minutes later.. i tried out my recently restrung racket.. i was impressed with its performance (Max! thanks for telling me about the string!).. so the match started and i was still struggling with my back injury.. i took the first set 10-9.. it was very tough as this guy is short and hits very low shots.. i had to bend lower to retrieve the shots and stretch to the limits.. i was confident about winning the match but unfortunately, my back was too much to handle and my opponent dominated me in the second and third set.. he took both sets 0-9.. the match ended 10-9, 0-9, 0-9.. i was so disappointed with myself.. so now during training, i will try doing some exercises to strenghten my back..


the Penang Junior Open dinner took place at Cititel.. we met at the lobby at 7.30pm and took our places at our respective tables.. the dinner began after a few words from the president of Squash Rackets Association Of Penang (SRAP).. we talked throughout the dinner and the performance began soon after.. it started with the Penang team's performance.. the younger players from our team took the stage and sang "We're All In This Together" from High School Musical.. but the song lyrics wasn't the same.. it was changed.. the song was about squash players and bla bla bla.... and the second song (Yes.. there was more), was the "Rasa-Sayang" song.. you know the song that kids sing in kindergarten?? Yeah, that song.. but again, the song was remixed.. the song had things about Penang in it.. overall the lyrics was quite creative but i gotta admit, the voices of those who sang the song weren't exactly good (sorry guys).. then followed by performances from teams like Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, South Africa, South Korea, Selangor, and a "special guest" appearance by Indonesian top men's squash player (whose name i couldn't recall).. the South Africans sang "hakuna matata".. you know, the Lion King song.. KL had a chinese yoyo performance from two brothers.. Selangor had three under-13 girls singing "No Promises" by Shayne Ward.. a girl from Kelantan sang as well.. the South Koreans did some stupid humiliating stuff by wearing their underwear over their pants (like Superman) and some wore skirts and did stupid stunts.. then the South Koreans came back for an encore by having two of their boys beat-box on stage (the beat-box was awesome).. and our Indonesian friend sang two songs (one of them is "Kenangan Terindah" by Samsons).. at the end of the night, everyone had fun and enjoyed each other's company..



i'll be at the squash court to watch the finals of all the events tomorrow.. i did not have any pictures from the dinner because my only camera (my phone), had one bar of battery left.. =(



today was kinda boring.. i went out to have lunch, came back, went out again, and now i'm here.. i guess that's all for now.. i'm watching the final of the womens event for Roland Garros French Open now... Au Revoir...



Ivan, out...