You Don't Pronounce The "s"

sorry we’ve been slow in updating guys! it’s been pretty hectic and exciting around here (: kel and i got a much needed day off yesterday so we got to wake up slightly later and brought the two big bosses Ramesh and Suat Jien for a spot of shopping at the Morning Market (which is a whole day market really from 10am to 10pm)! my awesome bargaining prowess and had an really nice time. Suat Jien is the exec VP of mediacorp tv and she actually came down all the way t Vientiane just for one day to watch the games and how we go live in the studios, we thought that was really nice of her, she’s a lovely lady.

justin came t join us and boy did we SHOPPPPPPPPPPPPP ahahaha it was awesome man. we went for swimming in the evening, last day of swimming and it was another medal spree for Team Singapore with many more meet records set and old records broken.

i got assigned t table tennis again tday, (YAY!) and it’s once again an all Singapore finals for the singles event. Gao Ning will meet Yang Zi and Tianwei will play Yuegu. we interviewed them after their semis this morning and man did Gao Ning have some beautiful rallies with his Thai opponent who put up a good fight and won the second game, but was no match for our world number 12 Gao Ning who took the first, third and fourth game respectively. in the next court, Yang Zi had a clean win of all four sets and as usual went in straight for the kill. when asked what he thinks his chances are up against Gao Ning, he answered the usual diplomatic answers about how they’ve been competing for three years and always stay together, they’re both around the same, Gao Ning is really good.. then Sher Khan and i pushed him and he gave a cheeky smile and said, wo jue de wo hui ying la! then laughed. and when we told Gao Ning this later, the gentleman at first refused to answer what he thought merely stating how his team mate and him are about the same standard then eventually laughed and said hao le hao le, wo shuo wo hui ying la! awesome soundbites.

okay, back to table tennis now to watch the finals and grab more interviews, it’s the Team Singapore dinner at the embassy tonight and kel and i get t go YAY thanks alvin & viv

p.s: sorry no photos, updating from IBM lousy laptop in the studios

xoxo,
nad

i’m beginning to really like the table tennis team. they’re very focused on their game, passionate and emotional about their performance, and friendly during interviews. they understand questions in English perfectly fine, now to try and bribe Yue Gu and Yang Zi to answer in English heh heh.

went down for shooting in the morning where Ong Jun Hong was competing in the men’s air rifle. he finished in 6th position which he feels was a decent performance by his standards. this is his fourth SEA Games and he felt very happy qualifying for the finals. the Myanmar and Thailand shooters each managed to score a bull’s eye at 10.9.

the mixed doubles semi-finals was on the afternoon for table tennis, our teams having earlier beat out Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines to face Malaysia and Thailand. our teams played four games each, Yuegu faltering slightly during her third game against Malaysia due to a minor injury. Yangzi and Yuegu pulled through and beat opponents Thailand, securing a spot in the finals. in the next court, Tianwei and Gao Ning lost their first game and were feeling the heat, but came round to win it for Singapore as well! (:

rushing off for Swimming, xoxo!

it was almost a replay of the table tennis games.

the girl trio of Beiwen, Aiying and Mingtian were a powerhouse for Laos and won their all their games against their much smaller Laotian counterparts. Beiwen was particularly physical during her match, leaving her opponent in a sweat. Aiying was always in control of her game, playing the shuttle with ease. Mingtian won her game, all her shots demonstrating power and precision. so the women’s team was very quickly through to the semi-finals where they will play Indonesia. although Indonesia is the defending champions, Mingtian and Aiying both said that they have trained hard and although the line-up has yet to be confirmed for tomorrow, Mingtian said with a smile that she will try her very best.

Derek Wong started off with the singles games for the men and was up against an extreme agile Vietnamese opponent whose smashes were completely petrifying. the part-time SIM student who is taking his diploma in business management lost the first set but managed to come round and put up a fighting finish in his next set, but unfortunately lost his game. Ashton Chen was feeling the pressure but put up a confident show and managed to secure the win needed to turn the game around. Ronald Susilo came on next but lost his game and the rumours that his broken engagement with Li Jiawei has perhaps led him to fall from his title as badminton-prince couldn’t help but come to mind. the 30 year old wasn’t quite on form and admitted to perhaps having not trained enough for his singles event. first doubles partners Hendra and Terry put up a good fight and brought our score to a 2-2. the fifth game had to be played and Susilo looking slightly tired out, took to the court again with Hendri. the two demonstrated considerable chemistry and took the first set. the Vietnamese came back very strong and it was neck-and-neck at 21-21 points till they pulled ahead to 23-21, leaving the panting Singaporean pair having to contend with a third set. fortunately, our side proved stronger than the Vietnamese and took the final set 21-16, pushing the mens’s team through to the semi-finals. tomorrow they will meet Malaysia who were already seeded through. looks like it’ll be a tough game tomorrow ladies & gentlemen but cross fingers and GOOD LUCK TEAM SINGAPORE! the Singapore fans are damn loud at all the games man, good support for our athletes (:

Ronald Susilo warming up

Zhang Beiwen

Derek Wong putting up a hard fight against top Vietnamese playerAiying cooling down after her game