Game over...

After a grueling fight between various units in the inter-unit badminton championships, my chance of getting a place in the singles semi-finals and eventually winning a medal is dashed. I was not disappointed but rather satisfied with my performance as I know that I have performed well, perhaps luck wasn't on my side.

I would say majority of my shots landed deep and was called out be the linesman. If the shots were in, I could have scored better or even win the match. Also, there was some problem with my high serve and my lobbing.

The selection for the competition began 1 week before the tournament and a total of 6 person was selected. 2 for singles and 4 for doubles. In the first place, I wasn't selected to take part even though there was one particular guy who I fared better than him but he was more experienced than me, in the sense that he took part in more competitions thus having more exposure than me. I look to the bright side as I could clear my off if I didn't participate in the competition.

After one day of training, one of the doubles player can't play due to some MOE interview, making the team short of one player. I was asked to replace the guy, trained for another 1 day and was roped in as a single player which I wasn't that confident to begin with. With 1 day of training and advice, it is evident that that is not enough.

Time doesn’t not permit us to train as our schedule was packed with ATEC round the corner and knowing the fact that we just completed one outfield exercise. In the whole team, I was the one with least experience. One of them was a SAFSA player, and all except me and one guy had the skills of playing at national level. They all have previously been trained and coached since secondary school up till JC level while I was only trained without proper coaching for 2 years in Secondary school. Some of them say I'm not bad but I still feel inferior to them when playing to them.

On the day of the event, I played a total of 6 matches from 10am to 3pm in my group and lost 2 of them. One of them that I lost was because i didn't focus on my mistakes, letting the opponent slip pass me and won marginally. It was a waste, if not I would have got a place in the semi-finals...

The other match that I lost was because the opponent was better than me but I enjoyed that match as I put in my heart and soul in it. He was older than me and my shots made him ran all over the court but he still managed to take me down with his strength.

After the competition, I settled down and reflected on my mistakes. There is no doubt I had bettered my footwork, strokes, tactics in the midst of the event. I even grew to love badminton more...