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Silver.
posted : Monday, August 18, 2008
Shuttler Lee Chong Wei ended Malaysia's 12-year wait for an Olympic medal by advancing into the finals of the Men's Singles competition. Many tipped him for Malaysia's first ever Olympic gold medal. Everyone was excited. (Well, all who watched badminton anyway.) So in a frantic attempt to watch the finals live on RTM1, we had no other choice but to once again go to PGP. We learned our mistake and went there at 7pm when the match started at 8.48pm. So we grabbed a good seat in one of the TV rooms. So while waiting for the match to start we watched the Singapore (a.k.a China-born) table tennis girls being swept aside by their "countrywomen" in the women table tennis team finals. First medal for Singapore as well in 48 years. While we watched table tennis more and more people, mainly the Chinese started to fill the TV room. They were so into the table tennis game that we started worrying that we wont be able to change channel later. Fortunately we discovered another TV room full of our fellow Malaysians and we migrated there just in time, though unable to get good seats.  They even printed Malaysian flags and erect one of it on top of the TV to mark our "territory". The atmosphere was great. We cheered on every nice shot Chong Wei made (not that there are many of them) and boo-ed when Lin Dan won a point and clenched his fists. (more of this scenario). Since the reception was bad we can only watch black-and-white and without sound, so some of them try to imitate the infamous Hasbullah Awang from RTM1, with his "wonderful" commentary. "Cantik!!!" "Dia hanya bernasib baik..." "Oh cantik!!! Tetapi keluar...." Eventually they ran out of interest in doing that as we witness one of the tragedies in Olympic badminton history. Chong Wei succumbed under immense pressure on him to deliver Malaysia's first ever gold. Lin Dan controlled the match and dominated most of the rallies, and Chong Wei obediently followed. No sign of his top form which he displayed over the past few months. I guess we all can never understand the huge pressure on him. So disappointed was the crowd in the TV room that they hastily switch off the TV after the last point so that we do not have to see Lin Dan celebrating. (The TV was switched on again later, but we left already.) It is a pity he didnt win. I am sure the whole TV room will go crazy if he did. Before the match I can even imagine us singing the national anthem at the victory ceremony. But then...  Disappointment. But well done, Chong Wei. Labels: olympics |
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Orientation and Olympics
posted : Saturday, August 09, 2008
 VS. If we were to choose between these two, I would definitely choose the latter. Which is why I decided to skip the orientation finale last night to go squeeze in the TV room in PGPR to watch the Opening Ceremony of the 29th Olympics in Beijing. Orientation ends yesterday. $160 gone just like that...haih. Yesterday was the annual Rag Day, where various teams and halls put up their floats and performances which they have been preparing for 3 months. Kent Ridge Hall owned everybody else in the hall category. :( The RH floaters (people in-charge of the float) were looking very emo and the Float head cried a bit. We had to do our best to cheer them up lor. 3 months of hard work and they walk home empty handed so it is understandable la but well... Then we decided to pon orientation one last time and go watch TV in PGP. Actually I could have just sat in my room and watch online via NUSCast. But then...TV more clear mah. Also the atmosphere is nicer though it is a bit packed. It is interesting to see people cheering when Malaysia, India, Indonesia, UK teams paraded into the Bird's Nest, and slight boo-ing when US marched in and George Bush's face appeared. I didnt finish watching the parade of athletes as I had to catch the last bus back to RH where the orientation finale is still going on but eventually I came back just in time to see China entered the stadium and the subsequent events such as athlete's oath, flag raising, declaring the games open, and of course the lighting of the cauldron. Overall the opening ceremony was kind of impressive. But I still think Athens was more impressive in terms of the performance. Beijing focused a lot on 2008 i think (2008 drummers, 2008 taichi performers, and so on). The idea of completing a drawing by having the athletes stepping on it as they marched pass was quite cool. And it was kind of sad because Brunei was the only country in the world that was absent from the games, since they failed to register their athletes on time and hence had to pull out of Olympics a few hours before the Opening. :S Let the games begin! Labels: olympics |
