Stephan The Man » Major BWF Events

Song Of The Week for World Championships…..I Want It ALL

Stephan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:23:00 +0000

The 2011 World Championships came to an end yesterday, and what an ending it was! The whole tournament was full of surprises by some unlikely suspects. Kevin Cordon “The Cordon Blue” from Guatemala shocked the badminton world by taking out number 5 seed from China,Chen Long. He then continued to the Quarter Finals….I am pretty sure that is the first time in recent Pan American history that someone makes the Quarter Finals in Men’s singles. But The Cordon Blue was not the only giant killer out there. Zi Liang Derek WONG from Singapore took down the number 4 seed Taufik Hidayat. But perhaps the ones that deserve the most attention is the mixed team from Great Britain, Chris Adcock (England) and Imogen Bankier (Scotland) who took the silver medal as an unseeded pair. Congratulations to all these players and the others who performed valiantly.
Speaking of valor, there was an unfortunate lack of it in my performance. I had one of the best training periods of my life prior to the World Championships and was ready to take on the World! However a few days before my match I could feel that my body was fatigued. I was not sure of the signs but on the day of play the signal was clear……My legs were empty. However that should not be the end of the world! Dicky Palyama from the Netherlands was strong out of the gates. He was very good at putting alot of pressure right of the bat and playing VERY sharp attacks. I on the other hand was struggling with my feeling and movement. Both sets were very similar, he was on top and he never stopped trouncing me. But there were things that I could have done better. My coach kept trying to get me to open my mind and speed up the game….even if the quality was not there at least the speed would be. But I was often too stubborn and was trying to rely too heavily on my feel that was not there. I think that if I would have followed my coaches advice I would have been able to make Dicky feel a little more uncomfortable and scrap a few more points together….with some luck I could have kept it close and start developing a better feel since my confidence would rise. Another lesson learned.
But after watching many underdogs winning their matches and mesmorized by the brilliant play of Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei….I have realized…..I WANT IT ALL!
Which leads me into my song of the week…..Enjoy

Swiss Open 2011 Grand Prix Gold

Stephan — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:44:06 +0000

This past week I was in Basel,Switzerland, competing in the 2011 Swiss Open. I have played this tournament several times in order to get a chance at playing some of the top players in the world. This year I was given that chance if I could win my first round against a local Swiss player,Lukas NUSSBAUMER. Fortunatly for me, I did beat this local hero in two straight sets 21-11 21-14.

My prize was to then play the number 2 seed from Indonesia,Simon Santoso. I have looked forward to playing him for several years now since I think his style would mesh well with mine. So in the first set I was all ready to give it my all….but that was the problem,I was too worked up. I was trying just a bit too hard to push the pace and put pressure on him. This resulted in alot of unforced errors on my part and little effort on his. Needless to say the first set ended rather quickly, 21-8.
In the second set I relaxed a bit and pursued a different tactic. Since the shuttles were very quick,whoever won the net was usually winning the rally. So I decided to play alot of mid court pushes,net shots and controlled attack from the baseline. This made a BIG difference. Now I was able to control the rally and force him to make mistakes. We fought to 12-12,14-14 but then he made 3 or 4 VERY good lifts that put me under too much pressure. That let him pull away and take the match 21-8 21-15.
All in all I felt once I execute the right game plan, I am in the game….and when that happens,you never know what the outcome may be.

My next tournament will not be until the begining of May where I will start my qualifying run for the Olympics.

Yonex Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009: Quarter-Finals Live Coverage

Stephan — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:38:21 +0000

BVM Coverage – World Badminton Championships Quarter-Finals

Yonex Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009: Day 4 Live Coverage

Stephan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:53:14 +0000

BVM Coverage – World Badminton Championships Day 4

Yonex Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009: Day 3 Live Coverage

Stephan — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:30:26 +0000

BVM Coverage – World Badminton Championships Day 3

Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009, First Round Continues

Stephan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:55:21 +0000

Well day 2 of the World Championships in Hyderabad proved to be an exciting day. To start it off we have the number 7 seed Joachim Persson (Denmark) losing to Kenichi Tago (Japan) 16-21 21-14 21-13. I have seen this Tago play before and I can tell you is one fast little guy. Very good with the flat game and can keep the attack. I was reading Persson’s fan page and he did not seem too happy with his game…understanble.
Another fantastic match was Steinar Klaussen (Norway) vs Sung Hwan Park (Korea). Steinar is a good friend of mine and I was on edge of seat since this would have been a HUGE victory for him. I believe he was leading 15-12 in the third and could not help myself from talking to my computer screen as if he could hear me cheering:)
Tomorrow will be another awesome day of badminton..I am sure of it, and I look forward to watching, cheering and updating on my favourite games.

Yonex Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009: Day 2 Live Coverage

Stephan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:40:58 +0000

BVM Coverage – World Badminton Championships Day 2

Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009, Upseting First Day

Stephan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:32:30 +0000

The first day of the BWF World Championships 2009 was under way today and it was definitely an eventful day! The most notable news worthy story was team England withdrew all their players and sent them home without playing a single match. The fear is and was that there had been a Terror threat for the World Championships and the english did not want to take any risk for their athletes or staff and sent them home. There were also rumours that other countries might do the same and withdraw their athletes but from the looks of the draw it does not seem that they followed through.
To see the news conference about the English team withdrawing please click on the link below
BBC NEWS TEAM ENGLAND WITHDRAW

On the badminton side, the big upset of the day was Dicky Palyama (Netherlands) defeating Bao Chunlai of China in two straight sets 21-18 21-14. Dicky has been known for taking down some big names but its always a little more shocking when it happens at a World Championships. So now China will be relying on their two big guns Lin Dan and Chen Jin.
More good matches to come tomorrow for the continuation of the first round of the men’s singles.
To follow the draw and the live scoring please click on the link below

DRAW

Yonex Sunrise BWF World Badminton Championships 2009: Day 1 Live Blogging Coverage

Stephan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:41:19 +0000

BVM Coverage – World Badminton Championships Day 1