CBA tournament

I am so happy about winning CBA tournament over the last weekend. I won my first title in A grade which was something I never dreamed of. I know the standard is not that strong, but I really enjoyed the games.

I had lots of running during the day (probably run as much as I could in a month or two.)

Doubles with Shet Li were great. One of the pairs came from Altona Section 1 and is one of the best pairs there. We had a very close game against them. They were leading 7 to 2 at the beginning of the game, but we managed to get back and won at 21-16. Also had another close game against Tania and her partner. We won at 21-18. Both games were such a close game, I could feel that those games could turn either way. Shet Li played pretty well. Her smashes won so many points for us. I moved around the court quite smoothly (of course, I puffed a lot)

Mixed with Andrew was even better!! Three pairs were in a group. I knew before we started that we could beat the korean pair as the wife was not that strong, although the husband could really cover her. But we did not expect we could win the game so easily. We beat them 21-3. Andrew was so kind not to smash at her and not even to her husband if she did a very bad lift. We so liked that pair.

I watched the other pair in the group warming up prior to the game. The girl looked really strong, she could do better clears and had quite strong smashes. I was quite worried about that pair and kept telling andrew that it would be a hard game. The other pair played against the korean one first. They knew the korean girl was really weak, they served flick serves to her every time with only one exception (yes, I counted!!) I so hated that. I know it was a competition, and you were supposed to explore your opponent’s weaknesses and attack the weaknesses, but taking it to that extreme still made me feel uncomfortable. When they swap sides, Korean pair was 3 or 4 –11 losing. The husband put heaps effort to get closer and closer. Even though the other pair reached 19 first, he managed to get back the serve and finally won the game at 21-19. I was so happy for them.

Then it was us to play against them. Xue kept telling me that we could beat them easily, especially at the net as the girl’s moving was quite slow. We would have more chance at the net. We beat them quite easily at 21-5, although I sort of injured myself at the start of the game. (stretched myself too much without moving my legs, thought I was tall enough to reach there)
Got to the final against Sinyu and Shet Li. Andrew played so good. He reached almost every shots and lots of shots I missed (could I say, it was due to my injury??) He ran almost the full court to cover me. We were lucky enough to win at the end.

It was pretty funny that both pairs in the A mixed finals were entered into B mixed initially. For me, I did not even want to play A doubles initially.

I was so happy at the end. When I got my trophies, I realised that they got a trophy for the overall best female player and I was told I just missed narrowly to a girl who won B singles and B mixed. It was pity that I was so close it, although I never really expected I could win one. Then I got a phone call from Shet Li yesterday. She told me that they made a mistake. I won the trophy and a racquet for the overall best female player. Wooo!! (a new racquet!!) I can’t wait to get it this Thursday.

Thanks very much to Shet Li and Andrew. I had really good games and really enjoyed my day.
Getting to work over the last two days was a nightmare. Got up quite early on Monday morning, got to the train station at 7:20, then suddenly realised that no train were running between Ringwood & Blackburn due to the Eastern freeway extension. Waited ages to get the replacement bus to Blackburn and took the train, I got to work at 9:00 which is half hour late. So I decided to take a bus this morning. I got to the bus stop at 7:05 (the bus was supposed to be there at 7:08), waited 15 – 20 mins and got to city at 8:30. Not sure what happened to the 7:08 bus and the time table at the bus stop differs from the timetable I downloaded online. I was quite exhausted after the long trip. I stupidly chose a seat (at the time I got on the bus, I had the whole bus available for me, I could have chosen any seats I wanted) and realised that the door was not sealed properly. And I only realised that when the bus was full of people with a few people standing.