I won!

I played 7 matches yesterday. Supposed to be 8, but I received a walkover from my U15 doubles opponents.

No fight at all lah, most love games. But one match made me super satisfied and happy. :-D

I beat a girl in U15 singles rubber set! =D She was a head taller than me too. Score: 6-11, 13-10, and 11-4. I was really the underdog in this match. People expected me to lose. Honestly, I thought I would lose after losing the 1st set already.. 6-11. I even reached the 6th point because she made a number of mistakes in a row.

Then in the 2nd game.. she led 5-1. I caught up a bit. 3-5. Then she reached 8. I was kinda.. well, giving up hope already. I mean, another 3 points to victory for her.

Then, by some fantastic miracle.. I started to attack. And realised that her defense was poor. So I smashed both sidelines. Caught up slowly, a few services exchanged in between but she couldn't score any more. So 8-8.. then 9-8.. then 10-8.. THEN she caught up. 10-10. I deuced 3.

At 12-10, my opponent ask permission to drink water. So we both went to our baskets. That was when I realised that my string was broken! Lol. Must have been a smash. I don't know. Then I heard my friends sighing, "NOW ONLY SHE REALISES!!!" I really didn't know okay! It seems they were screaming about my string for the last 3-4 points, but I was so used to their cheering I must have tuned it all out. Lol!

Well, I still managed to lob, smashed etc. with that racquet. I don't know how. Lol.

Changed my racquet to the Ti-5 Light. Felt kinda heavy, but I smashed the shuttle down and won with that racquet. So.. yeah, it was ok. Score was 13-10.

Wow. I tell you, I was sooo happy. I knew she was exhausted already you see, and I could easily go through another game to beat her. In the 5 minutes break my coach talked to me, and told me what to do etc etc. I had the advantage already cause I wasn't tired. She was.

By the 3rd game she hardly gave a fight, and went down tamely 11-4.

Gotta thank my coach for the stamina. =D After that I played 1 more singles, U17, won 11-0, 11-1. Then doubles U15, won 15-0, 15-4. Then doubles U17.

Yes, I know. Exhausting day eh? I myself don't know where the energy comes from.

Then.. today... I was expecting a really tough match against my U15 singles opponent. She was slightly below yesterday's opponent's level, but I was still expecting to really fight it all out.

I was right. But.. at 8-8... she fell down trying to take my smash. Twisted her ankle. Ouch. The umpire called the referee, referee called the St. Johns, they sprayed painkiller on her leg. But.. it obviously didn't help. She took such a long time deciding whether to continue or not. She decided not to when she realised she was limping. So I received a walkover. Shook her hand and apologised. Mind you, I was really apologetic. I never meant to 'kill' her off!

After that most people I met kind of scolded me.. my coach said, "Win good enough lah, why go and hit until she cannot walk??" Hahaha! Yesterday's opponent said, "Good thing I'm still alive!" My other coach said, "You're stronger than her cause she sprained her ankle." That was a really funny one. Lol.

And my friends? Told me not to kill people off also.. lol.

Well, it was really an accident. How would I know she would fall and twist her ankle while trying to defend a smash??

CP: "Everywhere you go you make a big impact. Either you cause heartache(yesterday's match that I played my heart out) or you injure your opponent."

And well.. today I played 4 semi finals in the morning. Singles U15, U17, and Doubles U15, U17. No fight lah.. was surprised this tournament's standard was so low.

And.. I reached all 4 finals! I was totally absolutely shocked okay. Really! I mean, FOUR?? My coaches and the officials told me that I made history in KLBA today.. one of the higher ranking fella that used to umpire international matches told me that it was his first time ever he heard of such a thing.

Next thing he told me, "You better not lose all 4! Otherwise you're stupid.."

Hahaha!

Well. I lost my U15 singles. 4-11, and.. 3 or 4-11 also. To this really tall tall girl. KL player. She made me run around the court like 1 mad fool. Hahaha! Well, I heard the people laughing at me.. but truthfully, I was happy I managed to take all the shots instead of letting them go. I informed her that she was my tallest opponent ever. ;-) Lol! She was slightly over 1 head taller than me. hahaha!

U15 doubles and U17 doubles were against the same opponents. Lol. They took part in both too. Lost. Sadly. Could have won, easily too. Haiz. Well, things happen.

Won the most unexpected event of all.. U17 singles! Lol. The U17 really no standard at all. I beat my opponent 11-0, 11-0. The officials just shook their head at me. They know me you see, I helped in the umpiring 1st day.

So I got 4 medals, 3 silver 1 gold. 3 Yonex racquet bags, and 1 Carb 5 Super racquet. I have no idea what to do with the racquet bags though. It's nice, bright yellow, but single compartment. I have no use for such small bags. Worth Rm49.90. Can sell it off? I gave one away. Have 2 more. As a matter of fact, I still have an unopen RSL double compartment racquet bag. Using my 2 compartment Dunlop bag that I won in the XD competition now.

Awesome day. Played 8 matches today. People wondering how I managed to survive. My coaches joked while watching my game, Joanne's on a marathon today! Yeah.. indeed. I was really really surprised.. I didn't expect to make it to finals for ALL the events I joined! Lol.

Oh yeah, originally my coach put me under 3 events, U15 singles + doubles, and U17 singles. Then yesterday the main fellow in charge asked me if I wanted to take part in U17 doubles. I readily said yes, apparently some people weren't showing up. So we took their place.

So it's a good thing I umpired the day before too.. all the officials knew me already.. if that fellow hadn't known me he wouldn't have bothered to ask me if I wanted to take over some people's place. So I was in 4 events. Yep. Lol.

Ah. 15 matches in 2 days. Really marathon. Go back training this Monday sure gonna hear everyone's opinion. Acks. Just glad I made my coaches proud though. :-D Apparently going into the finals is already a fantastic achievement.

I was known as Lim Ee Wei throughout the tournament. My coach forgot to add the Joanne, he thought it wasn't in my birth cert. Arrgh.

The officials knew me as Joanne when I umpired. They were surprised when I registered as Lim Ee Wei.

And all my U15 & U17 games clashed. Lol! It was one game after another after another. Rest about 30 minutes, then continue. How did I make it ah???

Well, going back to training. Gonna play in Selangor close. Will be tougher, but I've got the confidence. :-P

Oh.. and another thing.

Guess what?



















I was the shortest. My U15 & U17 opponents were all at least half a head taller than me. =P Oh well, hope this proves that shortness isn't a handicap. Lol.


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk