Taufik Hidayat and I. My favorite player. He won the men singles event easily beating the world number one, Lin Dan of China. He is the first male player to win both Olympics and World Championship together. His next target is to win the All-England 2006, another prestigious badminton competition. May the best of luck be with him. Kudos Taufik..

Tony Gunawan and me. He is definitely the best player in this competition. At the age of 30, he still managed to steal a win in the doubles event though his partner is 'nobody'. His partner, Howard Bach hails from Vietnam but his family migrated to the US when he was five year-old. Congrats to both of them and the US team. May their win brings better publicity of badminton to the 'ignorant' Americans. Badminton is not a backyard game. It's a competitive sports and one of the many sports competed in the Olympics.

Chen Hong and I. His performance in WC 2005 doesn't show his form in the All-England 2005. He lost to Peter Gade in the quarter-finals. Hope he will do better in the upcoming China Open.

Wong Choon Hann and I. He was the silver medalist back in Birmingham, England (World Championship 2003). He holds the best Malaysian record in this championship.

Me and Wong Mew Choo, the number one Malaysian female single player.

Kenneth Jonassen and I. Seeded number 2 in this competition but lost to eventual winner, Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals.

Had the honor to take picture with Koo Kien Keat. He and Chan Chong Ming won the bronze medal in the World Championships 2005. They managed to upset two pairs, Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng and Flandi/Eng Hian to reach the semi-finals, but lost to eventual silver medalists, Chandra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto.

Peter Gade and I:)

Worlds 05..

I had the best week of my life. One word to summarize it, fabulous. Being a line judge in the IBF World Championships is definitely not an easy task, more like an honored job;). I can remember clearly how much my palm sweated when I line-judged my first match on Monday. Yuckss!! Obviously, I was tensed. Shots produced by professionals are too hard to judge sometimes. Especially smashes by badminton 'gigs' like Taufik Hidayat, Chong Wei and Lin Dan sometimes barely miss the line and only touch a hair width of the line. Still, this kind of shots is considered to be in.

Leaving..

Hi folks. I am leaving for Chicago (O'hare Airport) in three hours time. Shall board the plane at 815 am for Anaheim later. Ciao!

Proud to be a Badger..

Whether you're contemplating moving here, or have lived here all your life, Madison, Wisconsin is a place of charm and diverse culture, populated by people with friendly Midwestern values.

While Madison's allure has gone largely unnoticed by the outside world, prior to 1995, we note with great pride that Madison, Wisconsin has been constantly and consistently listed in various publications since then--both online and print--as being in the top tier of the very best places to live in the United States.

As you might expect...our excellent schools, low unemployment, low crime rate and our all-around high standard of living have combined to create a very positive effect on the Greater Madison Wisconsin real estate market. Madison Wisconsin real estate and the Greater Madison Area have always benefited from having a relatively insulated economy and has been--and should continue to be--filled with safely appreciating housing stock within a community of diverse and concerned citizens.

But...enough of what we think. Here's your opportunity to see what awards and accolades have been conferred upon Madison, Wisconsin.

Recent Awards and Accolades for Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin...ranked #1: "Best Place to Live in America" --Money, July 1996
Madison, Wisconsin...ranked #7: "Best Place to Live in America" --Money, July 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...ranked #1: "Mid-Sized City in the Midwest" --Money, July 1998
Madison, Wisconsin...ranked: "Ninth in the Nation in Survey of America's Safest Cities" --Money, January 1996
Madison, Wisconsin...identified as: "#3 Hottest City for Growth" --U.S. News & World Report, April 1995
Madison, Wisconsin...honored as one of the: "#1 Best Cities for Women" --Ladies Home Journal, November 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...called: "Best City For Quality of Life" --Business Development Outlook Magazine, Sep/Oct 1999
Madison, Wisconsin...identified as: "1 of 10 Best Cities for Working Moms" --Redbook, June 1996
Madison, Wisconsin...seen as: "1 of 10 Top Canoe Towns in the U.S." --Paddler Magazine, October 1995
Madison, Wisconsin...reviewed as having: "1 of 5 Top Farmers' Markets" --Good Housekeeping, August 1995
Madison, Wisconsin...called: "Third Best City to Start a Small Business" --Entrepreneur, October 1996
Madison, Wisconsin...praised as the: "No.1 Healthiest City for Women to Live" --American Health For Women, January 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...called: "Third Best Place to Raise a Family" --Parenting, May 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...reviewed as: "Ninth Best City to Live and Work in America" --Employment Review, June 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...rated: #9 on list of "America's Safest Cities" --Money, October 1996
Madison, Wisconsin...recognized as: #5 on list of "America's 10 Most Enlightened Towns" --Utne Reader, May 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...viewed as: "Fourth Best City for Cycling in North America" --Bicycling, August 1997 and October 1995
Madison, Wisconsin...called: "Runner-Up for Top Retirement Location in the United States" --Money, June 2000
Madison, Wisconsin...announced as one of the: "10 Most Livable Places in America" --The Advocate, June 24, 1997
Madison, Wisconsin...rated the: "#3 City for Business Owners" --Business Development Outlook Magazine, Nov/Dec 1999
Madison, Wisconsin...recognized as #2 out of 25: "Great Towns for Raising an Outdoor Family" --Outdoor Explorer, Summer 1999
Madison, Wisconsin...called: "One of America's Most Environmentally Friendly Cities" --enn.com, September 2000
Madison, Wisconsin...named: "One of the Nation's Best Small Cities for Families" --FamilyFun Magazine, September 2000

I 'stole' this from a website promoting real estate in Madison, Wisconsin. Never knew Madison, Wisconsin has received so many accolades . Now that I have read this, I have no reason to regret about studying here. Hehe..Madison rockss..

What an intimidating game - badminton???

SOME THOUGHTS: I am not an expert, but I know a good thing when I see one. For the layman, badminton may seem a very slow sport, just because they have never witnessed the sport being played by seasoned athletes. If your impression of badminton is one of a sport that requires no special physical needs, then read on. Soon you will change your mind.

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT BADMINTON? Most people have seen badminton in one form or another and consequently think they know badminton. However badminton may not be quite what you imagine. Here are a few common questions and answers regarding badminton.

• IS BADMINTON THAT GAME WE ALL PLAY AT FAMILY PICKNICS AND IN THE BACKYARD?
  The backyard/picnic version of badminton is one type of badminton, but that is more like playing basketball in the driveway with a junior-sized ball and hoop. Badminton as a sport, the REAL BADMINTON, is played indoors with high-tech equipment. Modern racquets are complex alloys of carbon graphite, boron, ceramic, aluminium and steel in various proportions. These racquets are very light, less than 3.5 ounces and can be strung very tightly. Also the shuttlecock is made of feathers, not plastic, and weighs between 4.74 and 5.50 grams. Shuttles cost from US to US for a dozen and last about one game, at the most. The net is five feet high, not the height of a volleyball net.
• EVEN SO IT IS STIL PRETTY SLOW, ISN'T IT?
  To play competitive badminton you need explosiveness, lightning quick reflexes and rapid hand-eye coordination. Why you ask? Well the shuttlecock has been clocked in excess of 205 mph (NO this is not a misprint; Vic Braden who is very well-known for his coaching and research work on tennis did the measuring. Boy, was he surprised). That's faster than the fastest tennis serve, and occurs regularly during rallies at the top level. Add onto this the fact that in doubles games there are often 40 or 50 shots in 20 seconds you can see that the first sentence was no exaggeration.
• WHAT SORT OF ACTION DO YOU SEE IN BADMINTON?
  A badminton match consists of constant highly concentrated action; running, jumping, twisting, stretching, running backwards, throwing and striking. In a typical match the players cover every inch of the court and run more than one mile.
• YEAH, RIGHT. HOW ABOUT SOME STATISTICS?
  OK then. Lets compare a Wimbledon final to a world championship final in badminton. The Wimbledon final lasted 198 minutes, the badminton final 76 minutes. Doesn't look good for badminton right? WRONG! The actual amount of time the ball or shuttlecock were in play were 18 minutes and 37 minutes respectively. Breaking it down further to the number of shots played (1 004 to 1 972) and assuming 22 feet travelled per shot per player we find that the tennis player covered about 2 miles, and the badminton player 4 miles. So the badminton player ran TWICE as far in under half the time. This just goes to show how tough badminton is. Tennis is a great game and most people understand the athletic endeavours involved in playing at the top level. From this example we can see that badminton athletes need to be in world-class condition.
• GOT ANY MORE STATS?
  Most certainly have; according to scientific experts (Department of Physical Education at Baylor University) badminton is one of the finest conditioning game activities. During a typical 3 game match, lasting 45 minutes the shuttle will be in play for 20 minutes. In this time the player will make at least 350 90-degree changes of direction or more and strike the shuttle about 400 times. About 150 of these stokes will be full arm swings (with the racquet, of course). Major league pitchers frequently have less arm swings than this in a game. Pulse rate can increase from 72 to 125 for a person in normal condition.
• OK, I'M CONVINCED BADMINTON IS A TOUGH SPORT BUT ISN'T IT PRETTY UNPOPULAR?
  Not at all! Whilst badminton is a minority sport in some countries, it is widely played in Britain, Denmark, Sweden, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and several other countries. Britain alone has 4 million players, about 8% of the population. As a spectator sport it is very popular in the Far East. The badminton events at the Seoul Olympics were among the first to sell out, despite it only being a demonstration sport. The estimated audience for the 92 and 96 Olympic finals ran into the hundreds of millions, up to 1.1 BILLION in total.
  

Source: Cyprus Badminton Federation

A little update..

Finally, I am done with Summer semester. Though I only took three credit hours of classes, trust me, Organic Chemistry lab wasn't any fun. It was really monotonous. We basically repeated the same technique throughout the course, mainly extraction, distillation, filtration, refluxing and recrystallization. Another credit hour came from golf. It was my first time learning and playing the game. Initially, I didn't enjoy it. Also, I took the class, having the thought that I would not enjoy it. It was my curiosity that spur me to take up this 'boring' game. I was wrong after a few weeks of class. Golf is FUN! Golf is not as simple as it looks for sure. You need skill and most importantly, practice. To even master the skill and technique takes time. Six weeks of classes only taught me some basics. Too bad none of my malaysian friends here plays golf. I am looking for someone to play with me in Madison. Give me a buzz if you need a golf companion. A great saying about golf:

People do not play golf because they are old, people stop playing golf when they are old.

As for now, I have a week before flying to Anaheim, California to witness the most anticipated international badminton tournament of the year, Badminton World Championship 2005. The best part about being a line judge is you get to be so so near to the players while they are playing. Also, as an official, I am allowed to sit in a special section which is nearer to the courts. I need the proximity to take better pictures of the players since I only have a decent camera.

Guess that's all for now. It's bed time..

Choong Wai and me..

James and me..

Flanked by two buddies, James Lum (left) and Choong Wai, in Kayu, Bukit Jambul. This pic was taken in Jan 2005 when I was back for holidays..Penang rocks...