Story by Jan Lin/Red Sports. Photos by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Singapore Indoor Stadium, Saturday, June 14, 2008 – She ran, she fought and she attacked, but Singapore’s sole survivor at the 2008 Singapore Badminton Open, Xing Aiying, had no remedy for the hard-hitting Tine Rasmussen of Denmark. Aiying was dismissed 21-13, 21-11 in 31 minutes.
All Tine needed to do was to unleash her killer smashes to claim the ticket to the next round of the 5th leg of the BWF Super Series. The 181cm tall Danish, who is seeded 2nd at this tournament, has already engraved her name on 2 of the 4 Super Series’ titles this year and is well on her way to belt number 3.
“I believe I’ve given all I could for this match. There are not many players as strong as Tine is in the women’s singles event, so I couldn’t adapt to her style of play and I was forced to be more passive instead of taking the initiative when I should. I believe everyone faces the same problem playing against Tine,” said Aiying at the post-match press conference.
The amiable 18-year-old Singaporean continued, “Tine is now playing at a very high level, her game demonstrates a great deal of experience and maturity. So even though I’ve prepared well before the game by analysing her style of play on video, it was still really difficult playing her ‘live’!”
“Tine’s shots were much faster than they appear on video. I analysed her game at All-England, where the shuttle used was slower, but the shuttle we used today was very fast, which made her shots even faster and harder. It was tougher for me to return her shots.”
The cheeky Singaporean was gregarious in front of the crowd of local and foreign reporters. Aiying continued, “I don’t feel disappointed because my opponent is really good. Moreover, I’m taking every match as a step of learning and preparing for the upcoming Olympic Games. I feel very happy and fortunate to be selected for the Olympic Games and I want to make full use of this golden opportunity.”
“I really hope to make the most out of the remaining 2 months leading to the Olympic Games. We will be analysing many videos of our opponents and I will endeavour to continue the arduous trainings I’m already having no matter what! I believe it will be worth it.”
Aiying will be heading to her first Olympic Games in Beijing together with men’s singles representative, Ronald Susilo and mixed doubles pair Hendri Saputra and Lu Yujia. Singapore’s team manager, Edwin Pang, gave an overall analysis of his charges’ performance at the 2008 Singapore Badminton Open.
“Frankly I think we could have done better, but sometimes it is the luck of the draw. Then again, in football they say ‘the ball is round’, its probably the same in badminton. We can say, ‘the shuttle flies anywhere’, it is pretty unpredictable sometimes. We’ve seen so many seeded players falling by the wayside in this tournament for instance.”
“On the positive side, we’ve also seen how our players created upsets in this tournament, Gu Juan and Xing Aiying for instance. So based on Aiying’s performance, I’m very satisfied. Looking forward, we will have to put in a lot more effort and keep improving.”
“As for Ronald, if we (judge) based on his performance in Singapore, we know it is going to be tough for him to do well at the Olympics but it is going to be just as tough for anybody, as every player is just as hungry for success, it is never an easy thing to do well.”
Mr Pang, who firmly believes that sports is not just about winning, concluded by saying, “But I think at the end of the day, what I really want to see is every player doing their best to keep the flag flying for Singapore. Even if they go down, they will have to go down fighting.”
N.B. The Singapore Badminton Open is also known as the Aviva Open Singapore.
More pictures in the gallery.
Thanks for letting us know, Max.
They are the Young Team Singapore Ambassadors ( YTSA ). We came to support Aiying haha. We’re from many many different schools. hmm, about Chung Cheng high, not really sure about it but don’t think i know of anyone in Chung Cheng High in YTSA.