BADMINTON
Cheers Youth International Badminton Championships
Story by Christopher Ong
Singapore Badminton Hall, December 22th, 2007 – Ashton Chen and Nandang Arif Saputra showed why they were the finalists of the boys' singles Under-19 event of the Cheers Youth International Badminton Championships with a fine display of attacking badminton.
In a tense match, Ashton fought bravely against his Indonesian opponent Nandang Arif Saputra with his never-say-die attitude evident throughout. Off-court, older brother Aaron Tan showed his support with cheers of "Singapore jiayou! Ashton jiayou!"
Yet Saputra's powerful smashes kept Ashton on the back-foot, allowing him to claim a hard-fought 21-17, 17-21, 21-14 victory.
Ashton, who had beaten Saputra twice before, said, "He's improved quite a lot. He also knows my style better, and was able to read many of my shots."
He was "already quite happy" to reach the finals, but at the same time, he felt disappointed not to have won his final age-group tournament.
Despite this, the top-seeded Ashton can hold his head high. After all, Saputra has been in top form, winning three youth tournaments in Indonesia this year.
Meanwhile, in the girls' singles Under-13 event, an efficient performance from Liang Xiao Yu saw her outclass her Thailand opponent Sureeporn Chaithongwongwatana 21-9, 21-9.
Xiao Yu, who was born in China, but came to Singapore to develop her badminton skills further, said, "I hope to represent Singapore someday."
With this confident showing, she is perhaps one step closer to fulfilling her dream.
His victory did not come as easily as Xiao Yu's but Singapore's Wu Song Jian showed great reserves of strength as he came from a set down to defeat Rizky Aulia of Indonesia 19-21, 21-12, 21-16 in the boys' singles Under-11 event.
Although she did not emerge victorious like Wu and Yu, Singapore's Tanapat Pisitpong should be proud of her fighting spirit as she pushed Thailand's Sapsiree Taerattanachai all the way in the second set of the girls' singles Under-17 event.
However, despite her best efforts, she eventually succumbed 11-21, 17-21.
For Tanapat, who had defeated top-seeded Victoria Na of Australia en-route to the final, reaching the final was in itself an achievement. She had expected to fall in the quarterfinal to Thailand's Rodjana Chuthabunditkul, but won as Chuthabunditkul made "a lot of mistakes".
There was no upset in the boys' doubles Under-19 event, as reigning champions and top-seeded Riky Widianto and Chayut Triyachart strolled to a 21-8, 21-18 win over Nandang Arif Saputra and Marcus Fernaldi of Indonesia.
Chayut was satisfied with their performance, saying, "We played quite well today."
He added modestly, "We were quite lucky too. Our opponent (Saputra) had played in the singles Under-19 final earlier, so maybe he was a little tired."
The Cheers Youth International Badminton Championships ended on a high note with the energetic audience in particular making it a day to remember.
They made it a vibrant atmosphere at the packed Singapore Badminton Hall, ensuring that as the curtain falls on this historic venue, it will have done so in the best possible fashion.
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