4 May 2005
I arrived in Nanjing on the 4th May.
We are staying at the Nanjing Institute of Sports. The Institute is the centre of several sports apart from badminton.
We went to visit the shuttlecocks and rackets factory. That was so cool.
The next day, we went to one of the old streets in Nanjing. We visited a temple, a very old house whom Mr Sze said belong to a very rich man before and a small museum in there.
After the tour down the old street, the Australian team had exhibition matches against the Nanjing Province players. Two of those players are Sun Jun and Dai Yun. Both were world champions and represented China in so many occasions. Full results see badminton.org.au. It was amazing to see how the kids and the public still recognize Sun Jun and Dai Yun on his achievement in badminton. Lots of people just come and rush to him and asking his autograph and try to take a picture with him.
Training at the Nanjing Institute of Sport (2005)
It is so funny try to communicate with the players in here with our limited Mandarin. Sometimes, we just laugh. Well at least Foong-meng’s Mandarin is better than me. At least she understands what they are saying. And if we are trying to explain something, we will guess how long it takes for them to understand. But we are getting along well.
The rest of the Australian team who are playing at the Sudirman Cup left to Beijing on Saturday morning. The rest of us, includes Foong-Meng are staying and continue our training. The training is two sessions everyday, morning and afternoon sessions.
I have been watching some young players around 10-12 years old, and they are good. They are so cute, because they are actually trying to speak English to us more rather than the older players.
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