No More Tennis For A While

On the 6th of March 2008 (yesterday), my two weeks of intense tennis games that have turned my skin as well as the skin of all those involved very much darker than it was before, has come to a conclusion.

On Wednesday, my partner and I managed to reach the semifinals with a first-round bye (which makes us rather "lucky") and a fairly easy win over a pair of lousy players from SMK Sungai Manggis. However, as "luck" would have it, yesterday, our semifinal opponents were none other than the two players from SMK Telok Panglima Garang who beat both Nathanael Long and I individually in singles. It was a chance for me to avenge my crushing defeat as well as Nathanael's - but it was not to be. We lost to the said team, who went on to become the U-18 doubles champion. In singles, the guy who beat me was champion and his doubles partner got second. As for my partner and I, we got third place (a bronze medal!! woohoo!), tying with the doubles pairing of Nathanael and Wee Onn.

This time, however, I don't feel too bad because Lik Pin and I tried our best but our opponents were just too good. I think I will correct my statement the day before that I could beat my singles opponent that day - he was actually pretty damn good, only that I wasn't up to it to provide a strong challenge for him to show his skills.

Overall, I am very happy to have joined this tournament. I got third place on my first time joining a tennis competition, so I am very thankful. I also had lots of fun, because I got to play everyday for two weeks not needing to wonder when the next game will be. Most importantly, I made lots of new friends and got to know many others a little bit more. One of these people would be myself. I realized that I need to fight and stay focused to win, and always stay positive. During the doubles match with the eventual champions, I was serving to stay in the match and Lik Pin was telling me, "Hey you have that look again. We can do this!" I realized I was being negative and it showed on my face, so I got myself together and smacked down a good unreturnable serve (the only first serve I got in). But we still lost to a better team - oh well!

Today starts a week-long school break - but actually, the past two weeks had felt like a holiday to me, so next week would just be an extension! My body needs rest,though, so maybe I'll try table tennis (it's really popular here) for a while... Cheers!!

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