From the Courtside: Humorous Pics from the 2007 Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open (Part 3/3)

Of course with all the pictures I took during the 2007 Bingo Bonanza Philippines, there were bound to be some pics which were kinda funny. I took the liberty of adding some funny captions. "Bato bato sa langit, ang tamaan wag magagalit."

FVR while combing his hair
During the Mixed Doubles Event...


During the Men's Doubles Event...

Look at how high Tan Boon Heong can jump...

You wouldn't believe what else happened during the tourney. It has been tagged as the case of the "suicidal rat." During the WD match between Novita/Polii of Indonesia and Zhao Tingting/Yang Wei of China, while Polii was trying to request for a break, a rat suddenly fell down seemingly out of nowhere!!! The eyewitness account (pls scroll down and look for the topic "suicidal rat") was so funny. Apparently, the rat looked like it fell from the ceiling. Imagine the consternation of the lady players upon seeing a rat inside the badminton court!!! Oh dear. I hope you guys enjoyed the pics featured above. Tata! Till the next tournament!

From the Courtside: More pics from the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open 2007 (2/3)

As promised, I am posting more pics I took during the 2007 Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Tournament. These pics were taken during the finals held on 22 July 2007.

Men's Singles Finals: Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) def. Chen Hong (China)

A heart-warming scene: Lee giving Chen Hong a hug after the match Women's Doubles Finals: Yu Chin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng (Chinese Taipei) def. Pan Pan and Qing Tian (China)

Zhou Mi of Hongkong who bagged the Women's Singles Title

Mixed Doubles Finals: Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto (Indonesia) def. Yu Mi Hwang and Sang Hoon Han (Korea)

Finally, the Men's Doubles Finals: Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong (Malaysia) def. Zhendong Guo and Zhongbo Xie (China)

Men's Doubles Champions being awarded by Former First Lady Amelita Ramos

It was a very successful tournament. I leave you with some snippets from the very exciting Men's Doubles game. Enjoy! Have a happy weekend everyone!

From the Courtside: Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open 2007 (Part 1)

Here are some pics I took while watching the 2007 Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Tournament at the Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra). These are from the Semi-Finals last Saturday. It was unfortunate we were only able to watch the last 3 games that day because we were late. Not our fault since it was raining so hard and my husband's car had a flat tire, so there.

A shot of the audience who trooped to the Philsports Arena despite the pouring rain outside

Zhongbo Xie of China giving a hand signal to his partner Zhendong Guo

Defending champions Susanto Njoto and Yohan Wiratama of Hong Kong (former players of the Indonesian National Team)

Another shot of the Men's Doubles game between China and Hong Kong

Yu Chin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei (who won that day and eventually bagged the Women's Doubles title the following day.)

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On a different note: I just finished reading Harry Potter Book 7 today! Finally, I can now function properly. Don't worry, you won't find any spoilers in this post. I just have this to say -- J.K. Rowling is such an excellent storyteller. I'm so sad this is the last installment in the Potter series.

My Most Expensive Pictures Ever

Caught your attention 'ei? Well, you have to read the rest of my post to understand.

18 July to 22 July 2007 saw the staging of the 2nd Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Tournament at the Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra). My husband was able to watch it since Day 1. But since I couldn't get off work to watch the games with him, I had to content myself with watching the weekend games. The semi-finals was scheduled last Saturday, while the finals was scheduled last Sunday. I will be posting more pictures during the event in my succeeding posts.

Badminton fanatic that I am, I was able to convince my hubby to wait for the champion of the Men's Doubles event (Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia, now ranked #3 in the world) to emerge from the press conference room and have my picture taken with them. Here are the pics:

With Koo Kien Keat of Malaysia

With Tan Boon Heong of Malaysia

While my husband was busy taking these pictures, he felt someone's hand brush up his butt but took no notice of it since he wanted to appease my desire to have my picture taken with these world-class players. Immediately after taking these photos, his hand went to his pocket to check if his wallet was still there, but lo and behold...it was already gone!!! Some evil conscience-less person picked his pocket despite the presence of several police officers in the vicinity !!! Gggrrrr...I hope whoever did this rots in hell!!!!

Fortunately, my hubby was not yet able to withdraw so there was only a minimal amount of cash in his wallet. But it wasn't the money we were worried about but all the hassle of having to replace his ID, driver's license, ATM cards and credit card. Aside from anger at the person who did this, I also felt guilty because my hubby wanted to go home immediately but I convinced him to stay so that I could have pictures for posterity. Sheesh! If only we'd gone home immediately after the games. (Ang pagsisisi talagang laging nasa huli.) I should have listened to my "gut feel" telling me not to wait for these players and go home already. But I didn't listen. Instead, I persisted with the original plan. A lot of "if-only"s and "what-if"s.

So, yeah, these pictures truly are unforgettable and my most expensive pics ever. Lesson well learned indeed.

My Romance with Harry Potter

I have a confession to make. I'm a BIG Harry Potter fan. A friend of mine introduced me to this series when Book 2 was just released. Since then, I've been hooked and I always buy the latest book on its first release date. This time is no different. I've been carrying this book I bought from National Book Store all day and I couldn't wait to get home to read it. I'm giddy with excitement as I tear open the recognizable red plastic and behold the latest AND the last installment in the Harry Potter series. Tantararaannn....

Hmmm...somehow, there's something different this time. I've been home hours ago but I still couldn't get myself to read the first few pages. Perhaps it's because it's the last installment and I want to savor every word. Or perhaps I've been forewarned that another character will die and I know when I reach that point in the book that I'll probably get depressed. Ok....I think I better shut up now and start reading. Have a happy weekend everyone!

Quick Post

Sorry guys. I've been remiss in my duties -- I haven't updated my blog for quite some time now. I even forgot to blog about my 1st BLOGSARY!!! Shoot. Anyway, just wanted you guys to know that I'm still alive. My hubby's competing in a tournament this weekend. Will probably post some pics after...that is if I get decent ones out of my new digicam (ehem). Have a nice weekend everybody!!!

Update: Too bad my husband's team lost. The tournament was a team event. A team has to win 3 out of the 5 events in order to win. My husband didn't even get a chance to play. So, too bad, I wasn't able to get a chance to take pictures.