Return to the Badminton Court

It has been nearly two years since I last stepped in to the badminton court. Well, thanks to my new colleagues, Desmond and Chiang (along with a host of other company stalwarts), I've now dared to venture back to the game of badminton once again. My ankle injury is not yet completely healed, so I'm still cautious about dancing all around the court chasing the shuttlecock. Better not take chances - my German boss has before injured his tendon as a result of a ill-fated friendly game in Taiwan!

I took this opportunity to get myself a pair of badminton shoes. Previously, I played using my tennis shoes, which sort of served as a multi-purpose shoe for all occasions. That status was of course revoked when I discovered (the hard way) that tennis shoes have zero traction on wet ground....

Anyway, the rest of my gear is the same. My old racket's still strung (smash as hard as we can, we can't match the power of real professional players, so no chance of snapping the strings). Shuttlecocks are "expendable" - a tube of a dozen now retails for roughly RM40~RM50, depending on brand. In our experience, the expensive ones seem to last longer, though, once again, our non-pro smashes are partly responsible for their prolonged lifespan.

The biggest shocker was the new scoring system! I tell you - I no longer know how to count the score and figure out the serves!

The latest scoring system as per Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton#Scoring_system_and_service

Hopefully it stays that way - I can't imagine changing the rules of the game, for whatever reason. Just a bane to purists of the sport!

So now I try to get off early from work every Friday to join my colleagues for an hour of badminton at the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan SJK Malim, opposite Taman ASEAN. This is proving to be quite a challenge in itself, as some enterprising soul booked the court from 6.00pm to 7.00pm. Not so easy to do when you have a job like mine.

Well, speaking of badminton, tonight (or rather last night, as it's way past midnight now) was the Semi-finals of the 2010 Thomas & Uber Cup. Malaysia was up against China. So, no badminton session today. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, and attending to tiny family members, by the time I actually sat down to watch the game, I found out that it was all over for Malaysia. Hmm, at least, from the interview of a sad-looking Misbun Sidek (current coach for the Malaysian team), and the empty chairs in the background, I sort of guessed that China won. Sadly, scrolling through the Astro guide, I found that there would be no replay / delayed telecast later. Sigh, Astro was actually quite notorious for repeats, except now - just when you expect one.... :(

Well, good effort from the National Team to have made it this far - hope they grow stronger with this experience and double their efforts for the next time round!

Inter-shift Badminton Tournament 2008

A group of loyal supporters / players / fans sitting on the sidelines.

We recently had our inter-shift badminton tournament at the newly upgraded Batu Berendam Sports Complex (formerly known as the Batu Berendam Badminton Hall). The recent upgrade sees the addition of more badminton courts, as well as some futsal pitches as well. Looks like an alternative venue for future futsal tournaments, besides Sports Planet at Cheng.

Low-light photography challenges....

My role on the organizing team and as the designated (only) photographer meant that I had to be present for the entire event. Thankfully, taking photos meant that I was spared the task of being the umpire (something that I was not keen to do, since the scoring system of badminton has been revamped so much, to the point that I no longer am sure exactly how to count points anymore!).

The typical badminton hall is dimly lit with florescent lights. Bright enough to see the shuttlecock, but not too bright as to blind the players. For photography, it was really a challenge. Mounting my Sigma 30mm F1.4 and Tamron 17-50mm F2.8, I managed to take some shots only with the ISO cranked up to 3200 and 6400. Anything less reduced the action to an indiscernible blur (no flash allowed, remember). Catch the photos over here.

Anyway, the tournament started ~9.00am, with players and fans as well as committee members taking turns as umpires and linesmen. The turnout was good, however, some over-ambitious players signed on for more than one category (singles, doubles and mixed doubles), which resulted in some delays in waiting for them to finish their ongoing matches. Not to mention allowing for some time to "recharge" between bouts.

We had lunch at the nearby roadside stall, opposite the Family store, then it was back to the hall for more badminton action. I did try to stroke awhile - though my foot injury still was not fully healed - resulting in my inability to return those out-of-reach shots....

Darkness engulfed the hall as we experienced an unexpected power outage.

There was a brief (1 hour) interrupting in play as a results of an unexpected power outage that literally left us standing in the dark. Fortunately, our preserverance paid off and when the power came back on, the tournament resumed.

All in all, we finished at roughly 5pm - enough time for me to proceed with my CMC TT!

Inter-shift Futsal Tournament 2008

Last Saturday we held our second every Inter-shift Futsal Tournament. What's Futsal? In laymen's terms, it's best described as "indoor football". The specifics and details you can either google it or wikipedia it.

Last year, it was a joint effort between the company recreation club (VMRC) and the worker's Union. This year, it was solely a VMRC effort. Initially, we expected an overwhelming response similar to last year. However, this year, we had only 12 male teams and 1 female team (needless to say, the female tournament was called off due to lack of response). Sadly, the office hour shift could not even form one team, due to:-

1. Some people not interested anymore
2. Some people already resigned (and one went to Australia with her husband - you know who you are...! )
3. Some people we believe are, um, expecting....

So, in spite of the lackluster response, the show must go on. And the organizing team lead by Tan HC did a find job in putting together another successful event.

From a photographer's point of view, photographing a Futsal game is a nightmare. For starters, by being indoors, the light levels were way below what could be captured with reasonable quality, using standard camera and lens. In other words, unless you have the latest D3 or EOS Mark X with F2.8 or brighter zoom lens, be prepared to hit the DELETE key many, many times as your memory card fills up with grainy, blur photos that look like Van Gogh after one too many jugs of wine!

The sheer nature of the sport, the entire court was enclosed in a netted mesh, which frequently caught the interest of the camera's autofocus system. Lens these days, with such short minimum focus distance, meant that you'd literally had to stand with your lens against the net to avoid locking on to it by accident. Of course, you'll have to keep both eyes open, ever vigilant and willing to hope back if one of the players charges in your direction. If it's the ball, chances are you'll never see it coming unless you have the reflexes of a Jedi! Fortunately, I was not presented with an opportunity to assess first-hand the robustness of a Nikon / Tamron lens to "physical abuse". [phew!!!!]

Well, I came prepared, with my Nikon 50mm, 85mm (both F1.8, these are the affordable ones), as well as my Sigma 150mm macro and good old Tamron 17-50mm (I'd need a wide-angle for the prize-giving later anyway). Results are:-

Nikon 50mm - not bad, actually, as this ended up being my most used lens. Just stopping down to F2.2 or F2.5 to keep things sharp. Only trouble is that this being a fixed focal lens, I can only nail shots when the subject is in a very small window of a distance away from me (I can't step onto the pitch, or through the net mesh). Verdict - recommended.

Nikon 85mm - good portrait lens, however, I'm here to shoot futsal, not magazine covers (unless one of these guys someday becomes famous, then I can sell these pics for a hefty sum ala paparazzi!). Some of these shots, you'd never guess are from a futsal pitch. Verdict - not recommended.

Sigma 150mm - hah! What was I thinking? A bright telephoto at F2.8, but with a slow focus, it was hard to lock on to the dynamic players running up and down the pitch. Plus, with an actual focal length of 225mm (that's 150mm x 1.5 on my D200), you end up getting head shots only. Verdict - avoid for Futsal!

Tamron 17-50mm - End up using this to replace the 50mm, though had to keep it as F2.8 and the ISO dialled up to get a fast shutter speed. A little short on the tele end, but this helped when the players rushed to the net just in front of me. Inherent problem of locking on to the net, so had to refocus at times - can't nail all the shots straight away. Anyway, as darkness falls, this one was a preferred choice for prize giving over my other wide-angle lenses. Verdict - use it (until you strike first prize lottery and can afford something better!).

Well, so much for my first experience at photographing futsal - next year I will come better prepared and hope to refine my photography! Anyway, some photos below, as well as the winners gallery over HERE.

Pre-game pep talk and strategy discussion

This is what you get when you bring a long tele lens to a Futsal game....


Regardless of how this looks, it didn't turn out as you'd painfully expect


You have to do a lot more running and less resting on the pitch in Futsal, as compared to Football. That's why some of the player are simly "flat out" after the game!


That net which keeps the ball and to a lesser extent the players inside the pitch, is starting to pull my camera's attention....


Huh? That net again....


Enough already, Mr Net! One more time and you are coming along on my next fishing trip!!!


The contestants from the Product Development team (how'd they do? Why don't you ask them, I, uh, have no comment....)


More players taking a break between games (from where, I forget.... Sorry guys!)


Professional supporters are always there for you!


Owww! My Foot! Here's the Emergency Response Team springing into action (actually, the injury occurred 5 minutes ago - what we have here is a realistic re-enactment with the real people involved).


The two finalists were evenly matched - so it all boiled down to a penalty shootout. Here's the shot that LOST it for office hours


We won! We won!

First time participant - Healthy Lifestyle Relay 2007

 
Last Monday, I took part in my company's Healthy Lifestyle Relay. Don't ask me how I got myself into it - basically, I am more of the couch-potato type. Never though I'd find myself running competitively.

To be fair, the distance was relatively short (1.2km, as measured on Mapsource). For those seasoned marathon runners, 1.2km is a warm up lap. For me, that's one really long journey.

Luckily, I was the first runner (so the pressure of catching up with the rest of the pack belonged to the other 3 runners!). Out of 28 teams, we managed to finish a respectable 9th place. Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the prizes were only up to 5th place. Hmm, must increase this to 10 next year....

The plastic bags that we are holding were the food rations given away. Consisted of orange juice, a banana and something else that I can't remember (remember, healthy food).

This event was also memorable because it was the only event where there were so many office hour staff taking place.

I will be posting more photos on this in the photo section soon.