Easter BKK Tour Blog Day 4

Benny Lin

Founder & Academy Director

Easter BKK Tour Blog Day 4

It was a very long day for our team, especially for coach Bhagat who left the academy at 645am and didn’t return until 8pm. A lot of matches were postponed due to yesterday’s rain thus causing havoc to the original schedule. The tournament should have changed the match schedule for today but unfortunately they didn’t, resulting in long wait for some of our players in particular Jasmine.

Again today our players had to deal with extreme weather condition but coach Bhagat reported he was very pleased with everyone’s effort and performance. Only Riyo is still in the tournament (semifinal today). She won two matches yesterday, while the rest lost their respective matches. Adithya almost had the upset of the tournament yesterday but didn’t clinch her chances on big points. She lost to the number one seed 9-11 in the third set tiebreaker. Although she was suffering from light cold she gave 100% effort and played like there is no tomorrow.

Riyo: Played well and efficiently. She smartly stirred and controlled her game off her solid and consistent forehand and backhand. Majority of her points were won from the baseline. Riyo is a good and tough competitor who also knows how to use all her strengths and protect her weaknesses. Regardless the result, Riyo’s fighting spirit and warrior-like deserved praises.

Jasmine: Was too nervous at the start of the match. Coach Bhagat said he didn’t expect Jasmine could play at the level she was playing yesterday. Although she lost the match but Jasmine gave all she had and fought all the way through. At the end it was her lack of tournament experience and court movement that defeated her.

Edmund: Out of everyone today, Edmund scored 10 out of 10 points for effort. He was out there from the very first point fighting for every single ball. He was chasing for every single ball and had that I-don’t-want-to-lose look in his eyes. At the end his opponent was just too strong and nothing much he could have done. But in coaches eyes he walked out the court as a winner. Coach Bhagat couldn’t commend him enough for his effort today.

Venia: Although she lost her match due to lack of consistency in her game but Venia played the right kind of game style (aggressive and attacking). One day when she starts making her shots, she will be a very good player.

Adithya: She suffered light cold but that didn’t stop her from giving 100% effort. She almost beat the No. 1 seed, just unlucky in a few big points. It was a very tight match that could have been gone either way but today Adithya’s opponent was just the luckier one. Adithya deserved praises today for her effort and fighting spirit, most importantly for being able to push herself to her limit.

The rest of the kids had their normal training in the morning till 11am and the academy didn’t have any training on Sun afternoon so I trained the kids for 2.5 hours in the afternoon. The kids did well in training. They did give maximum effort.