Our reporter shares his experiences at the 2002 Thomas & Uber Cup Finals...

More than usual, this experience in Guangzhou has brought to me more than just glimpses and anecdotes.

Maybe it is this particular south Asian atmosphere and a great crowd. Maybe it is the famous Cantonese cuisine (see below); Maybe it was the hot and humid weather, changing from bright sun to pouring rain. Maybe it was just because it was my first Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, and there is something special about it - something I didn’t feel in Seville for the Sudirman Cup and World Championships last year…

Indonesia’s tears of joy…
After the last shuttle was called out in the final between Hendrawan and Roslin, a great wave of emotion overwhelmed the whole stadium, especially the Indonesian side, which celebrated for a while before the medal ceremony could go on. Hendrawan was crying all the tears from his heart while he was carried on his teammates’ shoulders, realizing one of his biggest goals after such a long year of struggle with the new - now old – scoring system. Most Indonesian officials had tears running down their cheeks for a great moment of emotion, which was brought Indonesia into history, being the first team ever to clinch the Thomas Cup title five times in a row.

The AGM…
Of course, staying three and a half hours in a meeting about rules and regulations can be quite boring. But not this time, as there was a great deal of life at the Annual General Meeting of the IBF. President Korn Dabbaransi helped the matter by putting much effort to bring humour into the way the meeting was handled. His courtesy and jokes made a world of difference and probably pushed forward those who were afraid to speak out.

Many things struck me at this AGM. First, the very large number of delegates, amongst which were some wearing traditional clothes, somehow making badminton a real world community just with a simple clothing symbol. Also, I’ll remember how funny it was to see that many of the missing delegates were represented by Asian delegates (logical given the fact that it was held in China, but wouldn’t it have an impact on the votes??!)

I’ll remember some looking at each other incredulously when the debate over the scoring system was not voted upon as expected and ended in a postponed decision to be made by the Council. I’ll also remember from this AGM the mouth-watering presentation of the Athens Olympics by George Georgoudis, badminton''s competition manager for the Athens Games, whose strong Greek accent made it even closer in time to us.

Li Yongbo singing...
One can like or dislike the Chinese coach’s character, but one thing is sure: the former top doubles player can perform with a microphone as he used to perform with a badminton racket! His singing was just impressive, along with a Chinese star singer. A good way to start anng ceremony. Attention Stephen Baddeley and Martijn van Dooremalen, if I were you, I’d start practising right away for the World Champs and Sudirman Cup next year!

The great wall of… smiles
With as many as 300 journalists accredited for this special event, the Chinese volunteers in the media room had a lot to do. And they were always very helpful and efficient, with constant smiles on their faces. Elsewhere, things were run very smoothly by the overall organisation which had had a practise run during the World Junior Championships in November 2000. Foreign legions might have been surprised by the number of security officers – one in about each of the aisles of the Tian He Sport Centre and the security measures, as all staff and spectators had to go through metal detector gates. But organisation-wise, it was a great success, as Dutch coach Martijn van Dooremalen insisted during his last press conference.

Badminton in the streets….
In parks, streets, all over the place, people carry around their badminton rackets and shuttles, and as soon as they find the right spot – one that is not too windy – they start to play. There are even courts designed on the ground outside the Sport Centre complex for the public to try and imitate their idols.

TV replays…
Thirteen cameras were placed all over the central court to provide all spectators with a top quality broadcast all over the world. Not only the outsiders could follow the fantastic replays, but also the spectators inside the hall, as a giant screen was placed up high, and showed the most spectaculars replays as soon as the points were over.

From the public’s point of view, it brought a lot to the show, as they could watch again the best play that had just occurred. On the official''s side – the umpires and referees – some of these replays were tricky, as some cameras were standing along the back lines, with very precise replays after close calls from the line judges.

On a few occasions, coaches or teammates of the players on court turned around all at once to watch the replay on the screen to see if it was a good or bad call, which was putting even more pressure on the umpires… The “third eye” debate is once again under way!

Cantonese Cuisine
I’ve always wanted to try local cuisine wherever I’d cover either a badminton event or any other report. Guangzhou was the perfect place for that, as the regional cuisine is famous all over Asia and also the rest of the world. Anywhere, anytime, there are little shopsmost of the night where I was glad to find something to eat after I was finished working at 2 AM. “Dim Sam”, rice and noodles cooked in every way, fresh fish.

But Guangzhou is also a place where one can try some quite unusual dishes. So I took my courage with me and went out to try some local stuff… And I must admit that duck’s tongues were quite good, snake was delicious (flesh fried in spices and the skin stir fried). Big black cockroaches may have been the hardest ones to try, but actually, they were quite alright (except those with the heads still on!). So I did survive. After all, as a French citizen, I am already used to snails and frog legs! But there is something special about the Cantonese cuisine, which has so many varieties (and not only strange dishes) and flavours …

Camilla Martin and Zhou Mi
They’ve always said that they respected each other very much on and off court, but that they could barely talk to each other because of the language problem. During the Thomas Cup semi-final, this was history, as both champions were able to talk for quite a while, thanks to a translator, a Danish-born young woman who had been studying in China for a while, and who knows all Chinese players very well as she often is around when the Chinese squad travels to Europe. Both players joked around for a while and obviously had a lot of fun, driving the photographers'' attention away from the courts!

Report and pictures by Raphael Sachetat