Rivalry

Having a dream of becoming a national player and fight for our country was my ultimate goal since I was five years old. The inspiration that gave me strength to move forward were my team mates and my dream itself. Six whole years of blood, sweat and tears, me and my team mates became stronger each day until one day, the day that I will never ever forget was the accident of breaking my left arm during a tournament battling for a gold medal. Devastated that day but, it is not the reason to stop dreaming to become a national player one day. Another five years had passed, I trained again and became stronger eventually. And I was still dreaming

Nonetheless, After reminiscing my past, I stumbled across this article "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/sports/olympics/lin-dan-of-china-beats-rival-to-win-badminton-gold.html?_r=1&ref=badminton". The article talks about a Malaysian player name Lee Chong Wei who lost to a Chinese player named Lin Dan. In the article, it said that Lee Chong Wei was two points close of having a gold medal in Olympics and a $600,00 worth of gold bar.

As I was reading this article, I was shocked because that was too close. I felt really bad for Lee Chong Wei. Based on the article, the gold bar worth $600,000 was a bounty by the Malaysian badminton enthusiast and gold mine owner name Andrew Kam. In July, Kam announced that any Malaysian badminton player who took home top honors in London would be rewarded with a roughly 25 pound bar of gold. 

Andrew Kam said "This is my challenge to our players." "I hope it will motivate them to try even harder"

After I read that, I myself was motivated. To give a gold medal to my country for the first time will be the happiest day of my life. Anyone that will do this will surely feel honor wrapping in their body. It is not about the gold bar that Lee was aiming but it was the revenge and come back to his lost back on 2008 against Lin Dan and the motive of having a gold medal to hist country. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/05/olympic-badminton-lin-dan-wins-gold.

Both players played their hearts out and give their all to beat the hell of each other out. According to the article, Lee Chong Wei lost to Lin Dan in a tense and mesmerizing 79 minute contest that ended 21-19 in the third and decisive game. The article says that the game was tied 19-19 but Lin Dan played the final 3 points flawlessly and in the last rally, Lin Dan stoop up and watched a shot by Lee Chong Wei sail an inch or two pass the line hence, it is out and Lin Dan won.

In my opinion, I say that it was an epic battle between the two strongest players in the world. It was eventually matched until such time that Lee Chong Wei lost his cool and composure and Lin Dan too advantage of it. For that, I felt sorry for Lee Chong Wei because he can out power Lin Dan during that game. Based on the article that the lost he experienced against Lin Dan four years ago still haunts him that is why he felt anxious and nervous during the match.

"You've got to understand, Lee is our national hero, because badminton is our national game" Rory Tan of Malaysia said. "The way every kid in England plays football, every kid in Malaysia plays badminton." In my opinion, the fact that Malaysia expects too much to Lee Chong Wei can give pressure to the guy, But the respect and the profile of Lee Chong Wei is much appreciated.


In addition, I want to know more about badminton. The players itself. I want to research about badminton players' biography, how are they doing personally in their personal life, how do they train, and how they spend their life not just only in badminton but in their whole personal life he or she like going out with friends and stuff.

I think the sources that I will use would be interviews in the internet, articles about the players itself, visit some sites that will help me know them better and watch videos from youtube one way or another.