We are staying in the Olympic Park in Seoul where the 1988 Olympic Games were held

Posted 14:53 01 March 2007 in Super Series 2006

Monday 22nd January

Bit of a climate change here in Korea to that of Malaysia! It is about 2 degrees here compared to the 32 degrees in K.L.  We are staying in the Olympic Park in Seoul where the 1988 Olympic Games were held. There isn’t much to do around the hotel, unlike Malaysia, but we have managed to find a Pizza Hut and a café that does tuna sandwiches and good coffee!  We will survive!  We were all knackered from the night flight so we spent the whole day sleeping and trying not to sleep!

Tuesday 23rd January

Went to training in the practice hall and it was officially the coldest hall in the world! We had practiced there in the summer at the last Korean Open and it was the hottest hall in the world then, so it was ironic that it was so cold today.  We were warming up in our coats, hats and scarves!  I want to go back to the warmth of Malaysia!

Donna was given a game of ‘Deal Or No Deal’ for Xmas and so the girls decided to give it a try. Donna picked the card that was going to be the box that we played for and the game consisted of several forfeits that had to be completed before you were allowed to reveal a box. 

Some of the forfeits were pretty tame, but some included Jenny ringing up Clarky to ask if she should ‘Deal Or No Deal?’, Suzanne making a rap up about the game, me jogging round the room singing Dire Straits ‘Money for Nothing’ and George revealing a secret about herself.  But the best forfeit of all involved Jenny and that she had to make up a dance routine about the game ‘Deal Or No Deal’ for a minute.  It was so funny that I couldn’t get myself to look at her!

She was singing as well which made it all the funnier as she didn’t have to sing, but her dancing and boogieing around the room in the style of a cross between a cheerleader and a line dancer and singing “Deal or no Deal?” was perhaps the most I have laughed in a long time!  A star in the making!!  With all the excitement, it was hard to remember that we were actually playing the game! 

Those of you who have watched the show, will know that it is all down to the last box that Donna chose initially and some of us dealt earlier on, but Donna was determined to see what was in the box that she initially chose and to see if she was the eventually winner of the game….. and it was the £250,000 prize!! Unbelievable!  She managed to pick out the top prize at the beginning and stuck to it, didn’t deal and so won some chocolate!  Not quite the same as the money!

Wednesday 24th January

The matches started today.  Those of you that know Nathan and I, will know that the Korean Open is not our favourite as we have had disasters in them. 

One year, Nathan’s nearly fell off through his elbow injury, the next year we lost 1st round to a couple of 16 year old Koreans and last year, well I don’t even like to mention last year!  Another 1st round.  So I was feeling there was a bit of a curse on us and this tournament!  Had to play Malaysians in the mixed and we won 21-5, 21-5. The curse has been broken! 

And we did it in style!

I was watching Jenny Wallwork warm up before her mixed and she was doing some shadow movement at the back of the courts.  Next thing I knew, she was flat on her face after doing a backhand net kill!  She had got her foot trapped under some carpet and ended up on the floor!  I was crying with laughter and worse for her was that so were a few other players that saw her!!  Luckily she was alright!  Think she was just very embarrassed!  That girl has made me laugh so much this trip!

Not so much luck in the ladies doubles – got beaten by Japanese girls again.  Different pair, but just as good and we lost 21-14, 21-18. We could have got the 2nd set but we gave them some silly points in the middle and just couldn’t get back.  Poo.