Last Friday Samantha and I finally left for China. After 3 months of preparation by means of our crowdfunding project it gave me a great feeling when I boarded the KLM Boeing 747 for the flight to Shanghai. After more than 10 hours flying we had to wait about 4 hours for our connecting flight to Wuhan. Waiting at airports we had done enough the recent weeks so we sat by again. Once in the air again time went fast because it’s not a very long flight. After we had collected our luggage we were met by two of Jie’s volunteers who were carrying a huge pink sign with our names on it. They took us to the hotel. It was the first time that we were outdoors here and we were hit by the heat. It’s 38 Celsius here and that’s steaming hot.
Once in the hotel we soon met the other Dutch guests Jie had invited. Apart from Erik Meijs, Koen Ridder en Ruud Bosch also Clemens Wortel, the chairman of the Dutch Badminton Association and boardmember Marloes van Heteren were present. In addition to the Dutch delegation there are also 3 Bulgarian ladies and from Spain Pablo Abian came to Wuhan.
With this group we enjoyed our first Chinese dinner Saturday evening and that was delicious. It felt good to be back in Wuhan again. Four years ago I was present at the wedding of Jie and Eric here and I had such a good time then.
Yesterday the finals of the Yao Jie Cup were scheduled. We all played half a game till 11 points against recreational players and a full game against players from the Province. Samantha and I played a mixed double twice and the others also played at least once. Despite the heavy jetlag all Dutch players won their games. Jie got a lot of attention from the (local) media and was also put in the spotlight by Clemens Wortel, the Dutch Association Chairman. It was a nice day for Jie with a lot of exposure. In the evening we all were invited for dinner by the main sponsor of this event and we had a good time again. Today we have started our training week here in Wuhan.
As China has blocked access to Facebook and Twitter I will update my website regularly so please stay tuned!!
Tags: badminton, jorrit de ruiter, world championships, Wuhan, Yao jie, Yao Jie cup