My flight from Schiphol Airport was supposed to leave for Korea on Tuesday evening at 18.00 hrs. We left right on time. However, after a couple of minutes, the airplane returned due to motor problems.
Back at the gate technical services arrived to solve the problem. This process took much longer than expected. After four hours we were allowed to take off. Just in time, because if it would have taken 20 more minutes, another crew would have needed to take over from the original crew and there would have been a fair chance for the flight to be cancelled.
After a 9.5 hour flight, I arrived in Seoul. At the airport I called Mr Kim and then boarded the bus to Gwanju, the sixth biggest city in Korea with about 1.5 million inhabitants. Unfortunately, it started to darken very quickly, so I have not been able to see much of Korea. I have no doubts that I will see much more on my way back.
Upon arrival, Mr Kim was already waiting for me. We drove to Hwasun, about half an hour drive from Gwangju. The Korean national team will practise here this week in preparation of the Korean Open.
In the meantime it was 22.30 hrs and I started to get tired. I bought some soup in the local supermarket and went to bed as the next morning my alarm clock would already ring at 7.00 hrs.
At 7.30 hrs everyone is having breakfast together. This means: sitting on the floor in front of a small table and eating Korean food. I have no clue what I have been eating, but it tasted good. After breakfast I went back to bed for another hour, as the training would start at 9.30 hrs. Training starts with warming up. Much attention is paid to loosening up the muscles. Pauline and I played a match against two Koreans. It doesn’t really matter who you play against, they are all amazing badminton players and the way they play differs a great deal from the way of playing in Europe. This is a real good experience for me. Although we played quite well, we lost the match in three games.
Then we have been exercising with the Koreans. Everything seems to go much faster than in Europe. There are 48 badminton players taking part in these training sessions and this is only the selection for the Korean Open! After practice we do a cooling-down together. Then the entire group gathers around their coach, who speaks to them. After his speech they all bow. After practice we had lunch together. The next training session will be in about two hours, so I’d better take some rest. Stay tuned for more news!