Slam! Door shuts on tennis club regulars as rising canadian-chinese star wipes the court!
on The Road Less Travelled (Cameroon), 27/Sep/2010 13:53, 34 days ago
Serving up the competitionWhen you think of the great women tennis players names like Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova come to mind.....however a new name is slowing making its way to the big leagues. Today Catherine Ailing Shih played in her first tennis tournament at the Ayaba Tennis club in Bamenda. The tournament was organised as part of World Tourism Day and drew spectators from all over the North West province. The tournament started on Saturday where the initial games, quarter and semi finals were played. The final was on Sunday.Myself and Adeline - Women's FinalThere were only three women competing (the lack of women in sports here is atrocious), myself and two ladies who have been playing tennis for well over 20 years. They are older but they had the advantage of experience, consistency and being comfortable in game situations. Very little was expected of me, many of the members had never seen me play. I started the match by playing Adeline. I played well, but I was nervous and I lost the set 6-4. So Adeline moved into the final automatically. I then had to play Jackie. She placed first last year in this tournament and we had been very loudly proclaiming that she would quickly beat me to the other members. We started the game and I beat her 6-2. She is devastated and quite unhappy. This meant I made it into the final but that I would be playing Adeline again. Luckily Victor gave me some extra training Saturday later on in the afternoon so that I would be prepared. We worked on my smash and my volley which are weak parts of my game.My coach EricOn Sunday morning I awoke bright and early ready for the match. I headed over to the court and after a quick warm up the crowds had gathered and everyone was ready for the game to begin. I started out a bit wobbly, but as I played longer my serve because faster and more consistent and I was playing well. The first set got to 6-6 and we went into a tie breaker. Sadly I lost the tie breaker (first to 7 points). After a short break the second set began and I was determined. I played hard and well and won the set 6-2. I thought we would play a third set and I was optimistic because I had the advantage of energy and endurance, Adeline was getting tired. However because of fear of rain the umpire decided to do a tie breaker. I started out in the lead but after a couple bad returns I was down 5-3. I fought back to 6-6 and then had two poor returns and lost the tie breaker. I came in second place but everyone was quite impressed and I did better than I thought I would. My coach was happy with my performance and so was I!The top three from each categoryFollowing the men’s final which took place after mine, there were speeches. The Director of the Ayaba hotel spoke, the president of the tennis club spoke as did the sponsors and the minister of tourism who was there watching. After the speeches they presented prizes. For coming in second I won a hat, a shirt and some money. It was a nice treat. Then there was a photo op and then a meal of Pepe soup (cow intestine in broth). Overall an excellent weekend.Accepting 2nd placeAlthough I lost I managed to hold onto my title of the number one half Asian Canadian female tennis player in Cameroon.Powerful Backhand