Asia tour March 2013, pt 1, Malaysia

From 8^th of March until 24^th of March I will be going to Asia for a few tournaments. First stop will be Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a 5K tournament. I am here 8^th seed in the main draw and will be playing South African Jean Pierre Brits in my first round. A player I know nothing about, but I know South Africa has quite a few good players, so like always, the infamous A-game is required.

Next stop after Malaysia will be Kuwait, via my old home Qatar on the 17^th of March. Here I play a 10K tournament, where I have to qualify for the main draw. The draw s not out yet, but it is a strong tournament where need to really step up on all levels to get what I am coming for.

I am still improving weekly after my boost in Qatar last year, and had a few very good sessions in Amsterdam before I left. However, the situation during a tournament is slightly different, but that is why I am travelling so much at the moment. I need the experience, and as my coach told me: Since I started squash so late I need to learn quickly.

08.03.2013, 13.00

My travel partner for this trip is Line Hansen, the Danish no1 female player. Apparently there is a WSA tournament at the same time in Kuala Lumpur. Line is also based in Holland and we sometimes also train together. It is also nice to have someone to travel with, especially someone who has been there before and know the area better than me. On my team I also have my Nicol Davids custom made list of Do’s and Don’ts, sights, food, transport and other goodies.

I have not really been jet lagged before, so we will see how my body reacts to the travel. There is a 5 hour time zone difference between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur. I fly at 1200, the flight lasts 12 hours and I will land 0700 in the morning local time. I will be accommodated at the squash institute thanks to great help from the Malaysian squash federation.

09.03.2013, 19.29

Jetlagged after staying awake until 10am this morning and having 2 hours of rest before forcing the carcass up and out to turn the days. Luckily I have some company to suggest an hour footmassage and a killer dinner at the local mall. Closing in on bed time and that bed seem ever so sweet... .

10.03.2013, 17.38
Checked out the squash centre Bukt Jalil in a big sporting area that clearly focus on top athletes and holds a trackand field, several sporting complexes and a big football stadium. There are 10 new ASB courts and a stationary glass court in the "Nicol David Stadium". I had a hit with Line Hansen ad Lisa Camilleri this morning, and after lunch a solo. Hitting feels better as I go,and I feel ready for tomorrow. A little tired, but otherwise all good. Eating my cup noodles and waiting for the monsoon to pass.......

11.03.2013 20.27

Another bad loss for the big book of losses. I can not crack the code for my head in the first round of PSA tournaments. This syndrome turns my legs into syrup and tactics fly out the window. Nerves they call it. Somehow I think that I should be getting experienced enough to handle it by now. Guess not. In the first game I was nervy and all balls ended around the middle. Give away. In the second game I threw in the boast unnecessarily in every rally and lost most points as I opened up the court as a present on Christmas eve. In the last game, the nerves settled more, and I played well in patches, but when I was on a good roll, I somehow find it a good idea to give it away with a crap choice of shot when I get impatient… Impatient!!!! However, taking nothing away from my opponent who did little wrong and took his chances well. I just played poorly.

I know, tomorrow in training I will play well again. I have been making really good progress lately, and I played the best I’ve ever played earlier this week. But as previously stated, a tournament is different. Now It’s all about putting in some good training before Kuwait in one week and hopefully redeem myself. KOM OP!!!!! GADVERRRRR

15.03.2013 10.49

Well, I was wrong. The hitting did not improve the next day. Or the next, or the next. I was just not hitting the ball well in general it seems. And after 3 days of full training, it is slowly coming back again. It is like the jetlag drained my superpowers, my kryptonite. I have now one more day of training before I go to Kuwait, and I am trying to stay positive for my next tournament. But the feeling is not all happy dandy concerning my squash. Physically I feel fine, mentally too. But if I cant hit the ball, I cant focus on where to put it, so tactics fly out the window too. Anyway…..

In between trainings Ive gotten to see Kuala Lumpur which is a great city. Super cheap, nice food, except a god awful fish dish Nicol recommended me. Lots of nice things to see, nice people and a good atmosphere. Myself and JP (South African I played first round) got along well sharing room this week, and we will both head to Kuwait as well. There has not been any internet at the hostel, hence the slow updates, but I will be staying at a hotel in Kuwait where I have Wifi, and so it will be a bit easier. tudeluu

16.01.2013 17.30

My last day in Malaysia was spent in the Batu caves, which is a sacred hinu place 13 km outside of KL centrum. It was a nice sight and a nice walk 300 steps up to the top between monkeys and justin bieber posters. It was a weird combination of old traditional nice sights blended with  the modern societies' products and waste. Unfortunatelly that took away some of the joy. Right next to it was the dark caves, where I joined another group of norwegians into the deep caves amongst snakes, spiders, bugs, scorpions and bats. (no joke) (no really, no joke) This was a preserved area where the most rear spider in the world resides, snakes that ate bats and big caterpillars that ate the spiders. It was all pitch black, and we had to use flashlights to see anything at all. An exciting and enjoyable experience.

I wanted to stay at the airport hotel for the night to save myself some stress tomorrow, so my trusted driver who took me to the caves, brought me back to get my stuff from the hostel, and then to the airport hotel...which was full.... weird, as its not really season I thought. Next airport hotel...full, and 2 more. Getting further away from the airport I am stressing more and more, despite a great effort from my new friend the taxi driver to cheer me up. Finally a hotel in a small village have 3 rooms available, wifi, but no hot water or breakfast. Fair nuff. I grab some noodles at the only restaurant open in the area, where I naturally meet 3 norwegian girls on an Asian roundtrip. They tell me that the reason everything is full is because of Mr. Gangnam style, who's having a concert nearby. To sum it up, popculture just ruined my day :P