It’s been four days since the end of TOC. Yet the memory of that day remains as clear as the sky. Scenes from the match that I lost kept replaying in my mind whenever I’m not busy thinking about something else, as I repeatedly formed hypothetical scenarios of what would have happened if I had done some things differently. I was so bitter from the lost that it even affected my sleep. Before it all started, I always thought I could reach the finals to face the renowned Halim. Never did I expect this disappointing exit in the first round. While chatting with my opponent before the match, he came across as really nice and sincere. Little did I know that things would be so different in the arena. He revealed his true cheeky self just when the referee shouted “Joon Bi”, by taunting me. As much as I hated it, it worked like a charm for him. I totally lost my composure and within the first 20 seconds or so, I was 9-0 down, according to my coach. I couldn’t exactly remember how it all went, only that I was sucker punched and furious. I couldn’t tell if I was feeling more of anger or panic. I just knew that I had to fight, to comeback. I ended the first round 5-10, walked back to my coach, unable to even lift my head up to face him. The second round was another adrenaline-rushed frenzy and I couldn’t remember much of it, except perhaps 2 consecutive miraculous short slamming kick which connected with my opponent’s face. I think the round ended 18-17 or something like that, I was one point ahead. I wanted to feel relieved but I knew it wasn’t over and I was getting super tired. The third round was disappointing as i lost eventually by 3 points. By then, I could tell that both my opponent & I were tired. Also, by now he had already read the signs of my favorite right leg high turning kick. I vaguely remembered him using his left hand to guard his head in preparation. This was the round that I did most of my “scenario analysis” on. Looking back, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so ambitious to keep going for the head. Perhaps a back thrust, or simple turning kicks to the body, or just run and guard my 1 point lead. Or maybe even an unexpected jumping slamming. I lost by 3 points in the end. When the match ended, I was so disappointed that I didn’t even want to shake my opponent’s hand. Just a simple half-hearted bow to his coach and I left the complex, totally forgetting about my own coach as well. My friends consoled me by saying that the referee was at fault, as he didn’t remove the four points for my opponent which he scored before the Kye Sot. My coach told me that perhaps the corner judges were overly enthusiastic in awarding the 9 points in the first few seconds. People told me that it was the best fight I ever fought despite the loss. Looking back, I’m grateful for all your support & encouragement. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU, my friends, you know who you are. Perhaps the most touching encouragement was from Bryan Sir, NYP’s head coach, who is sort of like an acquaintance of mine whom I have crossed paths with more than a couple of times. When I bumped into him after the match, he gave me a pat on the back and said to me “Great comeback!” At that time I was still very bitter and perhaps should have given him a bigger smile of gratitude. Thinking back, it was really an honor for me to receive his encouragement, given that he barely knew me, and actually watched my match. Despite my initial bitterness, I have come to realize that perhaps life is never fair. Perhaps I was unlucky this time and I’ll be lucky the next time. After all, luck is just a game of probabilities. Perhaps I was thinking so much about myself, that I neglected the fact that my opponent was not bad as well. He could execute back hook and double turning very well. According to some, he was quite fast too. And I respect him for all that. Having said that, Denis Seow Chen Jiat, I hope you will successfully get into NTU, and given the chance, I hope we can fight again, friendly exchange (: And to my most beloved and humorous coach and friend, Lim Wei Jie, thanks for everything. I think your personality makes you the best coach for me, Hahaha! I will always remember all the funny shit we always talked about during training. Having said all that, it’s time to move on and get my normal life back again. I hope I can stop thinking about that freaking match already. And that Yew Jun will hurry upload the freaking video so that I can watch and forget. :P PS. This was written just as Yew Jun uploaded the video hahaha
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 04:40:40 +0000
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