Sunday, February 26, 2006
mark of a schzoprenic...
look at the break down, not much of a dominant trait. maybe i am really so different to many people.
Arena(known to self and others) complex, idealistic, ingenious, introverted, observant, witty | Blind Spot(known only to others) able, adaptable, bold, calm, clever, confident, dependable, dignified, extroverted, friendly, giving, happy, helpful, intelligent, knowledgeable, logical, loving, mature, nervous, powerful, proud, reflective, relaxed, responsive, searching, self-assertive, self-conscious, sensible, sentimental, silly, spontaneous, sympathetic, tense, trustworthy, warm, wise |
Façade(known only to self) | Unknown(known to nobody) accepting, brave, caring, cheerful, energetic, independent, kind, modest, organised, patient, quiet, religious, shy |
All Percentages
able (21%) accepting (0%) adaptable (5%) bold (26%) brave (0%) calm (15%) caring (0%) cheerful (0%) clever (5%) complex (36%) confident (10%) dependable (15%) dignified (5%) energetic (0%) extroverted (5%) friendly (21%) giving (5%) happy (5%) helpful (21%) idealistic (15%) independent (0%) ingenious (15%) intelligent (36%) introverted (5%) kind (0%) knowledgeable (10%) logical (21%) loving (5%) mature (5%) modest (0%) nervous (5%) observant (5%) organised (0%) patient (0%) powerful (5%) proud (10%) quiet (0%) reflective (21%) relaxed (10%) religious (0%) responsive (10%) searching (5%) self-assertive (5%) self-conscious (10%) sensible (15%) sentimental (15%) shy (0%) silly (5%) spontaneous (15%) sympathetic (5%) tense (5%) trustworthy (31%) warm (5%) wise (15%) witty (21%)
posted @ 1:49 PM ||
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
interlude: memorable opponents
i have divided this into a few different categories
1) The training partner
a)yunchuan (1993-1996, 2006)
actually he is a childhood friend who started off playing table tennis together with him way back in 1993. thoughout their years in table tennis, both have endear their own fair shares of ups and down and have taken very different path. however, yunchuan is an adept player of defense. for some reason, tianyu feels he has the flair for it. in fact, it was him that convinces him of the change of playing style. after repeated attempt to win him by playing the offensive game, tianyu decide to change his style. if u can't win him, follow him. with the change, tianyu level of playing leapt beyond yunchuan's reach in a short time.
after a 10 years break, in tianyu's comeback season, yunchuan is once again there to be the training partner that he need.
b)bingrong
2 years his senior and from his primary, bingrong was the first person that tianyu encounter who plays positional advantage, a tactic which tianyu didn't use until many years later. players in primary school level were typically smaller in size. though more agile and faster in terms of "relative" movement, they cannot match adults for speed. the idea of this style of play is very rarely used in the tournament circuit in professional level, except for koreans.
c)daniel (2004-2005)
the person who begin tianyu's comeback into the scene. after the many rejections in his life, tianyu has given up playing competitive table tennis altogether. as he grows older, the offensive strength of the ability gets faster and more powerful. As a defensive player, one is limited by his reflexes and there only how quick a person can be. Daniel has an all round style of play. More importantly, daniel was of volleyball descent, and he has a good reflexes that can help tianyu hones two aspect of his game which he has never done so in the past. Fast offense and positional offense. two years in army, 2 years in confined training. tianyu was gradually improving, without he himself knowing it. but when the truth was revealed in 2006, he knows what has caused the change.
2)Opponents worth remembering
North Zone Champion (1995)
What happens when you put a defensive player and a all round player together? the end results, a thriller that last 45minutes (a typical match hardly lasted 20minutes). This is one of tianyu's first match and it is memorable because it is the first time he experienced the psychology to table tennis- overcoming the opponent using strategy and mind trick instead of raw skills. the match lasted all 3 sets. tianyu lost the first set, quite close 21-16. but the opponent is famous for dropping points in the first set to observe the opponents weakness before finishing them off later. ie to say, if you did not beat him in the first set, it will become harder to do so in the 2nd set. during the interval, tianyu's teammate surrounded him, giving him advices. then he heard one of them say, catch him wrong handed, lure him to a corner of the table and push the ball to the other end. taunt him with fake spins. that didn't really register in tianyu. he just walked in to play his normal game- defense. tianyu didn't really care about losing. he is a nobody compared to that guy, though he realli felt shocked that his bat have gave way to the service- for the first time in the tournament. the second set turns out even more draggy, both players bidding their time during the rally, sat back and waited for unforce error. points were evenly spilt, tianyu refuses to play offensive. its like the good old days of trench warfare. the match eventually reached 20-19, with tianyu holding the set point. an unforce error by him puts the opponent is very good smashing position. he smashes to the backhand, tianyu made a full stretch return and in the process did a 360 degree turn. HOW AUDACIOUS! the ball was returned, but it was too high, the opponent smashes again... OUT. tianyu took the 2nd set! tianyu smiled, he know he had the opponent, that return was heavily spinned, he has practiced this move many times before and he knows the deadliness which the opponent didn't realise. the third set, the opponent has crumbled to the pressure of the onlooking crowd who has gathered to watch the match. he is tired and shocked by the loss of his near unbeatable second set. tianyu played with more confidence, and pulled away. and the final score stood: 16-21, 21-19, 21-13 winner: Tianyu. the north zone top seed has been upsetted.
Robin (1995)
Robin is from the prc has won the junior individual tournament the previous year. his talent in the sports is unrivalled. he walks over all his opponent in the easiest of all fashion leaving them dumbstruck. tianyu as usual, went in with his usual defensive game not even knowing the background of his opponent. he lost the first set 21-16. he knows this opponent of his is strong, but he has no intention to win it. the second set, tianyu was let down by many umpire decision, calling for aces shot that didn't happen to him and for ace shots that has happened being ruled out. he lost the 2nd set narrowly 21-18 and with the few points that were suppose to be in his favour, it would have make a difference. later he did realise that the umpire for that match happen to robin's mum. and robin did walk up to tianyu to admit winning using cheats, he admitted he might not win tianyu with his peculiar bat and playing style and he will remember tianyu as a worthy opponent. in an outing many years later with the RI table tennis team, it occurs to tianyu that no one has taken 10 points againt robin in his team.
National Youth Team 4th seed (1996)
tianyu was a reserve for the yishun constituency junior team back in 1996. during the competiton, he only played 2 match, the first being the sure walk over match, bedok district. the second against the tournament favourites, toa payoh, which is actually the national youth team which trains there. tianyu's coach for yishun looked down on his playing style. despite being a singles for the school, his order for this team is even lower than a non school team member from his school. the only reason why he got to play in the 2 matches was because regardless of his performance, the result will not be affected. tianyu struggled to beat the bedok district opponent, though beating him in straight sets, both were won by the most narrow of most margin. when he is draw against the 4th seed, even the 4th seed expected a walk over. so did both coach and they walk away to chit chat during the match. but as usual, tianyu was at his work, with sheer determination and a display of body language to assume control over his opponent, tianyu won the first set by the narrowest of all margin 21-19. with that, he clench his fist into the air and say "KILL". the whole sports hall turn silence, the coaches couldn't believe it, tianyu has snatched a set from the 4th seed. the national youth team coach panic, and quickly rush to help his start student. tianyu coach did like wise, he wants to savour the win. tianyu didn't care about the coach who look down on him and he walks away to prepare for the second set. the second set, tianyu lost 21-9, which was the expected scoreline, the crowd think tianyu's luck has run out. but the main reason why tianyu lost was complacency, he thought his opponent cannot recovever from the emotional shock, but he was wrong. tianyu's coach scolded him again, for not listening, but tianyu didn't care. he knows that the coach didn't like his style of play and looked down and he walks back to the table again. the 3rd set, tianyu rush to an early lead. he reach the halfway mark 10-6. a timeout was called, tianyu noticed the nervousness in his opponents face and the worried look of the coach. tianyu's coach was talking but tianyu isn't listening. he lay his eye intently on his opponent and the desire in him grow. the 4th seed did force a comeback, but he can only do so little. he forced a deuce, but tianyu won the next 2 point 22-20. after the last point, tianyu throw his bat on the table and grunted. he wants to deliever the final nail into the coffin-humilation. the sports hall applauded, a great match, which the better player lost to tactical superiority. tianyu went back to the stand and gave his coach a smirk of disrespect. but this is tianyu's moment, the taste of victory has never been sweeter.
Ho Junming (1996,1998,2000)
A see-saw grudge match. Junming was Tianyu's captain back in RI. tianyu first encounter him in the national of 1996, in which tianyu win the 3 set close match. in 1998, tianyu has fell out of favour with his ri coach and he needs to qualify for the school team by proving his worth. he was draw to play against junming, a win for tianyu means school team. a loss for junming means he cannot be captain. the stakes are high, but unfortunately, tianyu lost and he was dropped from the team. and that began tianyu's decline in table tennis. in 2000,tianyu got another chance to play junming, in the inter house competition. tianyu remembers the defeat 2 years ago and he wanted revenge. once again the stage is set for a grudge match, for a feud which begin in 1996. before both party graduate, it will be a nice way to end, to see who is better. for those people born in 1984, they watched this match in eagerness. they know tianyu desire's to avenge for the 1998 defeat, though past 2 years, he hadn't train, whilst junming was under the tutelage of zhuo weiming. tianyu snatched the first set and junming fought back to grab the second. it is down to the decider. tianyu relied on his defensive style and taunted junming with deceived spins, junming didn't fall for it. tianyu's game play is not working, he was kept in game by unforce error. something has to be done in the midst of taunting. in a frustration, tianyu smashes and junming was caught by surprise. tianyu knows what to do from the onset, a sudden splurt of offensive to tip the game balance of 50-50. the game drag, and tianyu win 21-17, scores the point for his house to win junming's house 3-2. tianyu went on to take the title for 3 out of 4 years despite no being in the school team. more importantly, tianyu has proved his point. he has settled a feud, 5 years long, to tell everyone out there, he is still better, in terms of tactic and brain, at the very least.
Junjie (2006)
Junjie was from VJ table tennis team. tianyu attended trial for vj was deemed not good enough for the team. 2006, tianyu had to play junjie for a place in smu team. its a winner takes all match. tianyu just went it to play. he has been used to rejection and failing trials. by this time, tianyu has already mastered positional advantage and has a slight offensive touch to the game, thanks to his days of training with daniel. junjie has successfully disrupted all tianyu offense and tianyu couldn't make any offensive move. tianyu has to dig deep and play positional advantage, taunting, before eventually carving him out 2-1 and a place for his dream comeback, after 10 long years.
posted @ 12:49 AM ||
The giant killer
sorry, been really busy with school work. but hey, term break and sometime to blog again. out of tempo with many things, but i shall continue my stories.
Tianyu began his competitive journey on a low note. He lost his first match to nervousness. and his fluccuating form has lead to a mediocre performance. P12-W7-L5. his team mate had a more impressive record P12-W11-L1 despite having a poor head to head record against tianyu. but however, tianyu did score a victory over his toughest opponent--- the north zone champion and as a result of this upset, the individual zonal title went to his teammate instead of the favourite.
The national, Tianyu had a more consistent performace. the school was knocked out in the first group stage. tianyu P6-W4-L2. which is quite good considering the tougher competition faced in this stage. his partner's formed dipped and his record was in contrast : P6-W1-L5. it is then tianyu realise that the skill level of his opponent is not that important when they play against him. he is usually a different bat from others and it is the ability to play against tianyu's bat that allows them to stand a chance. it is in this tournament that he catches the attention of another big player-- robin, the reigning U-12 champion.
the year 1996 has been a year of downturn for tianyu. due to his academic requirements and other competition in the field for maths, he missed 2 of the 4 local tournament for table tennis. in the 2 in which he took part in, he enrolled for u-17 for one and got into the 3rd round. in the u-12 category, he ended up 4th. however due to the fact he has not accumulated enough position ranking, he wasn't seeded for the whole year and fail to catch the attention of the talent scouts. however, he did create an impact for himselves in the inter constituency tournament. he represented yishun, but however, was only deem good enough for the sub bench. however, the coach rotated him for the match against the national youth team, which represented toa payoh. tianyu was drawn against the supposedly 4th seed of the whole tournament (tough luck?) but he score a pulled off a stunning upset. in fact, whilst tianyu's overall form has been mediocre the whole year. his record against the 8 top players whom he played against was deadly :P8-W6-L2. and there was a nick name which robin gave him. robin called him the giant killer.
posted @ 12:11 AM ||
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Game theory...
here's a game. 2 lunatics are playing a game. they each have a bottle and they are suppose to kill the other party. Player A prefers death, Player B prefers jail. so we put it in a diagram form. A get 1 point for dying and 0 point for jail. B get 1 point for jail and 0 point for death.
dominant strategy: B kills A. B get jail sentence and A dies. 1 point each.
Folk theorem: collude until someone defect. ie to say, B will kill A. and they will get a point each. and will keep doing that until A started retaliating or B changed his stance (in both sense, it sounded weird, cos A's dead. with A dead, only way for B to be death is to commit suicide)
Nash equilibrium:each player to play his dominant strategy and the equilibrium will be at B kills A.
TY equilibrium: we have an option not to play the game. in this case. each player get 2 point by staying out of the game and the game don't even exist.
Now, there is at least one reason why i didn't get A+ for econs last year...
posted @ 12:41 AM ||
