PARIS: It is a rather uncommon case that the worlds of basketball and badminton come so close to each other on the top country level at the same time. I do not care how much rain comes down: when you put a link about California to these two games played with a net in a court, but for different purposes.
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Kerry and Annie Xu who are 24 years old made their first appearance in badminton at Olympics Games held in Paris 2024. They were beaten by an elite Chinese team in women’s doubles event. Their conversation about last night would invariably shift to what they called an “out-of-this-world experience” on Seine River with other members of Team USA as soon as they finished talking about it. As a high point, she mentioned meeting basketball great and fellow Californian Stephen Curry.
Badminton Steph Curry was very humble?
Steph Curry was very humble; he talked to everyone he met and even shook our hands—it was almost like experiencing fan girl moment.” Said Annie Xu.
To me, it just seemed strange at first being on a boat with some of America’s greatest sportsmen. When I saw Coco (Gauff) and LeBron James holding our flag, I nearly fainted. Besides there were other athletes such as Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles amongst them who are also considered best of the best in athletics.
Annie proudly said that this was probably one of her proudest moments because she knew that she was among some of the best athletes from her nation.
“I can’t get over Lauv’s song Paris In The Rain no matter what,” Kerry Xu added. It is performed by an American artist-producer called Lauv.” “We all were excited when we got here initially wearing full Ralph Lauren kit though,” noted speaker. “We didn’t have umbrellas and we were drenched.”
“The rain started slowly but the moment we were approaching Eiffel Tower, it began to pour; everybody in the vicinity just quit, saturated. It was kind of mixed so you couldn’t really tell whether it was my tears or the rain,” Annie said.
Badminton The crowd roaring in the stadiums…
Their first-ever Olympic badminton competition on court number one at Porte De La Chappelle Arena went under losing 21-11, 21-14 although there were a couple of second-set charges and long rallies.
“The crowd roaring in the stadiums is stronger evidence that we are finally Olympians. Kerry Xu added that he is very proud to see Americans here supporting us. Lots of people kept on saying ‘go USA,’” she noted. This sold-out stadium is not common outside California at home.
We opened up the session so all the build-up music was playing and there was a lot of excitement going on. We could still feel the vibrations of the crowd even though we were beneath the stands.
“I was filled with this sense of awe—I can’t believe I’m actually here with my best friend doing it together.” She went on, “I tried not to cry and put my game face back on, get into zone and shut everything out.
Annie too had similar reactions; I feel like dumbfounded is an understatement, trying so hard to express exactly what I feel. It is just so difficult not to want to cry.
Badminton best female badminton players in America?
The two sisters are also a couple of the best female badminton players in America, having graduated from University of California Berkeley. They will then have to forget about it and focus on how they could win vital badminton matches for several days in Paris. On Sunday they are going to compete against a strong opponent from Hong Kong who was silver medalists at Pan American Games 2023.
Moreover, their mother and elder sister aged nine years more than them as well as other relatives from their home state of California are supporting Xu sisters in Paris.
What Kerry said was “After these few days, it should be easier to remain in our rooms and prepare ourselves mentally and get some rest.”
As mentioned by Kerrry, there’s been a bit of a relief since some Olympic experiences have passed at least for now.” She added,” Hopefully we can use whatever knowledge we pick up from this match towards the next game”.
She corrected herself saying “There is still the Closing Ceremony though”.
Then maybe Annie and Kerry might have another special moment with their American teammate from California while here in Paris over the next couple of days when she too will be smashing away on the court.
