2. Women's Singles Badminton

Event: Women's Singles Badminton

Date: 2nd September 2012
Location: University of Essex, Colchester
Cost: £9.50
Rules: Singles matches are decided over the best of three games, with the first player to reach 21 points (by a margin of two clear points) winning each game. Players can only score from their own service. When the score reaches 11 there is a 60 second break. Players change ends after each match or after the 60 second break in the third game.

The Game:

London 2012 Winner: Li Xuerui, China

Score: Game One: Ellie 4, Sarah 21
           Game Two: Ellie 11, Sarah 21
           
Comments: Sarah: Badminton is one of my favourite sports, so I was glad to see this one roll around early in our challenge. Luckily we were the only ones in the sports centre, as we ran way over our time, with the matches lasting for ages!
Ellie: It's a two sports weekend so we're definitely hitting the list hard. My beginners luck has worn off and Sarah took both games with ease. However, I take comfort in thinking that together we will be a formidable team when we play the doubles matches.

1. Women's Individual Table Tennis

Event: Women's Individual Table Tennis
Date: 1st September 2012
Location: Mercury Theatre Workshop, Colchester
Cost: Free
Rules: Singles matches are decided over the best of seven games, with the first player to reach 11 points (by a margin of two clear points) winning each game.  Service changes after every two points have been scored. Once the score reached 10-10, the serve changes after every point. 

The Game:

 
London 2012 Winner: Li Xiaoxia, China.

Score:  Game One: Ellie 11, Sarah 4. 
            Game Two: Ellie 11, Sarah 5
            Game Three: Ellie 12, Sarah 9
            Game Four: Ellie 13, Sarah 16
            Game Five: Ellie 12, Sarah 9

Comments: Sarah: Let the games begin! We made a start to our Olympic endeavour today by crossing the first event off our list. Neither of us had played table tennis before, but we both quickly got in to it. Despite the makeshift table, the Olympic rules were easy to follow and Ellie dominated play! I managed to scrape a game back, but it was all over by the end of the fifth.  
Ellie: And we're off; there is definitely no turning back now. Somehow I have managed to convert my limited Table Tennis knowledge (taken from that episode of Friends where Chandler is really good at Table Tennis and possibly QI) into a win. I would like to clarify that this was clearly beginners luck.