On Monday, I attended badminton at Wembley Arena, which is right next to Wembley Stadium. While the stadium was rebuilt in 2007 and looks beautiful, the arena was built in 1934 and it feels like it. It did undergo renovations in 2006, but air conditioning apparently wasn’t part of their plan. I was sweltering in the stuffy facility. Originally, the London 2012 organizers had planned to build a new arena for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics near the O2, which is hosting gymnastics and major basketball games. But in a cost-cutting move, those events were moved to old Wembley Arena, which is quite a lengthy Tube ride from Central London.

Inside the arena, there were three badminton courts affording us the opportunity to watch three matches at the same time. Beforehand, I had been told that doubles badminton is more exciting than singles, and that person was definitely right. My eyes were soon fixed on a thrilling contest between the South Korean pair of Ko Sung Hyun and Yoo Yeon Seong and the Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Bona Septano. After a competitive first set, the Indonesians pull away in the second set and win the match 24-22, 21-12. Later on was another exciting match between China’s Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong and Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov. Much to the delight of the large Chinese contingent at Wembley, Chai and Guo win 23-21, 21-15.

At one point during the matches, I decided to get some food and arrived at one of the few decent looking concession stands. After deciding I wanted a sandwich over a sausage roll, I was told that my only two options were double egg and spinach on wheat bread or cheese and onion on white bread. I went with the double egg and spinach and then attempted to pay with my credit card. The woman at the counter didn’t seem to understand how a swipe card worked and kept trying to stick the width of a card into a machine.

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