jan 17th squash (m) semi-finals

Squash (M) Semi-finals: KE vs TH, 2-3

Well done guys! We are proud of you. 🙂

Writer: Adrian Chia
Editor: Ong Qing Liang
Photos: Yeo Wei Sheng

It was the IHG 08/09 Squash (M) finals. Only TH was left standing bewteen KE and the gold medal. Unfazed by the pressure, the KE players displayed such dominance to completely outclass TH with an overall score of 5-0. It was an awesome glory that made all KEVIIans proud.

This season, the KE team made it past the preliminary rounds with convincing victories over RH and KR. Standing in their path towards the finals was none other than their old foe – TH. Some familiar faces could be recognised. Among them was Sean, our ex-captain cum coach, who is now a TH resident (the reason behind his move to TH is a long (some say unfortunate) story. If you are interested to know more, please kindly ask some seniors who know the details).

warming up for the impending battle

For the semi finals, the format of the game was changed to the best of 5 sets (best of 3 was played for the preliminaries). At 11am, the first match finally began with Jia Xu from KE playing against Chong Guang. The difference in their level of skills was soon apparent as Chong Guang, an IVP player, quickly won the first set in just slightly over 3 minutes. Displaying some clever play, Chong Guang capitalized on Jia Xu’s weakness in retrieving low, backhand shots. However, Jia Xu continued battling bravely before ending the game 1-11, 2-11 and 2-11.

a match well fought!

Benjamin was next in action against TH’s Sean. Despite playing to the best of his abilities, Benjamin simply could not keep up with Sean’s powerful and furious shots. Nonetheless, Benjamin certainly put up a good fight as he went all out to steal some points from his vastly superiorly-skilled opponent. He lost the match 1-11, 0-11 and 4-11.

ben tham not giving up

With KE losing the first two matches, it was up to Daniel, captain of the squash team, to keep the flag of KE flying up high. This time round, he was up against Fang Hong from TH. In the first set, Daniel seemed a little frustrated as the umpire made a few calls disadvantageous to him. To make things worse, his racquet spoiled halfway through a rally, and the umpire ruled against a replay for that point. However, Daniel quickly regained his composure and after replacing his raquet, swiftly clinched the set with the score of 11-7. In the next set, Daniel managed to establish a lead right from the start. Through a bizzare twist of fate, it was time for Daniel’s TH counterpart to have his racquet damaged! What a rare affair to have two racquets spoilt in one match! With fewer errors committed, Daniel won the second set too with the same score. Riding on the momentum, Daniel gained confidence in the third set, took the lead swiftly and held on to it tightly, eventually winning the set 11-5.

daniel with a powerful serve

The fourth match played between Christopher from KE and Byron from TH was certainly the most exciting and nerve-wrecking match of the day. With both players evenly skilled, the match could go either way as their scores were tied most of the time throughout the game. Christopher won the first set 11-8. Perhaps suffering from a lapse in concentration in the second, he allowed Byron to establish an insurmountable lead of 7-0 before claiming one point. Byron expectedly won the rest of the points as Christopher decided to conserve his energy instead. The third and fourth sets were easily the fiercest battles of the day, as both players tried to outfox and out-compete each other with all kinds of shots, taking turns to send the another scampering all around the court to retrieve tricky balls. By then, the atmosphere on the court, as well as outside the court, was nail-biting. Tensed to the maximum, both players began to shriek whenever they clinched a point, perhaps to let out some pressure and impose their presence on the opponent. Outside the glass door, the supporters from both camps were also screaming their lungs out to cheer their players on. In the end, each player won one set each (8-11, 11-9) and the game went down to the wire. In the decider, Chrisopther made a few errors early in the set, but he fought hard to reclaim the points. However, despite his valiant efforts, it was Byron who emerged victorious with the score of 11-6, breaking the hearts of all the KE supporters who were present. With that, KE’s hopes of entering the finals were also brutally dashed.

Christopher putting in his all

GO KE!!!

Well done Christopher!

The last match saw Kwan Rong from KE, strolling to a rather easy victory over TH’s Li Hong, with the scores of 11-5, 12-10 and 11-6. Kwan Rong, always appearing calm and composed, was the player with the superior skills and remained in control of the game most of the time.

Kwan Rong wrapping up the day

Despite losing the semi-finals with an overall score of 2-3, we are still extremely proud of our squash team for their valiant efforts. All players definitely exhibited an unwavering spirit and mettle even in times of extreme stress and adversity. Even though we stopped short of defending our gold medal this year, we will definitely mount a stronger challenge and strive to bring the championship back to KE7 next year. Well done KE7 Squash Team! 🙂