Returns A Champion

February 4, 2008. The big one, like no other. IHG Badminton.

Two powerhouses of badminton locked horns to face off with the pride of their halls at stake, vying for the coveted champion's trophy that hall players have been obsessed with since time immemorial.

The final. Win or lose, this is where it ends.

The Hall 4 shuttlers getting pumped up after the team talk.

The passionate support of other Halls were long gone, having seen their teams eliminated in previous rounds of the competition. It was now up to the supporters from both sides to rally behind their players and get the adrenalin pumping. Believe me, with our residents clad in the blue jerseys having made their way down to the SRC badminton hall, one wouldn't have noticed a change in the decibel levels.

As one, we are blue.

The finals got on its way with Paul playing his singles match. The supporters held their breath as point after point, rally after rally went on, with the customary early jitters exhibited by both players. Our Ohmer, though, was evidently a shadow of his normal self on the court this evening, and despite a spirited effort, was not able to hold off his opponent's accurate smashes. His opponent thereafter won the match 21-12, 21-13.

Paul advancing to play the net shot.

1-0 in favour of Hall 2. Not a dream start to our campaign for the winners' medal, but there were 4 more matches to be played. This was sport, and anything could happen.

On to the court stepped Li Si, Hall 4's female singles player. All hopes were on her to restore parity to the scoreline and some semblance of normality in proceedings. At times willfully callous with her service, Li Si confidently shrugged aside the early mistakes and suspect decisions by the linesmen to take the lead. Her opponent, though, was having none of it, keeping pace with our shuttler and never letting her take a moment's breather. Eventually, our Ohmer capitalized on her efficient footwork and accurate shot placement to emerge victorious 21-18, 21-18.

Li Si lifting the shuttlecock into the rear corner of her opponent's court.

The following match had all the promise of a blockbuster, with both sets of players pumped up and ready to prove their worth. Zhi Ye stepped up in his trademark red Asics shoes with his partner, Damien, and from the outset they dominated their opponents and were relentless in attack. Unable to find a reply to the barrage of smashes from the Ohmers, our players comfortably dispatched their opponents 21-9, 21-10.

Damien preparing to serve.

Now that the match was 2-1 in our favour, our female doubles pair of Shaline and Shi Hui began their match. The roomies (in case you didn't know) were cautious in their approach to the match, as were their opponents. We were hoping to win the championship on this match, whilst Hall 2 needed to win this in order to have any hope of successfully defending their title. Eventually, mistakes and a lack of experience were telling factors in our defeat, when the match ended 9-21, 15-21.

The roomies/doubles pair.

As if we needed any more excitement, the match was now tied at 2-2 overall, and the deciding match was to be played by the respective Halls' mixed doubles pairs. Our male player needs no introduction, for he is as well known as he is affable. Shame, if you don't know his name still. His partner, less prominent but equally able on the court, is Shu Ying. The match went on like a novel without any punctuation, both sides giving their all for their Halls. On occasion, Alex threw caution to the wind and dived cross-court in his attempts to retrieve his opponents' shots. Imagine the bruised ribs. Like a script out of Tinseltown, the match went to a rubber, and as fate would have it, luck and skill gave us the victory over Hall 2. The match was won 21-16, 22-24, and 21-14.

If you need any further affirmation, the overall score was 3-2 to Hall 4.

Never getting past us.

The adage goes that every cloud has a silver lining. We may not have met our expectations in other events during this year's IHG, but the badminton trophy was rightfully and deserved won, through grit, sacrifice and the sheer strength of our players' will.

We are the champions. Kudos especially to the graduating seniors who played their last competitive IH badminton match. You will definitely be missed.

But for now, let us celebrate, for there is a new champion. We've reached the zenith.

This is our time.

Alex, Publication Secretary.

Now for the big one

Tan Thiam Peng

With the amount of talent in our team this year, Hall 4’s Badminton was expected to at least reach the semi-final, if not a top two finish. As one of the stronger sports in the hall, and one of the remaining sports still competing, the journey thus far has been smooth. If all things went according to plan, the challenge was expected to come in the semi-final.

And so it did. The other powerful team in our half of the draw, Hall 3, sailed through without many glitches as well. Boasting several IVP players, they were going to pose a few problems for us.

For the second week running, IHG Badminton was held on a Friday, and support turnout was a concern. But as it was a semi-final, a good number of supporters were rallied down by the Sports Secretaries Hsi En and Hazel, JCRC, and the badminton players themselves. Expecting a fervent fanbase on Hall 3’s corner, as we have seen many times, they turned out disappointing and our support contingent looked superior, to our players’ delight.

At a crucial stage like the semi-final, it was surprising to see both halls agree to switch the order of play, scrapping the traditional order and playing Ladies’ Singles-Men’s Singles-Mixed Doubles-Men’s Doubles-Ladies’ Doubles. Often, when both teams are close in standards, strategies in planning are involved and the order of play makes a lot of difference.

Hall 4’s Ladies’ and Men’s Singles players, Li Si and Paul, are two of the best in NTU. Their relatively easy runs to this stage were expected to be met with some resistance in Hall 3. However, our opponents tinkered with their lineup, and eventually Li Si and Paul faced weaker players.




Li Si, as always, wasted no time in disposing of her opponent. She was smooth and her footwork excellent. It is always a joy to watch her brilliance in motion.

On the other hand, Paul is someone who would usually take his foot off the pedal a little when facing weaker players. He let his strong basics take over and chalked up the points. But we were treated to some of his extraordinary badminton, when his opponent tested him with some gamesmanship, and he let loose his repertoire. He upped the tempo and the jump-smashes started coming.






Hall 3 moved their top male and female players to the Mixed Doubles event to face our seasoned pair of captain Alex and Shuying. Even with the experience – both are graduating players – they were under considerable stress as they faced a formidable opponent. More importantly, we needed to win this or the Men's Doubles to get the third victory to wrap up the series, and things were not looking good.

But from the word "Go", Alex played like a man possessed and Shuying was the perfect partner. They utilised their experience and telepathy to great effect, and it neutralised two opponents who were not Mixed Doubles specialists and had not much coordination. Hall 3 didn't grab the initiative, while the concentration from our players was intense. After we fell back a little at the beginning, we charged and the opponents started losing the belief that they're going to win. We won through a strategy game, in a strategy-based event. This victory would prove crucial later.






Our equally experienced Men's Doubles pair of Zhiye and Damien took to the court next. Although Hall 3's pair had an IVP player like us, we were favoured to take this event. Things looked good as Zhiye was in control of the ground, and Damien was a capable partner. Hall 3 did not have as much harmony as us, but they were a young and dynamic pair that kept putting us under a lot of pressure. They forced us to not even blink. But things got awry when Damien injured his ankle, and - respect for his determination - the opponents capitalised.

The last pair of Shihui and Shaline was up against a class team. The Hall 4 contingent did not put pressure on them and just hoped they have fun and put up a good fight. But our team was raring to cause an upset, and gave their all. Although not as technically-gifted as the rest of the squad, they are two fierce girls. They scored successive points fast and worried the strong opponents. But somehow the plan crumbled as time passed, they started making mistakes, and could not get back on track. The gap in skills became more obvious when Hall 3's IVP player accelerated and they pulled away.

Hall 4 took the series 3-2. Although we had wrapped things up by the third match, making the last two redundant, from what we saw, if the Mixed Doubles pair had not won that titanic battle, we could have been in trouble.

The other semi-final was expectedly won by Hall 2, the other badminton powerhouse in IHG. This is it. Expect fireworks.

FINALS finally :)

25th jan 08 has proven to Hall 4 shuttlers' day!

We were faced with an equally competitive and strong Hall 3 badminton team. We have come so far, to the semi-finals where it's either Hall 4 or Hall 3 to enter into the finals. With such huge pressure for us to win, our hall 4 shuttlers took stride in adversity and gave in our 100%.

Our first match was played by Paul Tiong where he met a relatively weaker opponent. However, we should applaud to that particular Hall 3 player for his determination. The game was finished rather fast, giving us a lead 1-0.

The next match was played by Tan Li Si where she also met a relatively weaker opponent. With Li Si's skillful service and experience, she managed to finish the game swiftly. Hence, giving us a lead of 2-0. We would just need 1 more winning match to get into the finals.

Next up was our veterans, Alex Lim and Lee Shu Ying. Both seniors performed fantabulously as they were against the stronger pair of Hall 3. This match was the most exciting match of all. We were all watching with much anticipation. However, with much experience and confidence between the partners, we managed to beat Hall 3 in straight sets! It was indeed a fantastic play by our seniors!

Our 4th and 5th matches had to give away to Hall 3 as our opponents were on the upperhand in the matches. Kudos to Damien for good sportsmanship despite hurting his ankle during his game. The 4th and 5th matches had really extremely close scores to winning. But it's okay because we had already won Hall 3 after much fight.

Hence, with 3-2, Hall 4 has advanced into the FINALS! Be sure to be there to support our Hall 4 shuttlers on this coming Monday, 4th Feb 2008, 7pm at the SRC. Remember to wear your beautiful hall jerseys, and flood the entire courts of SRC with blue colour. We won't wanna lose to Hall 2 right!

I'll see you guys there! :)