KE Handball vs Eusoff Hall: lost 7-32

Reported by: Annisa Rakun

The evening of January 5^th, 2012 witnessed the tenacious battle of handball between King Edward VII Hall (KE) and Eusoff Hall (EH). The match was scheduled to begin at 6 PM, but due to some unforeseen circumstances (read: referees came in late) it was delayed for more than one and a half hour. Nevertheless, this delay did not seem to affect the players.  On the contrary, the KEVIIan’s morale ran higher, especially after the pep talk by the captain, Fang Hau. The red team seemed ready to take on the yellow Eusoffians and show them what it means to be KEVIIans

The starting whistle was blown at exactly 7.40 PM, with KE in possession. However, it was EH who scored the first two goals. After that, some on-target shots were made by Andy and Zach, but it was Zach who managed to score the first KE goal by intercepting an EH ball down the right flank and finished it with a hard shot that was sure to confound the EH keeper, making the score 2-1.

The counterattacks made by EH proved to be quite effective, leading to several goals for EH. The fast breaks made by their keeper proved to be at lightning speed indeed, and KE had to run back very quickly to defend their goal.  Isaac and Andy tried some shots, but the EH keeper was quite lucky to be able to save them. Nevertheless, luck was not enough to withstand the sheer power of Johan, KE’s biggest pivot, who scored KE’s second goal. After that, Zach scored another goal by a powerful left-handed wing shot from the right corner.

EH was quite forceful and physical with their attacks, but KE’s defense was not an easy one to breach. Still, some balls did manage to find their way into the KE goal. After one of these goals, Johan shouted, “that was too easy!” which reignited the KE spirit one more time and made our boys defend more mightily. True enough, after that, in true KEVIIan fashion, Wai Kit scored a very beautiful goal, cementing the score at 4-17 at the end of the first half.

Right after the beginning of the second half, Jon Chan showed the roaring crowd why he was the first-choice keeper of KE. The year-5 medical student deflected two consecutive balls beautifully, before an EH penalty tore the net. Two more goals were made by EH, before #7 committed a dangerous back clamp and was given a 2-minute penalty. Zach took the penalty, but unfortunately it went very narrowly away from the left goalpost. Zach, Isaac, Fang Hau, and Johan all tried to score, but the balls either went over the goal or were point blank but caught by the EH keeper. Johan was then sent off for two minutes because of some shirt-pulling incidence, who was followed out by Qizhi who was also served with a two-minute punishment, leaving only four KE field players on court. However, this did not deter our boys. After the timeout, called by EH, KE scored two consecutive goals, the first one by Andy and the second one by Zach. EH then retaliated by scoring some goals, then Johan attacked back and scored another goal with a calm and composed powerful ball.

When defending bravely against one of the EH attacks, Fang Hau was sent off for 2 minutes for a foul clamp and a penalty was awarded for EH. Jon then made a stunning save which sent the KEVIIan crowd cheering like lunatics. Not long after that, in a similar manner, Andy was also given a 2-minute and EH #1 executed the penalty. In a déjà vu moment, Jon parried the ball away, but at the expense of his face and maybe his specs. For this unsportsmanlike conduct which endangered the opponent, EH #1 got red-carded, therefore being sent-off permanently from the game. After this, as the game was nearing to the end anyway, the referee blew the final whistle, ending the match with 7-32 as the final score.

The KE male handball team had a very heroic fight against EH. Courageous and bold, they bit back against the Eusoffian giants and showed the tenacity characteristic of the KE spirit. Good job, and may little David win the battle against the giant in the future!

squash [M]: KE vs EH, won 3-2

Reported by Zachary Low

Edited by Celine Yeap

Squash – a game in which speedy and power must be balanced with great precision in order to achieve success. Never having held a squash racquet in my own hands before, I made my way to the SRC squash courts with no idea what to expect. This budding writer is glad to report that the KE7 men’s squash team, featuring Akhilesh, Weng Shian (our very own hall master’s son), Jianan, Joan, Feng Fei, and Bryan (captain), has won their first match of IHG and are through to the semi-finals!

Our victorious males squash team: (from left to right) Akhilesh, Bryan, Joan, Weng Shian, Feng Fei, and Jianan

Akhilesh opened the evening’s games against Eusoff Hall’s IVP player, Daryl Kam. Despite his energetic play, playing against an IVP player took its toll against Akhilesh, as he dropped the first game 3-11, 2-11. Yet the squash’s team fighting spirit was never better demonstrated as the team rallied together before the second game.

Before the second game, I asked Weng Shian how he felt about playing against someone who was at least four years older and as such would have a marked advantage physically. Our intrepid young player (who hasn’t even reached the legal drinking age yet) gamely replied that he was ‘just going to try his best’. This resulted in a scintillating display that concluded in a victory over Eusoff’s Jian Liang, with both sets ending with a scoreline of 11-6. Weng Shian’s moxie, despite his young age, and ferocious backhand returns clearly unnerved his opponent, enabling him to hold on to clinch a win in the face of a desperate defensive rally by his opponent.

Weng Shiang, Hall Master's son, being congratulated for his win!

With the score tied at 1-1, Jianan stepped onto the court. In his own words, it was his ‘first time playing a competitive game’. As the match went on, Eusoff’s Stanley Tan’s composure began to tell as Jianan dropped his match 1-11, 3-11. Nevertheless, this experience will definitely forge his resolve into something greater in preparation for more games in the future.

Joan Martos Gracia was up next against Eusoff’s Tan Ching Ping. Before the game, Joan had already broken the strings on his racquet – this writer bears visual witness to this fact. Yet my neighbour’s Spanish mojo was fully demonstrated as he raced all over the court, returning shots that weren’t meant to be returned, in a manner similar to his countryman, Rafael Nadal (different sport, same concept). Staying in full control of each set, Joan proceeded to win the match 11-6, 11-4.

Joan, the Spanish Sensation getting ready for his match!

As we went into the final match for the day, the pressure was on Eusoff as their captain, Malcolm Tan, stepped onto the court with KE7’s Feng Fei. The tension in the air, to use an old primary-school-composition-cliché, was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. As Feng Fei won his first set 11-7, the KE7 supporters began to see the makings of an upset. Despite the enormous pressure, Feng Fei overcame the physical fatigue and the jitters to hang on to win the second set 11-10. As the final match point was awarded to Feng Fei, everyone clad in red erupted in celebration. Hurrah for our first win of the IHG season!

Excitement on the faces of our KE supporters!

The KE7 men’s squash team is scheduled to play one more game against Sheares Hall before advancing to the semi-finals. Our hopes and well-wishes go with them.

Quotable quotes:

Our captain, Bryan, on winning this game against Eusoff: “It was a perfect victory. Our lineup was correct, we fought hard, and we deserved the win.”

Joan Martos Gracia, when asked for his post-match comments: “I was distracted by the very pretty referee.”

Softball First Preliminary Round: KE vs EH, lost 2-21

Written by Lim Siew Fen

Edited by Mao Yinan

Softball is a very exciting but also challenging game. It is competition against yourself mentally, physically and of course against the other team. Mentally, you have to build self-confidence; especially the pitcher who throws the ball and the batter who needs to decide whether to catch the ball in just a blink. Our second softball match is against Eusoff Hall. This is a new yet fun experience for me, as this is the first time I am on the softball field, looking on our fellow team mates as they fight for our glory. Right before the match started, KEVIIan supporters had a crash course in SOF1101 Introduction to Softball thanks to Fang Hau who explained all the rules of the games.

This is the start of our softball match journey!

We are ready!

In the match, Eusoff Hall kept ahead of us throughout the game. They got their first seven points almost immediately due to the failure of our outfielders in catching the balls on time, thus giving opportunity to Eusoffians who were in position to run towards the home base. Although Jamil our softball captain did a few good strikes, they still managed to earn their points within three downs.

Jamil, our honorable captain!

What impressed me the most during the match was the highball caught by Issac, one of our good batters. Besides that, he was also an outstanding outfielder. He managed to catch a highball accurately at the right time, leading to one down out of three for the opponent team during the match. KEVIIan supporters were so excited and worked up that they cheered at the moment he caught the ball.

Issac is here!

Here comes the ball!

Jason our ex-softball captain however did not perform as well as a pitcher probably due to the hot weather and from what I heard he wasn’t feeling very well. Nevertheless, he had the back of the entire KE softball team and we all cheered him on all the way throughout the game. This was probably a show of the so called KEVIIan spirit we hear so much of!

Jason is pitching, try and catch this!

We finally got our first point after almost an hour of “struggling” due to the pitcher missing the ball. Thanks to Jerusha, we got our second point as she managed to run back to home base in such a short time.

The reason we lost the match was mainly due to the fact that our players were unable to run to the bases, be it first, second or third fast enough after the batter hit out the ball. Eusoffian players on the other hand always managed to catch the ball and pass it to their team members, getting a “save” before our team managed to score. There is a strategy whereby the team will tend to put boys and girls alternately at the three bases, so that it will be faster for the first player to run back to home base due to the “forced run”. There is a technical explanation for this strategy which we shall not explore further.

The match ended with the mercy rule of Eusoff Hall. They managed to score 21 points at the end of the match. Although we lost the game, our team spirit matched that of the other team if not better. I’m pretty sure the encouragement and support given that day will keep our fellow KEVIIans going and perhaps one day they will be the ones to emerge victorious! But for now let us keep a sharp eye out for KE7’s next coming match in this year’s IHG!

No matter the outcome, it’s all smiles for our team!