A time of food and fun : IHG Supper

Reported by : Koh Pin Lang

Edited by: Victor Lee

Welcome back KEVIIans to a fresh semester! If you do not already know, the Inter Hall Games (IHG) season has officially started. IHG is a yearly event where the 6 halls in NUS battle it out in various sports.  On Thursday, 12^th Jan, our dearest JCRC has organized the IHG opening supper to commemorate the event and to reward KEVIIans who have fought/ are going to fight for our victories in the past/upcoming matches.

At 10pm, KEVIIans had already assembled at the dining hall in anticipation of supper. Though there wasn’t a large crowd at first, more and more people started streaming in. To start the supper proper, the JCRC had invited our Hall Master, Associate Professor Ho, to speak and encourage KEVIIans to do well in the IHG season. Hall Master spoke of the need to give our best in the upcoming matches and even if we are no sports hall, we must “make it hard for the other halls to win” and show them that we are no pushovers. Personally, the idea of giving the other halls a tough fight was particularly important. Like many other KEVIIans who have stayed in hall for an extended period, IHG has always been a bitter pill that we need to swallow and we must remind ourselves to do our best. Hall Master’s speech reminded me the importance of giving our all. The winning and losing should not matter, what was important was the fact that we did our best and created memories worth remembering when we look back at them.

Next up was our JCRC president, Eddie, to give his rousing speech. Despite his shy demeanor, Eddie echoed Master’s ideas and attempted to “rah-rah” the crowd. Soon, our JCRC Sports Secretary, Jamil, took up the baton to hype up the crowd. After making a quick explanation of the point system of IHG, Jamil mentioned a crucial piece of information that may change our fortunes in IHG. KE and Sheares are neck to neck in points and stand a good chance to surpass them if we do well in the upcoming matches. To round up the speeches, Eddie and Jamil led the KEVIIans in a cheer, which served as a boost to our confidence.

Next up was the moment that everyone was waiting for – the taking of food! Trays of beehoon, popcorn chicken, sausages and éclairs were available for choosing and an incredibly long queue was formed almost immediately after the end of the cheers. As KEVIIans enjoyed their delicious supper the IHG video, created specially by KE Media, was screened. The video was a tribute to KEVIIans who had played and fought hard in the IHG matches that had passes. Sports included are Handball, Tennis, Swimming, Sepak Takraw, Softball, Squash and Volleyball. Pictures taken from the various matches were shown and they reminded the players of the precious memories and effort put in to all the matches.

Though the food was great, I am positive that  full stomachs was not all that everybody took away from the supper. All the hard work and efforts put in so far into IHG have been heartening and hopefully these efforts will not come to naught.

Best of luck to all players in the upcoming matches and do your best to bring glory home!

Road Relay Males

Written by Hariharasudhan Ayyappan

Edited by Ong Hui Shan

The car park outside the Sports and Recreation Centre (SRC) was the place to be on Thursday evening – the highly-anticipated Road Relay race was unfolding amidst great fanfare and gusto. As the sun set, a sizeable crowd made its way steadily to the slope near the SRC carpark to witness what was going to be a good show of athleticism by the runners from the six halls.

The route for the relay, spanning a distance of 2.26km, stretched from the slope at the SRC car park past the University Cultural Centre (UCC), exiting through Entrance A to Clementi Road, then turning left into campus past the School of Design And Environment and the Central Library, finally coming back down the slope along Raffles Hall to the starting point. With each team fielding six runners and a reserve runner, the competition was sure to be an interesting one.

The KEVII team lineup was as follows: Alex Mah, Cheng Liong, Feng Fei, Reggie John, Wang Cong and the Captain Terence Keok, with Jack Neo as the reserve. The Temasek Team was strong and consisted of several cross country runners, giving them the edge.

The relay kicked off at 7.30 pm, right after the KEVII captain Terence, who also doubled up as the convening captain and organiser, gave a briefing to all the participating athletes regarding the relay route and safety precautions. Safety personnel and road marshalls were also strategically located at checkpoints along the route.

The first lap pretty much set the tone for the rest of the race as Justin from Temasek hall quickly established a lead, with Kent Ridge, Raffles, Eusoff, Alex from KEVII, and finally Sheares trailing behind. From then on, it got increasingly difficult to catch up as the TH runners put more and more distance in between themselves and the runners from the other 5 halls. Temasek was secure in its lead, save for a close call in the 4th lap when Kent Ridge managed to bridge the distance gap. Nevertheless, their lead on everyone else still ensured their eventual victory. The 2nd lap saw KEVII drop to the last position and despite a spirited effort from our runners, we ended the race last. Nevertheless, the spirit of the competition was not lost, and the supporters gave loud cheers and applause for all the 6 halls.

Losing the event certainly isn’t the end. Our athletes gave it their all and we are proud of the team. KEVIIians had turned up in large numbers, all decked out in flaming red Tees and ‘powered up’, to cheer on our athletes led by our Sports Secretary, Muhammad Jamil. KEVII is certainly proud of its athletes for putting on a commendable show after weeks of grueling training and practice. A special commendation should be given to the captain Terence Keok, who performed spectacularly both on and off the field despite his heavy workload as the convening captain, organiser, and IHG participant.

GO KEVII !

If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just finish the race it’s up to you.                                                      - Dave Scott, Triathlete

squash (M) finals: victorious loss to Temasek

Written by Stephanie Yeo

Edited by Ong Hui Shan

This was it. The epic showdown between David and Goliath. Temasek vs KEVII. As the first sport to make it to IHG finals, it was the talk of KE with conversations going “eh you going to watch, not?” to which the responses were either “ya, of course! I want to see Hall Master’s son play”, or “ya, I want to see Joan play against their IVP”.

Like any other match, both teams had to submit their line-up to the Convening Committee. In a somewhat cruel twist of fate, the TH IVP players were placed in the middle of the lineup, giving them an edge. Nevertheless, our guys took it in their stride and rose up to the challenge.

Unfortunately, as the match time was pushed forward to 5.30pm when many KE kids were still having lessons, there were fewer supporters present for the first few sets. Nevertheless, Hall Master turning up to lend support to Weng Shian, first up against Yi Sheng of TH, was definitely a heartening sight.

FIRST UP: WENG SHIAN

Feeling under the weather due to flu, Weng Shian could not give it his all, on which Yi Sheng capitalised: he showed no mercy as he sent the ball all over the court, with a few hard-to-reach corner shots, ending the first set 6-11 to TH. However, our Young Master upped his game in the second set having warmed up after the first – he went on to win the second set 11-6. Throughout the game, Hall Master gave encouragement by yelling out “One point at a time!”

Weng Shian lunges for the ball!

Halfway through the third set, Weng Shian started to suffer the pains of a hamstring pull, and Yi Sheng was relentless in forcing him to run across the court. The game came to a pause at 7-9 as Weng Shian was in urgent need of first aid. To everyone’s dismay, neither TH nor KE was equipped with a first aid kit, and the only safety box was at the soccer pitch. It was definitely a lesson learnt on the importance of being adequately equipped, especially with basic first aid. An unpleasant turn of events ensued as an argument broke out between the safety officer and a few concerned supporters over the lack of an additional safety box; the game also had to be put on hold until the safety box was fetched from the soccer field. Despite the pain of his sports injury, Weng Shian put up a tough fight; alas, Yi Sheng still prevailed 11-6, securing TH’s first win. Nevertheless, the crowd cheered wildly for Weng Shian for fighting till the end.

NEXT UP: JOAN

Next, Joan faced off with Byron “Caveman” Koh (he has a deafening cheer). Byron has been playing the sport since 13, so this was no easy match for our Spaniard. The first set saw a series of long rallies which ended with Byron’s 11-6 victory, to which Joan confidently remarked“I’m just warming up!”

Joan jumps for a shot with amazing agility!

However, things did not go our way in the second set either: KE lost 3-11. Joan slipped on the court a few times, and KE’s Feng Fei had to enter the court to wipe it clean at one point! Joan managed to turn the tide in our favour as he won a tired Byron in the third set, 11-5. An amazing racket-behind-back stunt by Joan sent the crowd into raucous applause. It was a sheer test of stamina in the fourth set, and it ended with a narrow 2 point margin 9-11 in TH’s favour. Both players exchanged a big hug to everyone’s amusement.

THE MAKE OR BREAK

The 2 toughest matches were against IVP players from TH: our captain Bryan vs their captain Chong Guang, and Ben Tham vs Jia Hui (they played each other last year too). Bryan was unable to return enough of his wily opponent’s powerful forehand shots and lost in straight sets 5-11, 0-11 and 3-11.

Benjamin had a bit more “luck” with his “lucky” ensemble of red shirt and pants. He won his first set 11-7 against a very relaxed Jia Hui which led to the question: was he conserving his energy to spring more surprises? In between sets, Jia Hui was seen rallying the ball in a V-shape between front corners of the court – show off or pure skill? This remained to be seen. Benjamin was simply a pure delight to watch – a bundle of bouncy joy around the court. He would pick himself up with a smile after a fall, and this toned down the aggressive nature of the game. Unfortunately, Ben could not maintain the lead he established in the first round, and finally succumbed to Jia Hui’s all-around attacking game 5-11, 5-11, 3-11.

THE FINAL TOUCHES

Though KE had lost her gold medal, Feng Fei still rounded up the last match against Yong Wen with confidence and skill. He made Yong Wen run fore court and back court, wearing him out. Yong Wen had to catch his breath for a moment in the final third set with the score at 4-1, lying sprawled out on the floor. Beat, Yong Wen conceded 3 straight games, all ending with the same score 11-3. Sadly, it was an ungracious moment as an unsporting Yong Wen flung his racket down in frustration!

FROM THE HORSES’ MOUTHS

And now, a few words from the team:

Feng Fei: Although we lost the 4 matches, I fought on for the honour of the hall. Thank you supporters!

Thank you supporters!

Ben: I am glad Unnaa was here to watch me although I didn’t win. Unfortunately, she didn’t hug me when I lost

Bryan: I did not expect much. TH is a strong team. We just did our best and see where it takes us. The guys did really well, put up a good fight, and I’m proud of them. The supporters were amazing! Overall, I am happy with the result.

THE DECREE

Our squash guys have really come far with a united front of team effort. Despite losing, it is undeniable that they had fought with all their might and never once betrayed any signs of throwing in the towel. TH may have ‘squashed’ us in the game, but they definitely did not squash our spirits! 

Victorious loss for our KE male squash team