IHG Opening Ceremony

19^th January 2008: Cameras, people and water everywhere. No, this was not a Hollywood movie scene, but it’s our IHG Opening Ceremony. This year, the IHG Opening Ceremony was held in the SRC swimming area and by 9.40am, the stands were already packed with supporters from the 6 halls. The never-forgiving sun was here again today, giving the spectators the ‘joy’ of getting as sun-burnt as the swimmers. Yet, it was not enough to dampen the supporters’ spirits who continued cheering for their respective halls. It was a dazzling display of colours today. The blue Kent Ridgeans, red KEVIIans, yellow Eusoffians, green Rafflesians, orange Shearites and finally the white Temasek supporters. The only colours missing were indigo and purple to complete the colours of the rainbow.

 

10am marked the beginning of the ceremony with emcees, Jeevan Raaj and Adeline inviting the Guest-of-Honour, the ever-articulate Assoc. Prof. Tan Teck Koon who is our Dean of Students to give his speech. He delivered an excellent one highlighting the importance of sports and sportsmanship.

“Sports is an excellent opportunity for bonding and I believe that the more keen the competition, the more the bonding…

Sports is about integrity and honour and do not lose sight of it in the competition”

It was an inspiring speech and a perfect way to begin the ceremony.

Next was the march-past of the sports contingents from the six halls. Our sports contingent led by our Sports Secretary, Nick Ng Zhi Peng was to march first. They displayed so much a sense of pride, pride of being a KEVIIan, that their spirit coloured our almost black-and-white KE flag. They were followed by Raffles who was cheered lightly by their supporters holding up a Raffles banner with their creative version of Nike’s famous slogan, “Just Raff it!” After Raffles was powerhouse Eusoff Hall and later, Kent Ridge hall. The loud cheers and claps accompanied with the beating of the drum and kompangs­^# announced the arrival of the KR contingent. The subsequent Sheares contingent had their share of loud cheerings from their fellow supporters who had their own cheaper version of the drum which was made up of plastic bottles and a hollow bucket. The last contingent was the other powerhouse Temasek who was also heavily cheered.

This was then followed by the main event, the oath-taking ceremony. This year, our sports secretary had the honour to lead the oath-taking. The sports contingents representing their hall’s sportsmen and sportswomen vowed that they would compete in IHG fairly and display good sportsmanship. And with that, the opening ceremony was officially over. It only lasted 20 minutes but that short twenty minutes opened my eyes to many things. Allow me to express my opinions obtained from my observations of the event.

During the past 2 weeks and ever since IHG started, we lost in many games but this by far must be the saddest and most embarrassing occasion for KE. Even though there was nothing at stake in this event, no gold awards, no competitions, there was much disappointment for those of us who attended the event.

Our seating area was directly beside KR’s. The contrast between us was unbelievably amazing. There was KR who had so many supporters that their designated seating area was not enough, forcing a few of them to sit in our area. On the other hand, we barely occupied 1/5 of our seating area. Also in high contrast with the KEVIIan side, KR’s JCRC, all dressed in black, was also actively leading their supporters with the drums, the kompangs­^# and the cheers.

There is no doubt that there were many KEVIIans in the SRC today but they were there for other obligations. There were the KE video committee, KE welfare committee, convening committee and the KE swim team who were there as their competition were scheduled after the opening ceremony.

My fellow KEVIIans, the previous JCRC board had done a wonderful job bringing up the name of King Edward VII in NUS. We used to be last place in everything and now, we are no longer that. So, let us all put in more efforts to make KE the best hall to live in NUS. So, come down to support our teams (wear red, if possible!) and also to appreciate the tremendous hard work our convening committee has put in to ensure that the entire IHG event runs as smoothly as possible.

^#kompang = Malay version of a hand drum. More info in:

http://www.cyloong.com/Multicultural/SEA.html

http://www.best-of-langkawi.com/CULTURE-kompang-dance.php

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KEVII Table Tennis Teams to the Semi-Finals

Pubz Comm Reporter: Gu Chao Jun

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“Who is the best? We are the best. Who is the best? KE’s the best.” KEVII male and female table tennis both won their games and went to the semi-finals.

The first match for the male team was against Temasek hall. Junyin played for the 1^st single, but maybe due to a lack of warm-up, he failed to win the match. The 1^st double of our male team consisted of Li ling and Xiao hui. Though they lost the first game, they finally won the match with a total score of 3-1. Consequently, our male team lost the remaining games against Temasek hall.

The first match for the female team was against Eusoff hall. We set Wan Xuan for the 1^st single and to all KEVIIans’ joy, she won the game in 3-0. Wang liao and Yuexin were playing for us in the female 1^st double. They won the first game but failed to bag any of the remaining games. Loo Lee May fought against a strong Eusoffian player for the female 2^nd single, and yet she managed to win the game with a total score of 3-0. Good news do not stop here. Yue yi and Chun yan won their 2^nd double in 3-1. At this point, all those present already knew that our female team has already won against Eusoff hall.

The second prelim match for our male team was against Raffles hall. We had to win that match in order to reach the semi-finals as the mighty Temasek players prevailed over Raffles hall. To the pride of all, our guys did not disappoint us. Dat played for the 1^st single and won the game in 3-0. Our 1^st double, Li ling and Xiao hui, also won their game in a match full of sheer excitement. Su shu and Sheng qin succeeded to beat their opponents in the 2^nd double game with a score of 3-0. And so our impressive male Table Tennis team won the match against Raffles hall, and emerged as winners from the group.

The second match for the female prelims was against Sheares hall. Yue yi and Chun yan brought victory to us again by winning the 1^st double while Loo Lee May helped us win the 2^nd single. Despite having lost the subsequent games, the KEVII female team still came out first in their group.

And to the Semis we go, KEVII Table Tennis!

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Male against Temasek		Female against Eusoff
1st single Jun yin	0-3	1st single Wan Xuan	3-0
1st double Li ling Xiao hui	3-1	1st double Wang liao Yue xin	1-3
2nd single Dat	0-3	2nd single Loo Lee May	3-0
2nd double Sushu Sheng qiu	0-3	2nd double Yue yi Chunyan	3-1
3rd single Andrew	0-3	3rd single Deng shuo	0-3
Male against Raffles		Female against Sheares
1st single Dat	3-0	1st single Wan xuan	2-3
1st double Liling Xiao hui	3-1	1st double Yue yi Chun yan	3-0
2nd Andrew	0-3	2nd Loo Lee May	3-0
2nd double Sushu Sheng qiu	3-0	2nd double Wang liao Yuexin	2-3
3rd single Jun yin	0-3	3rd single Lu wei	0-3

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Next up for our male team is a match against the Shearites, and coming next for our female team is the Raffles hall players this Friday 16th. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.