Soh Hua Qun and Zachary Devaraj win respective divisional 800m races but sub-2min eludes them

Story by REDintern Colin Tung. Pictures by Vanessa Lim.

Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Friday, 17 April, 2009 – Zachary Ryan Devaraj of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Soh Hua Qun of Raffles Institution won their respective 800m B boys’ and A boys’ races at the 50th Inter-School Track and Field Championships. Zachary clocked 2 minutes 02.20 seconds while Hua Qun came home in 2:01.32 on a hot morning of competition.

The day commenced with the 800m finals for all the boys’ divisions and the observers’ eyes were on these two boys who, apart from being favourites to win their races, were the likeliest to break 2:00 – the benchmark for any local 800m runner aiming to be regarded as the nation’s best.

Zachary Devaraj was the 2008 C boys’ champion in the 800m with a time of 2:04.08, just milliseconds away from the C boys’ electronically-timed (ET) record of 2:03.76.

Zachary was noticeably tense as the line-up of runners was led to the start line. He sprung into the lead as the race started, careful to avoid being boxed in in the pack of runners. The first lap was passed in 61 seconds as a sub-2min timing began to seem ambitious unless he had enough in his legs to put in a negative split.

Though the time did not prove ripe to go under 2min, Zachary nonetheless managed to hold out for the victory with Avinash R. of Sengkang Secondary and Seow Yeong Yang of Raffles Institution coming in second and third in times of 2:03.75 and 2:05.14 respectively.

Avinash R. who was runner-up in 2008 as well shared his thoughts on the race: “It is the first time I am competing against Zachary. Having seen some of Zachary’s races, I have always wanted to race with him in the 800m because he is very strong at the end of his races and I thought I could give him a good challenge… I am satisfied.”

When asked how about he felt having won the 800m title when he’s only still in Secondary Three and with one more year of competition left for him in the B division, Zachary commented: “I feel ok. But I’m not contented with a gold medal. I want the (B boys’) record having come so close to the C boys’ record last year.”

“I went into the race aiming to go sub-2:00 but as the race progressed, I felt it was going to be a close race knowing that Avinash possesses a strong finishing kick so I held back,” Zachary added.

It was now down to Soh Hua Qun of Raffles Institution to deliver the sub-2:00 performance that spectators were hoping for in the 800m races.

Hua Qun is the second-fastest Singaporean this year over 800m having come off a 1:58.17 performance two Sundays ago at the 4th All-Comers meet.

As the race commenced, one would have expected to find Hua Qun bolting into the lead but strangely, he was found in fifth position as the bunch of runners ran through the first 200m.

With slightly over 200m of the opening lap passed, Hua Qun decided to make his move and ran round the outside of the curve to the lead. From that point, it became apparent that Hua Qun was taking control of the race.

A Victoria Junior College runner challenged him for the lead as they were passing the bell but Hua Qun fended off his attempt to pass him by upping the ante.

With 300m to go, Hua Qun began to pull away from the field as he ran largely unchallenged to the finish line in 2:01.34. Finishing second and third in times of 2:03.97 and 2:05.22 respectively were Samuel Cheng Chuang Giap of Raffles Institution and Choo Shi Jun of Hwa Chong Institution.

Hua Qun let on to why he did not take the lead from the start of the race saying: “I got boxed in. Knowing that the 800m is a tricky race, I decided to run more conservatively.”

The 800m is a tactical race and without doubt, Zachary and Hua Qun are two who possess the acumen to win a 800m race at this level.

Results (Top-Eight Only)

800m

C Division Boys
1. Dubey Kissan Kumar Singapore Sports School 2:16.09
2. Muhd Reyhan Amierul Bin Abdul Halim Changkat Changi Secondary 2:18.59
3. Wee Cheng Hao, Ryan Catholic High 2:18.72
4. James Asikin Cheung Catholic High 2:19.23
5. Muhammad Khidir B Suhaimi TK 2:19.32
6. Tan Chin Keong NSS 2:19.97
7. Lum Dong Yee Raffles Institution 2:20.00
8. Abdul Tsaqif B Abdul Rahman F Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 2:21.85

B Division Boys
1. Zachary Ryan Devaraj Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 2:02.20
2. Avinash R. Sengkang Secondary 2:03.75
3. Seow Yeong Yang Raffles Institution 2:05.14
4. Low Zhen Yao, Gavin Catholic High 2:06.33
5. Roy Chiang Weihao Catholic High 2:06.40
6. R Kartik Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 2:06.43
7. Tan Howe Hiang Johnny Temasek Secondary 2:07.26
8. Vivekraj S/O Jeevaraja Anderson Secondary 2:07.61

A Division Boys
1. Soh Hua Qun Raffles Institution 2:01.32
2. Samuel Cheng Chuang Giap Raffles Institution 2:03.97
3. Choo Shi Jun Hwa Chong Institution 2:05.22
4. S Kundan Victoria Junior College 2:05.92
5. Khairul Amsyar B Mohd Razis Catholic Junior College 2:06.19
6. Marcus Tan Victoria Junior College 2:07.17
7. Tiong Wei Jie Hwa Chong Institution 2:07.28
8. Loh Wei Han Anglo-Chinese Junior College 2:07.28

For full results, please refer to www.schoolsports.sg.

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For more pictures, go to the gallery.