Raffles beat Temasek 4-1 in group of death

BADMINTON

National ‘A’ Division Boys’
Raffles Junior College vs Temasek Junior College
Monday, 14 May 2007 at Tampines Sports Hall

Story and pictures by Leslie Tan. © Red Sports/soulbreath pictures

Raffles Junior College (RJC) beat Temasek Junior College (TJC) 4-1 this afternoon in the second round of the National ‘A’ Division Badminton Championship. They now have a perfect 6-0 record this year and expect to make the semifinals after beating last year’s runners-up.

Zachary Soh of TJC in 1st Singles action. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

TJC’s 1st Singles player Zachary Soh got his team off to a good start when he outplayed Jarrod Tan of RJC 15-8, 15-9. Zachary won the first set comfortably without being threatened by Jarrod and it was only in the second set when the latter led for the first time during the match at 7-6. However, Zachary clawed back to 8-8 before pulling ahead 9-8. But Jarrod wasn’t going to rollover and die and fought Zachary for serve in a prolonged battle at 9-9 before unforced errors on his part allowed Zachary managed to pull ahead to 12-9. Zachary’s ability to cope with everything that Jarrod could throw at him allowed him to ultimately prevail and win the second set 15-9 to secure his team’s first point.

Jarrod Tan of RJC in action against Zachary Soh (above). © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the 1st Doubles matchup, the RJC pair of Clemens Chay and David Son raced to a 5-0 lead before the TJC pair of Tan Po Kiat and Xavier Bay found their footing. When they did, Po Kiat and Xavier levelled the set at 6-6. Totally warmed up now, the TJC pair pulled ahead to 11-6 before RJC knew what hit them. But Clemens and David of RJC found a second wind when they pulled back to 9-11 and then 12-12 but that was all they would get because Po Kiat and Xavier closed them down, capitalising on their opponents’ errors and finished the set 15-12 winners. This prompted the RJC coach to have a minor fit on the sidelines and say “I can die you know or not? You all play like that!”

RJC’s 1st Doubles pair of Clemens Chay (left) and Davidson Ching. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Backed by cries of “Let’s go TJ! Let’s go!”, hopes were high that TJC would secure the second set as well but the RJC pair of Clemens and David were flying as they piled on the points. 3-1, 5-1, 9-1. The TJ pair did not know what hit them. Xavier and Po Kiat rarely threatened and when they won back serve just could not convert it into points. Clemens and David of RJC soon wrapped it up 15-1.

TJC’s 1st Doubles pair of Xavier Bay (left) and captain Tan Po Kiat in action against RJC. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the rubber set, Clemens and David again set the pace by getting out to a 3-0 lead. Po Kiat and Xavier fought back briefly to 2-3 but that proved a false dawn as Clemens and David mastered their opponents to pull ahead to 7-2. TJC managed another two points to make it a 4-10 game at one point but the RJ pair were too hot to handle and eventually wrapped it up 15-4 to win the 1st Doubles match 12-15, 15-1, 15-4 to tie the overall score at 1-1.

Chua Zie Wearn of TJC competes in the 2nd Singles tie. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the 2nd Singles game, Brian Koh of RJC took on Chua Zie Wearn of TJC. Playing a fast game, Brian raced out to a 8-0 lead before a mistake of his own gave the initiative back to Zie Wearn to win his first point, 1-8. That proved only a brief distraction from the overall flow of the game as Brian resumed normal service to lead 9-2. He raced ahead to 12-2 before Zie Wearn managed to make any dent on his opponent to steal a point and make it 3-12. Again Zie Wearn did not manage to build any momentum and Brian tore ahead to wrap it up 15-3. Having no answer to Brian’s court craft, Zie Wearn was hapless as the RJC player tore ahead to 9-0 with unanswered smashes. Two back-to-back errors by Brian allowed Zie Wearn to score points and make it 2-9 but after that it was all Brian’s way as he wrapped up the set comfortably at 15-2.

Brian Koh of RJC in action during the 2nd Singles match. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

With the overall score now at 2-1 in favour of RJC, it now fell on the shoulders of the TJC pair of Leonard Boon and Naresh Rajoogopal to hold back the green RJC tide in the form of Adrian Chua and Chuan Sian Bin. RJC started brightly and got out to a 3-0 start courtesy of unforced errors on the part of the TJ pair. Adrian and Sian Bin attacked forcefully and Leonard and Naresh struggled to defend as the RJ pair raced ahead to 7-3. For a brief period Leonard and Naresh fought Adrian and Sian Bin effectively enough to force the RJC pair into making a mistake and giving up a point to them to make it 4-7. However, their resistance wilted and the RJ pair continued piling on the points to make it 10-4 before TJC managed a point at 4-11. But the smashes of the TJC pair weren’t getting through the defence of Adrian and Sian Bin and the RJC pair eventually wrapped up the first set 15-4.

In the second set, the RJC pair again started strongly to go ahead 4-1 but this time Leonard and Naresh worked together effectively to make it 4-4. Unlike the first set, the TJC pair could sustain a period of good play and matched the RJC pair point-for-point up to 9-9 with two strong smashes from Naresh that the RJC pair found too hot to handle. However, an error by TJC handed the initiative back to Adrian and Sian Bin of RJC and the pair when on a point streak to go from 9-9 to 14-9 with no answer from TJC. Fighting back, TJC held back RJC for a few service changes at 9-14 but a huge RJC smash swung the serve and momentum back to them. A final error by TJC gave Adrian and Sian Bin the winning point to wrap it up 15-9, thus giving their school an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Naresh Rajoogopal (left) and Leonard Boon of TJC fight it out in the 2nd Doubles matchup against RJC. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the inconsequential 3rd Singles game Chua Wei Liang of RJC beat Choong Song Hon of TJC, 15-11, 15-2 to wrap it up 4-1 for RJC.

Said Tan Po Kiat, captain of the TJC badminton team, “We’ve finished 2nd to RJC in the last few years. We lost 4-0 in the final last year and so it’s an improvement that we got one point off them today. RJC has good players and some of our players have only just picked up badminton but more importantly, we believe that team spirit makes a difference. We focus on ourselves and not think too much about our opponents.”

TJC will play playing Meridian Junior College (MJC) next in their so-called group of death which includes the top four teams from last year’s National Championship – RJC, MJC, TJC and Jurong Junior College (JJC).

More action shots in the Picture Gallery.