Defending Champs Raffles beat ACJC 4-1 to enter final

BADMINTON

National ‘A’ Division Girls Semifinal
Raffles Junior College vs Anglo-Chinese Junior College
21 May 2007, at Jurong East Sports Hall

Story by Lee Hwee Cheng.  Pictures by Leslie Tan  © Red Sports

Reigning champions Raffles Junior College (RJC) marked their territory with a berth in the Final with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC)  in the National ‘A’ Division Girls Semifinal this afternoon.

Losing only the second singles, the Rafflesians played their games mostly cool and confident, making aggressive attacks amidst some occasional fumbles.  Only Siti Mastura Rahim cruised through her first singles game.  After that, the ACJC girls picked up morale and posed some trouble for the defending champions as the game wore on, especially after second singles player Winnie Tiong had trounced RJC’s Toh Yun Hua in two sets to bring her team to 1-2 overall.

The first singles game might have been enough to knock the socks off the ACJC bench when Siti demolished an almost helpless Germaine Tan in two quick sets 11-0, 11-1.  Siti’s smashes and cross-court drops had Germaine rooted in position most times.  It was only when the Rafflesian committed unforced errors, hitting the shuttle into the net or out of bounds, that Germaine managed to win over the service but unfortunately, she was unable to convert any of her serves into points.  Siti took down the first set easily 11-0.

Germaine took the first point in the second set when Siti hit a return squarely into the net on the former’s service.  Taking a 1-0 lead for the first time, Germaine seemed to send a message that she was finally ready and back in the game, when she lost her service immediately and slipped back into an overpowered state.  Siti had started the set with an error but she never looked back after that.  Smash after smash, lob after lob, drop after drop, Siti forced Germaine into a chase she couldn’t catch up with.  Siti won the second set 11-1.

Raffles’ first doubles duo of Colleen Goh and Joanne Yip looked to continue the run from the first game in their own first set.  Capitalizing on their opponent’s cold form and mistakes, they moved quickly into a 8-0 lead.  On the other hand, ACJC’s Genevieve Yeo and Chin Xiujuan had all the look of determination gleaming in their eyes, but failed to warm up fast enough to overcome their initial bunch of mistakes and to counter Raffles’ attacks, serving many  points to the Rafflesians on a platter as a result.  Starting from the very first service that Genevieve sent right into the net, the ACJC pair gave the service advantage over to RJC immediately, and went on taking turns to hit the shuttle into the net or out of bounds to give RJC a quick 3-0 lead.  The fourth point for RJC came when Colleen executed a smash that neither Genevieve nor Xiujuan could react to.  When Joanne lost the second service with a hit into the net, ACJC could have grabbed the chance to catch up with the four-point deficit.  But instead, Genevieve and Xiujuan made two consecutive bad serves and immediately, without any chance to even make a play, the service was back in RJC’s court.  Three consecutive bad returns from ACJC – two hits out of bounds from Xiujuan and another one from Genevieve – and one Joanne smash later, RJC were halfway toward set-point, while ACJC had scored no points.

At this point, Joanne lost control on a shuttle that went out of bounds and the service returned to ACJC again.  A second consecutive error from Joanne who returned a hit under the net gave ACJC their first point.  Another point was earned when Colleen smashed a shuttle too hard and it landed out of court.  Then came an exchange of service as both sides committed poorly hit shuttles and neither managed to hold service nor score a point.  Finally, it was RJC who finally broke the deadlock when Colleen executed a sly angled drop on Joanne’s serve that caught ACJC off-guard.  A couple of ACJC returns that found the net later saw RJC gain four consecutive points and move ahead to a 12-2 lead.  ACJC managed to score only one more point in the set with a hit from Xiujuan that flew straight at Joanne.  ACJC’s Xiujuan then went on to hit two consecutive shuttles that flew out of bounds that moved RJC closer to set-point at 13-3.  The last RJC points were all scored on Joanne’s service as together with a Colleen smash, she sent a net-shot and then an unexpected light drop of the shuttle to seal the first set 15-3.

The second set raised the pulse rate even more as the start saw five startling exchanges of service between both sides before ACJC scored the first point of the set with a weak return from Colleen on Genevieve’s serve.  This time round, however, ACJC had amazingly returned with a newfound scoring touch as they committed less mistakes and both Xiujuan and Genevieve each had their turns at making successful smashes into RJC’s court to regain service control.  In fact, ACJC scored their second point when Xiujuan sent an unreturned smash on Genevieve’s serve.  On Xiujuan’s service subsequently, Colleen and Joanne each made a poor return of ACJC’s attacks and gave their opponent a surprising 4-0 lead early in the set.

A hit out of bounds from Xiujuan turned the service over to RJC, and a consecutive poor hit from her gave RJC their first point.  On Colleen’s second service, Joanne fired a cross-court smash that earned them their second point but immediately returned the service to ACJC when she returned a shuttle right into the net.  A Genevieve smash on Xiujuan’s second serve moved them ahead to 5-2 but a poor hit from Xiujuan gave the service back to RJC again.  Genevieve fired an unreturned smash on Joanne’s serve that forced a second service on Colleen, but the latter answered with a smash of her own to score one point.  ACJC regained service control at 5-3 when Joanne hit the shuttle into the net, and pulled away to 7-3 when Genevieve executed two consecutive smashes against the opponent.  A Joanne smash on Genevieve’s second service earned herself the right to serve again, and at this point, ACJC unfortunately slipped into a fumbling run with consecutive shots that landed out of bounds or into the net.  RJC gained four consecutive points in this service to level the game 7-7. 

A couple of service exchanges later, Colleen sent a hit out of bounds on Xiujuan’s serve to give ACJC the lead again.  Joanne followed suit, and ACJC were up 9-7.  Two consecutive out-of-bounds hits from Genevieve, however, relinquished their service control to the opponent, and with two poor hits into the net, ACJC allowed RJC the chance to level the game again at 9-9.  RJC took over the lead for the first time in the second set when Genevieve sent a hit right into the net on Colleen’s serve.  ACJC regained the serve at 9-10 when Colleen sent a hit into the net on her own serve, but failed to capitalize on that service before returning it almost immediately as RJC fired two consecutive good shots.  In fact, in a sudden twist of the situation, ACJC slipped back into their first-set folly from then, and they never managed to score another point again while starting to commit the same weak returns and out-of-bounds shots.  RJC went on to score five more points, all from ACJC’s unforced errors, and sealed the game in the second set 15-9 with a light drop from Colleen that ACJC failed to anticipate.   With the second doubles win, RJC were up 2-0 overall.

The second singles game, however, saw a different story as ACJC’s Winnie Tiong trounced RJC’s Toh Yun Hua in two sets, 11-2, 11-3, exacting vengeance for her teammates as well as making the overall score 1-2. 

On Yun Hua’s very first serve, Winnie changed the pace and sent an unexpected drop that snatched back service.  A return into the net from Yun Hua on Winnie’s serve gave the latter a quick 1-0 lead.  The next few plays saw an exchange of service, however, as Winnie made good shots and poor returns, one after the other.  After winning the service over again with yet another drop shot, Winnie fired a cross-court smash that had Yun Hua stunned and earned her second point.  She held service for the next three plays, and quickly pulled away to 4-0, thanks to Yun Hua’s errors.  A successful smash from Yun Hua won back service again, but the next smash that flew into the net lost it immediately.  Yun Hua never let up on her attacks, but her next smash landed into the net again and gave Winnie her fifth point.  Her next two attacks were executed successfully and earned her a first point of the game.  A smash by Winnie that landed out of bounds gave Yun Hua her second and last point of the set.  She went on in the set to execute poor judgment, sending her hits out of bounds and failing to anticipate Winnie’s attacks.  Through her opponent’s errors and a couple of unreturned smashes of her own, Winnie cruised to a first-set win of 11-2.

The second set displayed a similar pattern as Yun Hua continued with her nervous hits and gave Winnie a quick 3-0 lead.  The former attempted an early recovery as she fired a successful smash to win the service over and gained her first point of the set as Winnie returned the shuttle into the net.  Immediately, however, Yun Hua hit into the net as well, and gave the service control back to ACJC.  It was a rather costly mistake at that point as Winnie launched into a seven-point run to lead at set-point 10-1, all a result of Yun Hua’s unforced errors in hitting the shuttles out of bounds or into the net.  Just as ACJC looked to take down the game with the next point, the situation turned around for RJC as Winnie gave up her service when she sent a high lob to the back-court that landed out of bounds.  Things looked a tad brighter when Yun Hua went on to score two consecutive points to trail 3-10, but any glimmer of hope disappeared as Winnie won the service back with an affirmative smash, and eventually the second straight set with the next point at 11-3.  With a win in the third singles, ACJC got themselves back in contention at 1-2.

RJC seemed to finally make an affirmative statement in the second doubles game where the very impressive partnership of Teo Min Xun and Geraldine Chew, together with their individual confidence and aggression, proved too much of an offensive threat for the struggling ACJC duo of Jessica Wong and Lau Tin Wai, who eventually fell in two successive sets 4-15, 5-15. 

Once again, like their teammates before them, the ACJC duo started out with numerous unforced errors that saw them giving up the very first service control and allowing their opponents an easy lead in the first set.  Min Xun, the spunky half of the RJC duo that packed a punch in every smash, fired two shots against her opponents which neither managed to return, and partner Geraldine sent a cross-court hit that gave them a quick 5-0 lead.  ACJC took over the service when Geraldine sent a hit into the net on her own second serve – but only for a short while as both Jessica and Tin Wai made two consecutive hits that flew out of bounds.  With the service back in their court again, RJC took advantage of a poorly executed backhand return from Jessica to gain one more point.  Both sides then launched into a rally of service exchanges, as both started making unforced errors and poorly executed hits on their own service.  But before ACJC could settle down and capitalize on RJC’s run of errors, the latter duo did the deed instead and finally scored three more points from ACJC’s errors.  A smash from Jessica on Min Xun’s serve put the service back in ACJC’s hands, and this time, ACJC scored their first point to trail 1-9 when Min Xun lobbed a back-court drop out of bounds on Tin Wai’s serve.  But for the rest of the set, ACJC scored the rest of their three points from their opponent’s mistakes – and so did RJC.  Min Xun and Geraldine executed a couple of excellent back-court lobs that landed just within the boundary lines, but it was mostly ACJC’s poor hits that gave RJC the rest of their six points and their first-set win at 15-4.

RJC gained the first point of the second set when Min Xun scored a hit that landed just within the sideline on her own first serve.  But a Tin Wai smash and a well-executed drop from Jessica later drew them level at 1-1. The ACJC pair even went on to take an early 2-1 lead when Min Xun deflected a shuttle on Jessica’s smash.  A slight slip into a run of errors again by ACJC saw RJC level the game and then pull ahead to 6-2.   ACJC gained a point from  Geraldine’s smash into the net on Tin Wai’s serve but went on to make three consecutive bad hits that allowed RJC to extend the lead further at 7-3.  On Geraldine’s second serve, Jessica powered a smash that caught the opponent by surprise and won back service, but a Min Xun counter-smash and numerous poor hits from ACJC later, RJC were again pulling ahead to 10-3.  Two consecutive smashes from Geraldine put the team ahead at 12-3.  ACJC managed to score two more points in the second set to trail at 5-12 from a smash into the net by RJC’s Min Xun and a well-placed back-court drop by Tin Wai.  RJC then turned the tables around and went on to score the last three points from Tin Wai’s out-of-bounds hits to win the second game 15-5, and the semifinal match for RJC, 3-1.

The last singles game was inconsequential but it did turn out to be a scare for RJC that they rightfully should be concerned about.  Amanda Soh of RJC overcame early jitters and an initial deficit at 0-6 to eventually ward off Teo Cui Yun’s threats and take down the first set 11-8. 

Winning over the service after Amanda lost the first with a poor return, Cui Yun turned out the better of the two with a quick 2-0 lead from Amanda’s continued poor hits.  Amanda finally sent a well-placed back-court lob to win back the service but she quickly lost it again when Cui Yun answered with a cross-court smash.  Both sides executed another round of unexpected hits that resulted in an exchange of service but in Cui Yun’s subsequent service, Amanda’s backhand failed to make a good return and Cui Yun went on to gain four more points to lead 6-0. 

It was then Cui Yun’s turn to slip into a run of errors, as she made consecutive back-court lobs that landed out of bounds to allow Amanda to catch up to 4-6.  An out-of-bounds hit by Amanda turned the service back to Cui Yun, and a second consecutive one allowed Cui Yun to pull away to 7-4.  One smash from Amanda turned the situation around, as Cui Yun committed three consecutive unforced errors and Amanda levelled the game 7-7.  A well-placed back-court lob by Amanda put her in front for the first time at 8-7, but a cross-court smash by Cui Yun, followed by a poor return from Amanda, saw the game levelled again at 8-8.  Amanda fired a smash to regain the service, and a poor return by Cui Yun had Amanda leading again at 9-8.  Cui Yun executed a well-placed drop near the net to regain service but lost it quickly with a deflection on a defensive return.  In the next two serves by Amanda, a poorly executed drop by her opponent and a well-placed one of her own gave her the two crucial points to win the tough-fought first set 11-8.

The first-set slip-up seemed to have served as a wake-up call for Amanda.  She led the second set with an early 1-0 lead when she executed two consecutive well-placed drops near the net, both of which Cui Yun failed to return.  A couple of misplaced cross-court hits later however gave her opponent a service opportunity and a point to level the game 1-1.  Amanda sent a sudden cross-court attack that caught Cui Yun unaware and with the service won, she scored two more points to lead 3-1.  She continued with a few fumbles, including a smash right into the net that allowed Cui Yun one point to trail 2-3, but it seemed then that Amanda had finally started to loosen up in the game and focus on her attacks.  Exercising better control in her hits and better judgment in her defense, she scored four of her remaining points not through her opponent’s mistakes, but through her own attacks alternating between smashes and light drops that eventually overwhelmed and tired out her opponent. 

Cui Yun, on the other hand, won back service not through her own counter-attacks but through her opponent’s own errors.  Looking suddenly worn out and unable to handle Amanda’s relentless attacks, Cui Yun never managed to score another point in the set.  Instead, she gave Amanda three consecutive points in the end through careless hits that flew out of bounds to set her opponent up at match-point.  In the very last point played, she failed even to return Amanda’s final serve.  Amanda wrapped up the second set 11-2, and RJC won the semifinal tie 4-1.

Raffles will face Temasek JC in the Final on Thursday, 24 May at Toa Payoh Sports Hall at 2 pm and having beaten TJC 4-1 in an earlier first-round match, it seems the crown will remain in Raffles’ possession this year.

Or, will it?

N.B. In the Boys semifinals, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) beat Meridian Junior College 4-1 while Raffles Junior College beat Anglo-Chinese Junior College 5-0.