Temasek come back from the brink to break Victoria hearts

BADMINTON

National ‘A’ Division Girls Semifinal
Temasek Junior College vs Victoria Junior College
Monday, 21 May 2007 at Jurong East Sports Hall

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

Temasek Junior College (TJC) came back from 0-2 down to sweep the last three games against Victoria Junior College (VJC), ensuring themselves a place in the National ‘A’ Division Championship Final. Players and supporters went through a roller-coaster ride of emotions this afternoon as their respective school’s fortunes rose and fell.

TJC’s Yap Sze Sze stretches to retrieve in her 1st Singles match. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the 1st Singles, VJC’s Lur May Yee took on TJC’s Yap Sze Sze and soon found herself trailing 3–7. However, she managed to stop Sze Sze from moving further away with a deft drop shot to win back serve and gain for herself a point in the next exchange to trail 4-7. Then a period ensued where neither could win points on their serve before Sze Sze of TJC broke through and started piling on the points, going from 8-4, to 10-4 before May Yee managed to win back serve again. However, May Yee could not score any points and the momentum swung back to Sze Sze who rapped it up 11-4 for the first set.

VJC’s Lur May Yee in action during her 1st Singles game. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Things turned around for May Yee in the second set. Having found her rhythm and her range, she never trailed once throughout this set. Jumping out to a 3-1 lead and stretching it further to 7-2, she more than matched Sze Sze who only won back serve at 2-7 with a killer drop shot. Sze Sze went on to win a point but that was all May Yee gave her as she wrapped it up 11-3 in the second set to move the match into a rubber set.

May Yee again jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the third set before Sze Sze gave stiff resistance. Both girls engaged in drops and counter drops. At one point, May Yee thought her drop shot had outwitted Sze Sze. Turning away and clenching her first, she did not see Sze Sze dig out the drop shot and send the shuttle arcing back across the net to the delight of her supporters. May Yee only figured out what happened when her bench told her what happened. However, that was just a minor hiccup as May Yee continued her domination and moved ahead to 7-2 before Sze Sze again stopped her with a deft drop shot. However, Sze Sze could not score a point on her serve and lost serve back to May Yee. May Yee moved to 8-2 and Sze Sze stopped her again by winning back serve with a huge smash followed by a delicate drop shot which caught May Yee. But again, Sze Sze could not score a point and surrendered serve back again. This time, May Yee moved ahead to 9-2 as Sze Sze committed an error. She followed it up with two cross-court drop shots to finally wrap it up 11-2 and give VJC a 1-0 lead overall.

TJC’s 1st Doubles pair of Chan Ying Ying and Sherly Gunawan. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the 1st Doubles game, the two sets of players were evenly matched coming out of the blocks. They were neck and neck until 6-6 before TJC’s pair of Chan Ying Ying and Sherly Gunawan pulled away to lead 9-6. However, that brief run was halted when the VJC pair of Yong Jui May and Alison Chew reeled off three consecutive points to even it up at 9-9. With a stronger smashing game, Jui May and Alison then went on a points streak of their own, pulling away to 11-9, then 13-9. The VJ pair were able to handle anything the TJ pair threw at them and so it was a matter of time before Jui May and Alison wrapped up the first set 15-9.

VJC’s 1st Doubles pair of Yong Jui May and Alison Chew. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

In the second set, VJ continued their domination and lead from start to finish. Even though there was a glimmer of hope for TJ’s Ying Ying and Sherly when they managed to hold the score at 2-2, Jui May and Alison piled on the points quickly after that and raced to a 9-2 lead before losing serve back to the TJ pair. But unforced errors cost TJ dearly and the VJ pair began piling on the points again. Soon it was 13-3 and the TJ pair were struggling to get their returns deep enough to the back of the court. Their half court returns were gladly smashed back for points by VJ. At 14-3, VJ made two errors to hand serve back to TJ who scored another point. But that was all they got as VJ’s Jui May and Alison wrapped up the second set 15-4.

Chan Li Ying of VJC in action during the 2nd Singles. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

The TJC fightback began in the 2nd Singles. TJC’s Melissa Foo raced out to an 8-1 lead against Chan Li Ying of VJC to provide her teammates and supporters with the first glimmer of hope. VJ’s Li Ying anxiety was apparent enough for her bench to encourage her to calm down but superior court play by Melissa of TJ enabled her to pull further ahead to 10-3 before Li Ying fought back to win serve to stave off the loss of the first set. However, she could not score any further points and Melissa wrapped up the first set 11-3.

Melissa Foo of TJC returns the shuttle in her game against Chan Li Ying of VJC. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Li Ying raced out to a 3-1 lead in the second set, giving her teammates some hope but Melissa of TJ soon reeled her back in to even it up 3-3. They matched each other to go to 4-4 at which point they had an extended and intricate exchange of drop shots at the net which required deft hands and nerves of steel. Melissa won the exchange and as a sign of how important the point was psychologically for her, she let out a loud cheer upon winning it. Melissa moved ahead to 6-4 before Li Ying dug in her heels and won back service a few times. But errors on her part allowed Melissa to pull ahead to 8-4, then 10-5. Melissa calmly defended and retrieved everything that Li Ying threw at her and she finally won the second set 11-5.

Chua Wan Yun and Isabel Koh of VJC prepare to receive serve. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

So TJC were still alive but trailing 1-2 overall. TJC hopes now rested on their 2nd Doubles pair of Seow Zi Xian and Priscilla Tan to continue their fightback against the VJC pair of Chua Wan Yun and Isabel Koh. They were evenly matched up to 2-2 when Zi Xian and Priscilla started to pull ahead to 4-2,then 6-2 and then 8-2 courtesy of some VJ errors that gave them points. An error on the part of the TJ pair then gave serve back to VJ, allowing them to score two points to narrow the gap to 4-8. However, Zi Xian and Priscilla of TJ proved too strong and started to pull further ahead, employing delicate drop shots that were constantly finding gaps in the VJ defense. Zi Xian and Priscilla wrapped up the first set 15-5.

The tension was now ratcheted up a notch and VJ were feeling the heat. Wan Yun and Isabel came out firing for VJ and jumped to a 3-1 lead. Zi Xian and Priscilla of TJ caught up with them to make it 3-3 but Wan Yun and Isabel fought back with a barrage of attacking play to go up 6-4 and then to 8-4. They were halted in their tracks as Zi Xian and Priscilla fought back to score four unanswered points to even it up 8-8. Wan Yun and Isabel then came back to go up 11-8. The TJ pair were now committing errors and giving points away and the VJ pair were edging up to 13-8.

It was at this point that things began to fall apart for Wan Yun and Isabel of VJC.

Seow Zi Xian and Priscilla Tan of TJC in action during their 2nd Doubles match. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

A VJ mistake gave serve back to TJ. Stroke by stroke, smash by smash, drop shot by drop shot, Zi Xian and Priscilla of TJ started to pile on the points. 8-13 became, 9-13, then 10-13, 11-13. While Wan Yun and Isabel managed to win serve back for VJ, they could not, try as they might, score any points. The two teams were locked in a stalemate at 11-13, winning and losing serve, but neither able to score points. Then, a barrage of smahes by TJ won serve back and they broke through to go to 12-13. Then it was 13-13 when a TJ return hit the top of the net and dribbled over! 14-13. Despite the tension, Zi Xian and Priscilla kept talking to each other, even smiling. WIth the momentum swinging their way, they wrapped up the second set 15-13 and level the overall score at 2-2.

The TJ bench erupted in ecstasy while the VJ bench sat in stunned silence. In the stands, the TJ supporters were on their feet while the VJ supporters looked like they had a nuclear reactor meltdown.

TJC captain, Cia Zhi Yun, in action during the 3rd Singles match. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

So it was now all-or-nothing game in the 3rd Singles although it was quite clear from the TJ team reaction that they had confidence in their 3rd Singles player and Captain, Cia Zhi Yun, winning the crucial third point. And so it proved to be. Zhi Yun was a stronger player than her opponent, Mah Yun Yuan. While Yun Yuan was able to mix her shots up to fool Zhi Yun now and then, she was not able to do it with any consistency and soon found her self down 3-8. Zhi Yun was always comfortable and soon wrapped up the first set 11-3.

Zhi Yun built up a 5-1 lead in the second set and extended it further to 7-2 benefiting from errors by Yun Yuan. But fighting for her team, Yun Yuan forced Zhi Yuan into making errors of her own to claw her way to 4-7. But Zhi Yun continued to ease ahead to 10-5. With the whole VJ bench now on their feet and encouraging her, Yun Yuan had a long battle with Zhi Yuan to win back serve and score another point to make it 6-10. But Zhi Yun soon prevailed over her and won the second set 11-5, completing a remarkable 3-2 win for her team.

"Even though we were 2-0 down we knew we could fight back. The 2nd Singles game was key in our fightback but overall it was a great team effort," said Zhi Yun, captain of TJC, after the match.

There were tears on the VJ bench after the loss while the TJ bench dissolved into hugs and cheers.

TJC will now face Raffles Junior College (RJC) in the final on Thursday at 2pm at Toa Payoh Sports Hall. TJC lost 1-4 to them in an earlier round.

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.