Story contributed by reader Winston Yao of ACS(Ind). Photos by reader Joshua Chan.
Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Monday, April 21, 2008 – In a tense final, Montfort Secondary edged out their opponents ACS(Independent) 4-1 to regain their C Division title which they had relinquished in 2007 to Raffles Institution. Contrary to what the score suggests, it was a tense and edgy match with an intense atmosphere generated by both sets of supporters.
In the first game, Chay Sai Kin, of ACS(Ind) entered the fray to face Yoshiko Alexander Sianipar of Montfort Secondary. Playing through illness, Sai Kin was easily dismantled in the first set through Yoshiko's deft flicks. Confessing to his teammates that he wanted to forfeit, he still played on in spite of his illness to embody the ACSian spirit of never giving up to force his opponents into silly mistakes. However, it was not to be as he eventually succumbed to Yoshiko 22-20 despite having a slender 3-point lead.
Next to battle was Takahiro Tan and Choo Wern Han of ACS versus Jamie Wong and Chay Jun Yang of Montfort. Spurred on by the 100 or so ACS supporters, Takahiro and Wern Han raced to a 5-point lead at the interval. However, Jamie and Jun Yang eventually regained their composure to take the first set 21-15. The second set was much like the same and after a long and tiring match, Jamie and Jun Yang eventually won 21-16, much to the delight of the many Sec 1 and 2 Montfort students present for the match.

With the knowledge that their captain and strongest doubles had already been defeated, it was time for Alton Chew of ACS(Ind) to step up. Losing only to Gerald Ong of the Singapore Sports School in the whole tournament, Alto was adamant that he would not lose. With the weight of expectation bearing down on him, he stepped up to easily beat Mohd Asraf in straight sets to give a glimmer of hope to ACS supporters. Buoyed by Alton's victory, ACS supporters were now in deafening mood.

Next up was the doubles pairing of Joshua Chan and Nicholas Seah of ACS against Reynaldi Setianto and Ricky Sidharta of Montfort. Reynaldi and Ricky easily swept Joshua and Nicholas Seah aside in the first set 21-9. However, in the second set, it was a different story as Joshua and Nicholas pushed themselves and fought for every point to take the lead. All hopes of a gallant ACS fight back was duly extinguished as they eventually went down 21-18.

With only pride left to play for, Kalesh S/O Kalaimani faced off against Wasin Wachiradilok. Making sure that he would not go down without a fight, Kalesh battled hard for every point but still eventually succumbed to his Thai opponent 2-1 to ensure that Montfort would maintain their record of 4-1 and 5-0 victories against their numerous opponents.

In other results, Montfort claimed a double when they defeated Singapore Sports School in the B Boys final and it was more heartbreak for the Singapore Sports School as they went down 1-3 in the B Girls final to Xinmin Secondary. Raffles Girls' School claimed the C Girls title after outplaying Nanyang Girls' School 4-1.
I LOVE TAKAHIRO TAN! HE IS SO GOOD!!
I LOVE KALESH!!!!!! HE ROCKS, BEST BADMINTON PLAYER EVER. CAN TRASH ANY MONFORT/SPORTS SCHOOL PLAYER 21-O!!!
i would like to say that imports… are a really major issue for badminton. everytime you see imports that are older than you and obviously have height, experience and strength advantage. so comments about how monfort having more skill or whatever… hmm..
think about this. you only need 3 singles to win. so even though monfort has singaporean talent, they have 3 sure points from 3 imports. how’d you like it if i bring in a whole squad of foreigners. every single local player out there will obviously be discouraged. its not about the winning and losing. its concern for local players not being given the chance.
Why all of u ppl like to debate over issues of foreign talents? there are postive and negative impact on them entering SG. if u guys are nt happy over it jus try and win them, it isnt impossible.
train hard and dun keep grumble because losing to foreign players.
I think that both sides played well. and we should not be debating over all those things like foreign talent. acsi certainly has more singaporeans, but that doesn’t mean that monfort would trash. if they bring in foreigners, then good on them.
Montfort … For ur info…. Hav SINGAPOREAN badminton players too . & they’re dhe best in singapore . & Sports school too are gaining more foreign imports . btw… ACSI, Sai kin , was from montfort junior . & a few more graduated from there to sports school . Juz admit it… Montfort won because of SKILL . both primary n sec . (though primary didn’t acheive alot .)
oh and btw, acsi a div and b div has loads of indonesians and foreigners too. how could you forget your seniors!
how many singaporean players did acs i poach? how many montfort junior players were lost to singapore sports school? naturally montfort has to do something.
i think montfort won mostly because of imports but there are also talents, just that talented players from singapore still are not as good as the imports
as for acs they dont really have imports so erm the chance of winning wasnt that high ?!
How many foreign players ur got? We got 0….
Montfort win because of SKILL not the international team
montfort won cause of their international team………..in local competition, ACS woould own
badminton rocks “D
Thats alot of imports for Monfort. Whatever happened to local talents?
yeah hope there can be more updates on badminton!
Omgggg, XINMIN ROCKED THE HOUSE ON MONDAY!
GREAT JOB, CHAMPIONS MONTFORT AND XINMIN 😀
how come monfort all imports and only imports. isn’t this SINGAPORE SPORTS COUNCIL NATIONAL SCHOOLS C DIVISION. Singapore..
hi
the pictures are nicebut alton chew’s face lookdistorted
but overall its still nice 😀
hope there are more pictures and stories of badminton finals 😀
thanks
why is it that there’s no detailed on the match between rgs and nygh! it was quite exciting wasn’t it, to see nanyang in the finals for the first time in nanyang’s 90 years of existence.. nanyang will OWN next year!!!! (: