Keith Yong (right) of Sports School just manages to hold off Paul Simmy (left) of ACS(I) in the final stretch to win the C Div 1500m final. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Tuesday, April 10, 2012 — Keith Yong of Singapore Sports School fought off the challenge of Paul Simmy of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) down the final stretch to win the C Division 1500m final in a time of 4 minutes 40.55 seconds at the 53rd National Schools’ Track and Field Championships.
Keith also won the C Division 3000m final earlier in the championships.
Paul finished just 0.59 seconds behind in 4:41.14 and there was no repeat of his comeback win in the C Division 800m final.
The championship record is 4:21.37 and it was set by Kannan Poobalan, then of Victoria School, in 1997.
Dylan Tan of Hwa Chong Institution saw off the challenge of Luqmanul Hakim Bin Othman of Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary to finish third in 4:41.92. Luqmanul finished 0.37 seconds behind in fourth. Luqmanul also finished fourth in the C Division 3000m final.
Harichandran s/oArivalagan set the early pace for the first lap and a half but he was soon left behind as the Raffles Institution pair of Tan Chong Qi and Elisha Goh moved into the lead.
Their lead was brief as Keith and Luqmanul moved past them. The pair seemed content to run side by side as they entered the final lap.
Paul, who was running seventh, then made his move. Running on the outside, he pulled ahead of Keith briefly but the Sports School student upped his pace and regained the lead.
Luqmanul doggedly kept pace with the front two in third place as Dylan Tan of HCI engaged in a battle of his own with Elisha for fourth place.
Heading into the final bend, Keith kept his lead as Paul moved outside and started to sprint with all he had. Paul edged ahead ever slightly with 50m to go but Keith had enough speed and endurance to hold on, regain the lead and pull away to win.
In the meantime, Dylan, having dropped Elisha, made up a 4m gap with Luqmanul at the final bend and just managed to pip the Ahmad Ibrahim runner for third.
Results
1st Keith Yong Sheng Wei (Singapore Sports School) — 04:40.55
2nd Paul Simmy (Anglo-Chinese School Independent) — 04:41.14
3rd Dylan Tan Yong Jin (Hwa Chong Institution) — 04:41.92
4th Luqmanul Hakim B Othman (Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary) — 04:42.29
5th Tan Chong Qi (Raffles Institution) — 04:44.32
6th Ryan Koh Zhong Qi (Hwa Chong Institution) — 04:48.25
7th Mandip Rai (Victoria School) — 04:48.43
8th Elisha Goh Si Yuan (Raffles Institution) — 04:48.68
9th Shamus Lim (Hwa Chong Institution) — 04:50.46
10th Lim Wan Hao Mark Llewellyn (Catholic High) — 04:51.49
11th Isaac Tan Wei Long (Anglo-Chinese School Independent) — 04:52.99
12th Louis Shia Wei Jie (North Vista Secondary) — 04:53.30
13th Brandon Lee Wen Jie (Gan Eng Seng School) — 04:54.51
14th Harichandran S/O Arivalagan (Commonwealth Secondary) — 04:54.60
15th Lim Chang Yu (Victoria School) — 04:54.63
16th Lee Zhong Kian, Chester (Catholic High) — 04:55.46
Video © SAA. Used with permission.
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