By Red Sports Reader Gordon Choo
National C Division champions – Raffles Institution. (Photo courtesy of Gordon Choo)
Kallang Squash Complex, Thursday, April 25, 2013 — Raffles Institution (RI) took home the title when they defeated perennial rivals Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) (ACS(I)) 5–0 in the final of the National C Division Boys’ Squash Championship.
RI had narrowly beaten ACS(I) 3–2 earlier in the preliminary round. However, the final proved to be a one-sided affair with the return of RI’s top two players – Tan Ijoe and Kevin Tong. Both players did not compete in the earlier round against ACS(I).
The final began with Kevin Tong of RI playing against ACS(I)’s Nicholas Lee. Kevin comfortably wrapped up the match with a 3–0 win. Following that was the second match between Anders Ong of RI and Ong Li Jun of ACS(I). Anders overcame a jittery start and completed his game confidently to win 3–0.
RI’s Ethan Liew and ACS(I)’s Keegan Wong played the crucial third match which determined if ACS(I) had any chance of a comeback. The pressure was on Keegan to win in order to keep the competition in play. Keegan started well as he led Ethan by a small margin. However, the latter fought on and continually tried to minimise the deficit. Ethan’s effort paid off as he won the first set at 11–9.
The next set saw similar play as Keegan tried to pull ahead but to no avail. Ethan stepped up his play and was victorious in the second and third set, thus ending RI’s title drought in front of their jubilant supporters.
As RI continued to dominate in the fourth game between Clement Hung of RI and Joshua Chew of ACS(I), ACS(I) showed their unity with loud cheers led by a strong group of student leaders. The ACS(I) cheer certainly spurred Joshua on as he fought to win the only set by ACS(I) in the final, although losing to Clement eventually.
The last match was played by RI’s top seed, Tan Ijoe against ACS(I)’s Rendall. A lethargic Ijoe, who was still recovering from an illness, gave it his all as he managed to defeat Rendall to contribute to the overall score of 5–0 to RI.
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