By REDintern Jasmine Goh. Photos by Joseph Lee/Red Sports
Mohamad Irfan bin Mohamad Saha (ITE #9) tries to get past Jing Li (RP #26). Irfan scored a team-high of 11 goals. (Photo 1 © Joseph Lee/Red Sports)
Singapore Polytechnic, Sunday, September 29, 2013 –– The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) beat Republic Polytechnic (RP) in a thrilling 21–18 victory for their second win in the 3rd Invitational Handball Games organised and hosted by Singapore Polytechnic.
ITE defeated Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) 31–18 in their opening game the day before.
RP drew first blood with Jing Li (#26) scoring a cut in. RP put themselves in a 3–0 lead after a 9m shooting attempt and a high-bounce shot by Chun Hwa (#4). However, ITE bounced back as they displayed relentless pressure on their defence and capitalized on their fast breaks to tie the score at 3–3.
RP went on to score with four consecutive shots, putting themselves 7–3 ahead. ITE, however, did not back down on their attacks and managed to pull off their wing shots and cut-ins to trail RP by three (8–11) at half-time.
In the second half, an assist from Muhd. Irfan (#9) to Guo Rui (#12) helped ITE to draw level at 13–13. Jing Li (#26) of RP displayed his shooting threat with his fifth successive 9m shot, but ITE were alert enough to fall back into defence quickly.
With five minutes left on the clock, Saiful Rijal (#14) suffered a two-minute penalty and ITE had to play with one man down, giving RP a chance to narrow the three-goal deficit they were facing at that point. However, an illegal RP substitution saw them suffer a two-minute penalty as well to even things on the court.
The game ended off with ITE winning 21–18, with their keeper Mohamad Shahrin (#2) saving 16 out of 34 RP shot attempts.
“We had a strong start and tried to widen the gap in the first half,” said RP captain Jeremy Ng (#7). “However, we were probably demoralized in the second half where the opposing team kept scoring and that may have affected our play.”
“For some of us, it is our first time playing for this season,” commented the ITE captain, Mohamad Irfan (#9). “It was a tough fight, but I’m really proud of my team for maintaining composure and keeping up the communication on court today.”
Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), who finished as runners-up in 2012, defeated RP 24–8 in their opening game, and overwhelmed Nanyang Polytechnic 41–14 for their second win.
Top Scorers
RP
Koh Jing Li (#26) – 12 points
ITE
Mohamad Irfan bin Mohamad Sahar (#9) – 11 points
Goalkeeper Stats
RP
Soo Auen (#12): 14/35 shots saved (40% save rate)
ITE
Mohamad Shahrin bin Abdullah (#2): 16/34 (47.1% save rate)
RP Roster
Randy Tan (#1), Oscar Ooi (#3), Chun Hwa (#4), Jeremy Ng (#7), Edward Lau (#8), Benjamin Lau Junqi (#9), Soo Auen (#12), Pritpal Singh (#14), Wilson Tan (#17), Qaimarul Jeffrey (#19), Asyraf Jumale (#25), Koh Jing Li (#26)
ITE Roster
Muhammad Zamir bin Rosli (#1), Mohamad Shahrin bin Abdullah (#2), Muhammad Qais bin Sharif (#3), Ong Yong Ze Arnold (#4), Muhammad Hafidz bin Mohd Yusri (#5), Glen Chan Wah Chuan (#6), Kieran Poh Keng Hian (#7), Tan Yong Liang Kevin (#8), Mohamad Irfan bin Mohamad Sahar (#9), Wong Chong En (#10), Xiong Yi En Marcus (#11), Wee Guo Rui (#12), Abu Bakar bin Masdollah (#13), Saiful Rijal bin Mohd Radhid (#14), Muhammad Yasin bin Abdul Latiff (#15), Jordan Ng Ching Yeow (#16)
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