Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports.
Royston Ng (RP #3) attempts to score. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
Republic Polytechnic, Saturday, March 29, 2014 — Defending champions Republic Polytechnic (RP) beat Singapore Polytechnic (SP) 22–20 in a decisive last minute to emerge champions in the Tertiary Tchoukball Championship.
In the semi-finals, SP had brought down Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to claim a spot in the final, while RP defeated Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) by merely one point.
Elvis Tan (RP #10) contributed eight points for his team, while Nico Quek (SP #9) had a game-high 10 points.
RP had a furious start to the game, scoring four points straight to lead 4–0 before Nico Quek (SP #9) scored the first point for SP. His shot rebounded at an angle to land just before the baseline, a position where the defenders were unable to reach in time.
Nico (SP #9) continued to pour in points for the SP side, scoring a total of seven points in the first half alone.
Elvis Tan (RP #10) also paced his team’s offense with multiple shots at the net, adding point after point on the scoreboard. He scored one more just before the buzzer went off, to give RP the slight 12–10 lead going into the break.
In the second half, RP’s players reorganized their defence line, and started to dive for Nico’s (SP #9) shot rebounds near the baseline. Their concentration defensively stopped Nico’s (SP #9) scoring streak.
Then on, Khairi (SP #8) stepped up his game, scoring several crucial points. SP caught up to level at 14–14 midway through the second half.
Elvis (RP #10) then converted Nico’s (SP #9) rebound to make it 15–14. For the rest of the game, whenever RP scored one, SP replied in the following possession. As such the score difference never went beyond two points.
With one minute left on the clock, RP were leading by a mere one point (19-18). RP and SP then took turns to score until it was 21-20. The final point came from Elvis (RP #10), who slammed it down onto the rebounding board, allowing RP to emerge as champions with a 22–20 victory.
Republic Polytechnic captain, Elvis (#10), said, “My team did great. They really put in a lot of effort even though there were many casualties in the squad. Our vision is to retain our POL-ITE gold medal. Since we’ve won IVP two times in a row, we would like to make it three.”
Singapore Polytechnic captain, Nico (#9), said, “Actually I think that many teams have improved in the past few years. I think we did quite well, just a little mistakes here and there in the course of the game.”
Scoring by Period
RP 22 SP 20 (HT: 12–10)
Top Scorers
RP
Elvis Tan (#10) – 8 points
SP
Nico Quek (#9) – 10 points
RP Roster
Roger Lye Zhan Yi (#1), Royston Ng Choon Kiat (#3), Chua Pei Wei (#5), Lim Woo Chiang (#7), Jeff Foo Yi Hao (#8), Khew Jin Hui Daniel (#9), Tan Pin Neng Elvis (#10), Teenesh S/O Thanabalan (#11), Teo Zhe Wei (#12), Lim Xue Qing Brandon (#13), Lim Qi Sheng (#15), Quek Ping Zhou Dylan (#17)
SP Roster
Chong Jun Kiet (#1), Lee Yu Kang (#2), Kenneth Chen Wai Yip (#6), Lim Zi Ting (#7), Khairi Bin Abdul Rashid (#8), Nico Quek Ping Yang (#9), Sean Lim Jun Hao (#11), Low Ee Tuck (#12), Muhammad Nuh Bin Norseni (#15), Sim Woei Sheng (#16), Brendon Lim Wei Zhang (#21), Lim Cheng Yang (#22)
More photos next page
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