Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Loh Guo Pei and Iman Hashim/Red Sports
NTU’s anchor Xander Ho (in white) pips training partner Sing Hui of NUS to the line by 0.09s to clinch the men’s 4x100m relay gold in 41.67s. (Photo 1 © Loh Guo Pei)
Kallang Practice Track, Saturday, March 26, 2022 — Two teams went under 42 seconds in the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) men’s 4 by 100 metres relay as Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s Calvin Quek, Praharsh Ryan, Muhammad Zulkhair and Xander Ho pipped title holders National University of Singapore (NUS) by 0.09s to take gold in 41.67s.
The NUS quartet of Elgene Chng, Syazani Wahid, Ivan Abisha and Sing Hui stopped the clock at 41.76s to settle for silver while Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP)’s Irfan Ikhlash, Ryan Raphael, Prithikvel Ramas and Ian Gan finished third in 44.15s.
“We knew NUS were the favourites to win the relay but we were determined to get the gold especially after two of our runners placed in the 100m top three,” said NTU third runner Zulkhair.
“We knew that it would be a very close fight.”
Added second runner Praharsh, who claimed bronze in the individual 100m and placed fourth in the 400m: “I think both teams put up a really strong fight and together we put on a show for everyone till the very end of the race.”
NTU’s gold-winning time was just two hundredths of a second outside the 41.65s IVP meet record, set in 2010 by the then-NUS team of Amirudin Jamal, Elfi Mustapa, Abdul Hakeem and Lance Tan.
It was also NTU’s first win in the event since 2018.
“I was shocked (by the timing) as we were just going in for the win,” said NTU’s anchor Xander, who was the meet’s fastest man over 100m and also clinched silver in the 200m.
“I was honestly amazed by the performance put up by the team but gutted as well as we missed (the meet record) by 0.02s.”
Aided by Calvin’s fast lead-off leg, Praharsh and Zulkhair held off their competition before Xander ran a strong anchor and dipped ahead of training partner Sing Hui to snatch the gold.
“We train together so going into the race, there wasn’t a very intense rivalry,” said Xander of the NUS anchor runner. “But we were ready to go all out to win it for our schools that day.”
Despite the outcome, Sing Hui was gracious in defeat and credited the NTU team’s performance.
“I think our team (NUS) gave it our best shot,” said Sing Hui. “We were disappointed not to win, but NTU were a great team and deserved the win.”
“Xander is not just a great training partner on the track, but also a great friend off it. My hope is for both of us to continue pushing each other forward,” added Sing Hui, who along with Xander, is bound for the Hanoi Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in May as part of the national 4x100m relay squad.
Another Hanoi-bound athlete, NTU’s Calvin, emerged as the meet’s most decorated athlete with a haul of five golds — clinching a treble of 400m hurdles, 400m and 4x400m relay victories all within six hours the next day to add to his wins in the 200m and 4x100m relay.
In what was his final IVP, the newly minted 400m hurdles national record holder (51.73s) comfortably claimed the win in his pet event with a time of 57.00s.
He then blazed through another lap in the flat 400m, clocking 49.86s to get the better of NUS duo Oliver Lim (51.74s) and Caleb Clayton (52.61s) who claimed the silver and bronze in their maiden IVP respectively.
To top the day off, Calvin recorded an unofficial 47.9s split to anchor NTU to the 4x400m relay gold in 3:24.62, against NUS’s 3:26.32 and Republic Polytechnic (RP)’s 3:41.47.
The result wrapped up a double relay gold and ensured NTU swept all men’s sprint titles at the meet, with the exception of the 110m hurdles which was won by NUS’s national under-23 record holder Chong Wei Guan.
After a two-year hiatus owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the IVP championships made a return with all track events contested in a timed finals format and with the absence of spectators inside the venue. To further adhere to safe management measures, there was a cap of five athletes or relay teams contesting each timed final.
Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) institutions also had separate overall standings and positions for each event, with medals given separately. The NP team, for instance, received a POL-ITE gold for the men’s 4x100m relay on top of the IVP bronze.
IVP meet records were set in the men’s discus (46.99m, Eric Yee of NUS), as well as in the women’s 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, with NUS’s Vanessa Lee lowering her own championship mark to 18:25.93 in the former and setting a new record of 12:02.55 in the latter — both within six hours of each other in the hot weather.
These results helped NUS narrowly pip NTU by four points to top the overall IVP women’s team standings, while NUS also retained the men’s championship with 200 points to NTU’s 181.5.
Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)’s small team of athletes commendably finished third in both men’s and women’s standings, spearheaded by Melissa Yee (shot put and discus golds), Roxanne Enriquez (400m gold, 100m and 200m bronzes), Wisely Tan (5000m gold, 10000m silver), Shawn Chia (800m gold, 1500m bronze), Caleb Hoe (shot put silver, discus bronze, javelin 5th), Terence Tang (110m hurdles silver, long jump 4th) and Jarryl Chong (long jump silver).
2022 IVP Track and Field Championships – Selected Results
Men’s 4x100m Relay
1st Nanyang Technological University — 41.67 seconds
2nd National University of Singapore — 41.76
3rd Ngee Ann Polytechnic — 44.15
4th Temasek Polytechnic — 46.04
5th Nanyang Polytechnic — 46.72
6th Singapore Polytechnic — 46.91
7th Singapore Management University — 47.51
8th Singapore Institute of Management — 47.62
Women’s 4x100m Relay
1st National University of Singapore — 51.07 seconds
2nd Republic Polytechnic — 51.34
3rd Temasek Polytechnic — 53.17
4th Nanyang Technological University — 53.21
5th Singapore University of Social Sciences — 53.32
6th Nanyang Polytechnic — 53.54
7th Singapore Management University — 54.71
8th Ngee Ann Polytechnic — 56.28
Men’s 4x400m Relay
1st Nanyang Technological University — 3 minutes 24.62 seconds
2nd National University of Singapore — 3:26.32
3rd Republic Polytechnic — 3:41.47
4th Temasek Polytechnic — 3:43.72
5th Nanyang Polytechnic — 3:44.25
6th Singapore Polytechnic — 3:46.59
7th Singapore Institute of Technology — 3:47.17
8th Singapore Management University — 3:53.14
Women’s 4x400m Relay
1st Republic Polytechnic — 4 minutes 13.68 seconds
2nd Nanyang Technological University — 4:19.50
3rd National University of Singapore — 4:25.43
4th Temasek Polytechnic — 4:35.47
5th Ngee Ann Polytechnic — 4:36.76
6th Singapore Management University — 4:44.38
7th Singapore University of Social Sciences — 4:53.20
8th Nanyang Polytechnic — 5:06.02
Men’s Discus
1st Eric Yee (#87, NUS) — 46.99 metres (New CR)
2nd Jonathan Low (#90, NUS) — 40.70
3rd Caleb Hoe (#151, SIT) — 30.37
Women’s 3000m Steeplechase
1st Vanessa Lee (#130, NUS) — 12 minutes 2.55 seconds (New CR)
2nd Clarice Lau (#129, NUS) — 12:39.84
3rd Cheryl Chng (#201, NTU) — 14:43.45
Women’s 5000m
1st Vanessa Lee (#130, NUS) — 18 minutes 25.93 seconds (New CR)
2nd Toh Ting Xuan (#134, NUS) — 19:14.79
3rd Sarah Goh (#15, NP) — 20:28.34
Full results of the meet can be found at this link.
More photos and results next page
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