Story by Zachary Foo/Red Sports. Photos by Louisa Goh/Red Sports.
(L-R) Joy Teo and Chiu Jing Wen of RI react after the shuttle hits the net, bringing the score to 21-16 in the second set. The pair sealed RI’s victory by winning 2-0 (22-20, 21-16) against RV. (Photo 1 © Louisa Goh/Red Sports)
Bedok Sports Hall, Tuesday, May 21, 2014 — Raffles Institution (RI) defeated River Valley High School (RVHS) 3–1 to clinch the National A Division Girls’ Badminton Championship. This is RI’s 11th straight championship title since 2004.
In the first singles match, Chong Fui Jin (RI) took on Lee Shu En (RVHS) in a clash which saw both players that were evenly matched. Every time Fui Jin built up a lead in the match, Shu En would rally back to keep the scores close. However, Fui Jin eventually prevailed in two sets, winning 21–17 and 21–19.
The first doubles match saw Lee Shu Zhen and Kelly Tan of RI defeat Sherilyn Cheng and Rachel Lee of RVHS 2–0. The RI pair proved to be formidable early on, as they clinched the first set 21–4. Both RI players showed good team work while on the attack. The RVHS players looked outmatched at times in the first set, committing a lot of unforced errors in the period. In the second set, RVHS looked to have settled down, as they jumped out to an early 6–3 lead. RI came back to tie the game at 9–all, before riding their momentum to clinch the set 21–17. The win helped RI to a 2–0 overall lead.
Susan Guo (RVHS) defeated Marissa Ng (RI) 2–0 in the second singles match. Susan used her big frame to cover the court, giving Marissa a tough time with her shots. This allowed Susan to take a 19–13 lead in the first set. However, Marissa roared straight back, scoring six straight points to pull even at 19-all. Susan managed to compose herself, taking the final two points to close out the set 21–19. The second set was a back-and-forth affair between both players. Marissa took the initial lead, before Susan came back to tie the game at 14-all. She was able to control the game from there with her net play, eventually taking the final set 21-16. Her win helped pull one back for RVHS, as they trailed 2–1 at that point.
RI’s Joy Teo and Chiu Jing Wen were able to seal the win by taking out Jessica Boediman and Zhang Yuran of RVHS 2–0 in the second doubles match. The first set was a close fight between both teams, but Joy and Jing Wen were able to prevail in the tiebreaker to take the set with a score of 22–20. In the second set, Jessica and Yuran were able to come back to tie the game at 11-all. However, that was as close as they would get. Joy and Jing Wen were able to close out the set 21–16, sealing RI’s 3–1 overall win to hand them the championship.
RI captain, Chong Fui Jin, said, “I am very happy with the win as it justified the hard work we put in throughout the year. River Valley played very well, but I am glad that we were able to come out with the win. I would like to thank coach Hamid, the school, teachers, parents and friends for supporting us throughout the season.”
A Division Girls Final Results
1st Raffles Institution
2nd River Valley High School
3rd Victoria Junior College
4th Anglo-Chinese Junior College
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