BADMINTON
Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Badminton Championships 2008
Story by Leslie Tan. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei. © Red Sports
Nanyang Polytechnic, Friday, January 11, 2008 – The Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTU) beat the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) 4-1 at Nanyang Polytechnic to retain their IVP Badminton Championship title.
In the first singles game, Tay Paul Tiong of NTU raced to a commanding 12-6 lead in the first set against Robert Sugarra of SIM. However, Tay started to make unforced errors, allowing Sugarra to come storming back to 13-13. Tay managed to recover and, through greater court craft, worked his way back into the lead at 18-14 before finishing off the first set a 21-15 winner.
In the second set, Sugarra was the early pace setter, jumping out to a 4-2 lead bu Tay pulled level at 4-4. Sugarra managed to keep his nose in front, employing an effective cross-court smash three times to catch Tay off-guard and win himself valuable points to lead 12-8. Sugarra managed to pull ahead to a 16-11 lead but that’s when Tay started to get back into the game, using his technique to negate Sugarra’s greater power in smashes and to pull himselve level at 16-16. Tay then pulled ahead, limiting Sugarra to no more than two additional points before finishing him off 21-18 in the second set to secure NTU their first point of the night to go 1-0 up.
In the second singles match, Ng Wei Pin of NTU took on Erik Wu of SIM. It soon became apparent that Ng was technically superior, forcing Wu into error after error as he built a quick 10-2 lead. It was only a matter of time before he won the first set 21-4. In the second set, it was more of the same as Ng raced quickly to a 10-3 lead. While Wu managed to put up a better fight in the second set, Ng wrapped it up quickly at 21-7 for an overall 2-0 lead for NTU.
It was now down to Daniel Tan of SIM to stave off defeat against NTU captain Tan Jing Ru. Both players were closely matched in skill but Jing Ru always had the slight edge in the first set, allowing Daniel to only take the lead twice. At 19-16, Jing Ru looked set to wrap it up quickly but Daniel had a brief comeback which ultimately faltered, allowing Jing Ru to edge him 21-19 to win the first set.
In the second set, Daniel became the early pace setter to lead 6-4, then 8-5. However he committed errors while leading 10-8, allowing Jing Ru to come back and tie it up 10-10. With the momentum back with him, Jing Ru pulled ahead to 15-11, then 19-15 against a tiring Daniel before wrapping it up 21-18 and clinching the final point for NTU to recapture the IVP Badminton Championship.
“In a final, it’s anybody’s game and so I’m pleased with the effort of the team because we had the pressure of defending our title,” said Tan Jing Ru after his match. “After the exams in November, we only had one month to train. We beat NUS in the semis this year. Last year, we also beat NUS in the semis before going on to beat ITE in the final to win the 07 title.”
Alex Lim and Kok Yong of NTU beat Kevin Lee and Wee Yang of SIM 2-0 to win the first doubles game but Darrell Lee and Andy Wu salvaged some pride for SIM when they beat Guo Jian and Zhi Ye in the second doubles game to secure a point for their school.
“We did our best, given the constraints” said Edison Sim, president of the SIM badminton club. “Our school has no court, two of our players work and study at the same time and we train only once a week. Last year, the first year we participated in IVP, we didn’t get out of our group. This is the first year we sent in team for both the men’s and women’s category.”
In the match for third and fourth placing, the National University of Singapore beat Temasek Polytechnic 3-2, with the final point decided in an exciting second doubles game.
In the women’s semi-final matches played at the same time, NTU beat TP 5-0 while NUS beat SIM 4-1.
Team Roster:
NTU
Tay Paul Tiong [1st singles]
Ng Wei Pin [2nd singles]
Tan Jing Ru [3rd singles]
Alex Lim [1st doubles]
Kok Yong
Guo Jian [2nd doubles]
Zhi Ye
SIM
Robert Sugarra [1st singles]
Erik Wu[2nd singles]
Daniel Tan [3rd singles]
Kevin Lee [1st doubles]
Wee Yang
Darrell Lee [2nd doubles]
Andy Wu
More pictures in the gallery.
“Nanyang Polytechnic, Friday, January 11, 2008 – The Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTU) beat the Singapore Institute of Management (SMU) 4-1 at Nanyang Polytechnic to retain their IVP Badminton Championship title.”
it’s SIM, not SMU uncle les. (: