"There is only one thing we should achieve today." The Hall 2 squash team manager declared during his IHG squash semi-final pep talk.
"NOTHING..."
"...but VICTORY." before revealing a sneaky grin.
Such words were translated into reality not long after, when Huang Hua Ming, OMC Vice-Chairman wrapped victory for Hall 2 and ensured our route to the finals after humiliating his opponent 3-0 without reply. Fighting all the way from start to finish, Hua Ming took the first 2 sets without much difficulty. A combination of quick reflexes and smart play ensured that he had a 2 set advantage over his opponent, who was then determined to retaliate. In the 3rd set, the attempted retaliation was imminent. Hua Ming at the same time, got a little tired and found himself suddenly trailing 6-3.
Then came the turning point.
Haha nope. it was not the presence of his girlfriend this time.
It was instead, the sight of Parthiban s/o Mathevanan, fellow OMC-er cheering his guts out and wrenching his hair every time Hua Ming made an unforced error that gave the latter new found strength. And as if by miracle, Hua Ming crawled back to push the score to 6-6. He then lost a point, making the score 7-6 in his opponent's favour but eventually squeezed his way to win the set 9-7 to the squeal and delight of the Hall 2 supporters!
The win for Hua Ming proved to be even sweeter for him than anybody else, as he lost to the same opponent 3 weeks earlier during the preliminaries. Despite the loss that fateful day, Hua Ming trained triply hard, sacrificed some of his chinese new year goodies like his favourite peanut cake and never looked back. And his efforts paid off handsomely.
Earlier on, Tan Zhi Rui (team captain) and Thaddeus Tsang (team manager), who are also coincidentally the captain and vice-captain of the IVP squash team, made squash seem so simple by displaying a myriad of tricks and slick moves in the court.
Zhi Rui gave his opponent absolutely no chance to even get 1 point off him as he conquered 9-0, 9-0 ,9-0. Executing exquisite moves that would make even the reigning world squash champion, Rami Ashour salivate, Zhi Rui totally wowed the audience to the point where jaws were dropped and the cheers stopped as supporters just looked on with awe for 10 minutes. Ummm...because... the match was won within 10 minutes. ;) Those who came late regretted later on as they realised they had just missed out on a world-class, winning performance.
Having a more laid-back approach to the game, Thaddeus' initial lobs and drops irritated his opponent and it proved to be a good strategy as his opponent started making many unforced errors. In the 3rd set however, Thaddeus changed his game plan and started to play a fast-paced game. Unused to the sudden change in style of play, his opponent was forced to make even more errors and one error was that he mistook the wall for the ball and he swung his racket at the wall! And his racket broke! Justin Teh, one of the supporters, later commented, "eh wah lao, thrashing him is already bad enough. still must make him break his own racket!".
Later on, Ying Ting took on the challenge of playing an IVP player. It was not her skills but rather, her determination that touched the crowd. Running at ball after ball, Ying Ting gave her opponent every reason to pant and sweat. The support of her close friends also gave her encouragement and she fought till the very end. Also having the privilege of playing another strong IVP player was Si Ying, who was gunning for an upset. It was honestly a great effort as she manage to steal quite a few points from her opponent, who also happens to be a badminton-convert. The two girls' efforts were commendable as they both put up good fights despite playing much better players.
The 2 girls may have lost. But the 3 boys won. And that was enough for a team victory.
And a spot in the finals on the 1st of March.
We hope to see you then. Let's do Hall 2 proud together.
