IHG & IHRG Week 2 Round-Up by Yeo Ying Tong

26 Dec 2013, Thursday

Basketball M v Hall 13
WIN 36-9

Chua Kian Kok scored 7 points and Kok Chin Yang added 6 points to power Hall 2 to a 36-9 rout over Hall 13 in this Winner Pool tie. With Guard Choon Hao Wei orchestrating the play, Hall 13 quickly proved outmatched and outclassed. Our team possessed a significant height advantage, with players such as Jordan Ang, Chan Lizhong and Teo Yu Liang towering over their opponents, and this advantage told as they completely dominated the paint. In the end, our boys ran out easy winners, as well as leaving the impression that there is still plenty left in the tank.

Photo Credits: Neo Sian Yin

Hockey F v Hall 3
WIN 1-0

It was a different story at the NIE Hockey Pitch, however, as our girls faced defending champions Hall 3 for a place in the quarter-finals. Despite the presence of a SEA Games Hockey player in Hall 3’s lineup, our girls refused to be daunted, with the teams seemingly fairly balanced. The strain of playing at 12.30pm also took its toll on the players; Shireen Pj could be seen retching by the touchline just before halftime.

However Shireen, in a display of sheer willpower, refused to let the heat defeat her. Receiving the ball in the opposition D during the 2nd half, she took one touch before slamming a low, hard shot across the goalkeeper to give Hall 2 the breakthrough. Our girls then gave their all to hold on to their precious lead, sealing both a momentous victory and their passage into the quarter-finals.

Photo Credits: Esmonde Tan

Volleyball M v Hall 4
WIN 2-0

Buoyed by their earlier victory in Basketball, Jordan, Li Zhong and Yu Liang swapped a basketball for a volleyball, but the result proved no different as they achieved an easy victory over Hall 4. Bronson Cheng had an impressive game, but against such limited opponents, there is really nothing to be said other than a ‘good job’ for getting the win in the bag.

Photo Credits: Neo Wen Ling

Volleyball F v Hall 1
WIN 2-0

The volleyball girls completely overpowered their Hall 1 opponents in this very lopsided game, as evidenced from the score of 25-05 in the 1st set; brought about by Hall 1’s failure to receive serves from Mainisah Buang,Wan Ling Tan and Zhe Kang. The 2nd set was a lot closer, but when your opponents celebrate every time they managed to serve successfully, you know the result was never in doubt.

Credits to Zhen Chiang

Photo Credits: Tan Jun Rong

27 Dec 2013, Friday

Basketball F v Hall 10
WIN 41-26

Pei Ying led the scoring with a game-high 12 points to help Hall 2 overcome a feisty Hall 10 side this morning. Despite cramping up halfway through the game, she showed grit and determination to return to the court when her teammates most needed her. Cunfang also played a key role, adding 11 points and controlling the flow of the game.

Hall 10 were no pushovers, showing lots of aggression in defence, as they stormed to a 8-3 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. But our girls showed resolve and fighting spirit to recover from this early setback, and led by the stellar Pei Ying, eventually came through to secure a crucial victory.

Photo Credits: Lio Yu Feng

Hockey M v Hall 8 
0-1

Despite a splendid penalty save from Weijie in the 2nd half, our Hockey boys were unable to eventually secure the victory that would have secured their quarter-final place. Hall 8 may have been the seeded team in the group, but led by the likes of Johnson Lo, Parthiban Mathevananand Shukri Abdul Jalil, our boys gave it as good as they got, giving Hall 8 quite a few scares on the break in the first half.

With key player Muhd Azhari a marked man everywhere he went on the pitch, our boys were looking to someone for inspiration, but with captain Nicholas Tai off on holiday in Canada, there was none forthcoming. Hall 8 eventually grabbed the all-important goal after Hall 2 failed to clear their lines. The boys however would not have to wait long for a chance to redeem themselves, with their do-or-die game coming right up on Monday.

Photo Credits: Zhen Chiang

Chinese Chess

Vs Hall 5 LOSE 4-1
Vs Hall 15 WIN 3-2

Coming into the 2nd day of the IHRG Chinese Chess competition, Hall 2 still stood a chance of entering the semi-finals should we win our final 2 preliminary ties. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of our players, we only managed to win 1 of the 2, and hence crashed out of the group stages earlier today.

Things looked hopeful at the end of Friday, however, with the highlight of the day undoubtedly being the final tie against Hall 14. Having won and lost 2 games apiece at that point in time, our Hall needed to win Hall 14 to still have a shot at entering the semi-finals.

The script could not have been better written for dramatic value. All the games were played simultaneously, and Jordan Ang was soon to be the only Hall 2 player still playing, with the tie delicately poised at 2-2. Having taken more time than his Hall 14 opponent, Jordan was at a disadvantage despite technically winning the game; if he ran out of time, he would have lost, however the pieces were shaped on the board. His opponent, recognising the advantage he possessed in this respect, hence attempted to draw down the clock and win Jordan via this technicality. Jordan was literally running out of time to win, and just managed to secure the win and hence kept Hall 2's chances alive, with only 30 seconds left as compared to his opponent's 5 minutes.

However, our hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals today were crushed when we lost to Hall 5. It then became a matter of securing enough wins to technically finish as quarter-finalists. It was close, but no cigar; usually winning against 4 halls would be enough to secure the nominal quarter-final finish, but our Hall just lost out on board scores, or in layman terms, the total number of boards won in the group.

Nevertheless, it was a very encouraging performance by our Chinese Chess players, quarter-final place or no quarter-final place. We thank the likes of Lim Chang Yi, Esmonde Tan, Toh Honghan, Teeping Lim, Tee Yong and Yangzhi Zhong, amongst others, for their efforts over the past 2 days.

Credits to Zhen Chiang

Photo Credits: Esmonde Tan

28 Dec 2013, Saturday

Chinese Chess 
v Hall 1 2-3 
v Hall 7 4-1 WIN
v Hall 12 4-1 WIN
v Hall 13 0-5 
v Hall 14 3-2 WIN

Today marked the first of 2 days of the IHRG Chinese Chess competition. As it stands, should we win our remaining 2 ties tomorrow, our Chinese Chess team would qualify for the semi-finals. A more comprehensive report would be up at the conclusion of tomorrow's games.

Credits to Zhen Chiang and Chern Yee

Photo Credits: Esmonde Tan

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