050109/ Hockey (M)

The Hockey Guys played their Quarter Finals against Hall 14. This year, our guys are all experienced, and much was expected of the team. And so we started as the favourites, and played like the favourites.
Right from the start, most of the play was in Hall 14’s half. Everytime they cleared the ball, Hall 2 will bring attack again very quickly. Within minutes, Hall 2 won the first Short Corner (Penalty Corner), a set piece that bears high chance of scoring. The pushing, from Jeremy Loh, to the stopping by the captain Yew Loong, was all very well done, but the shot from Lawrence was off target.
Our guys didn’t give up though, and with all the pressure, we got another short corner. Unfortunately for us this time, the push and stop was bad and we lost the upperhand. And before we know it, the half time whistle’s blowed! Summary for this half, our defence didn’t let any balls through, we had a lot of possession, but we were not creating many chances.



The story for the second half turned out quite similar to the first. Once again, we had a lot of possession, we camped in Hall 14’s half, but we were finding it hard to break down their defence. We had a good chance when Chee Yong managed to break down into the left side of the D, but having to take a reverse shot (which was much harder to execute), he missed the shot.
During one of the fast breaks, after Yew Loong put Jeremy through on the right, and Hall 2 having 3 players on 2, it seemed our chance to break the duck has came. But unfortunately, the ball got caught on Jeremy’s feet and a foul was blown. Another good attack down the right saw Lawrence sweeping a ball from the top of the D after good dribbling from Jeremy, but it was blocked by Hall 14.
When it seemed like it was going to be over, Yew Loong received a ball from the centre to the left of the D. However, luck was against us and the ball touched his leg and foul was given against us again.
The full time whistle was blown and despite Hall 2’s dominance, the game ended a draw and a penalty shootout ensued. Our first three penalty flickers were Lawrence, Rabnick and Yew Loong.
Hall 14 started first and converted their penalty. Up stepped Lawrence, but he didn’t connect well and his weak shot was saved by the keeper. Advantage was with Hall 14. If they scored, they will be 2-0 up on penalties. Luckily for us, our hero, Zong Ming the keeper, managed to save their second penalty. Rabnick then proceeded to score his penalty to even things out. Zong Ming than saved the third penalty, giving Hall 2 the advantage. If Yew Loong score the third penalty of ours, Hall 2 would have won. He connected with the ball very well, but unfortunately, the keeper guess correctly and saved the penalty well.
We went on to sudden death Penalty, where the first team to miss (and the other team scores) will lose. Jeremy went to flick first. Although he didn’t connect well with the shot, it somehow crept into the goal! Next was Hall 14’s turn. Their player scooped the ball. It went high. Although it seemed to be going out, Zong Ming still saved it just to make sure, and victory was ours!



We will now proceed to play the Semi Finals against Hall 13 on the 21st of Jan. It will be a tough match as Hall 13 has a few IVP players compared to none on our side, but Hall 2 hockey guys are quietly confident of snatching a win as the underdogs. However, we will need all the support we have so do come down that night to NIE hockey pitch to support us as we march on!

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030109 Squash & Softball (M)

SQUASH
And following up on the IHG, our Hall 2 Squash Team had their match against Hall 3 at the SRC Squash Court.
The first round of game was started by Willy, who was well equipped with his swift attacks and moves; he had won the match with a score of 9-1.
With such a great start of the game, our team was quite motivated for this match against our remarkable Hall 3 opponents.

Moving on to the second game, we have PeiQi in the female single.
With her skilled tactics, she had won the first set of game with a score of 9-3.
Our opponent was quite tactful in her play, however with PeiQi's strong stokes, she had won the game with a second set of score 9-1. And so, this had dampened the fighting spirits of the Hall 3 Squash Team.

Our players were very determined in this match; they fought hardly to hit the ball, even if the opponent had tried to trick the play.

In the third set of game, we had Zee Shan in the male single.
Even though it seems bleak in the initial play but he was pretty well motivated by our supporters and slowly with a good pace, he had been playing carefully with every precise strokes and thus scoring 9-5 against the tactic opponent.
In the second set of third game, Zee Shan came back strong without leaving any opportunity for our opponent to score. With his swift attack, he had won the match of 9-0 amazingly!

Following up on the 4th set of game, we have Mabel on the female single.
It can be said that it was a tough match as our opponent had played fairly well; moreover, Mabel had some improper strokes which had allowed our opponent to score.
However, after the cheers from the supporters of Hall 2, she played it cool and carefully. With every strong strokes and tricks, she has fought hardly to win both set of games in a score of 9-5.

Lastly on the 5th set of game, we have Mustafa who had put on a close fight against his noteworthy opponent. However, he was well determined and with his great play, he had scored 9-6 and 9-7, bringing victory to Hall 2.
Hall 2 had won all 5 games. Congratulations! All the way Squash Team!


SOFTBALL (M)
Definitely the most exciting and hard-earned victory for our male softball team thus far, our guys beat hall 15 (last year’s champions) 9-4, to advance to the semi finals to meet hall 3 on the 18th of January. The day started out well, weather looked promising and our boys headed down to the field for their warm-ups. Everything went well and having lost to hall 15 the previous year, they were hungry to not let history repeat itself this time round. We kicked off the game with our side batting first in the first inning. With the overwhelming encouragement of a group of supporters who came down to the field on a Saturday to help cheer them on, our boys certainly did not want to let them down. Our Golden boy and president, Aw Si Kuan certainly did not let the team down as he continued to perform outstandingly and chucked in strike after strike, forcing the opponents to swing or make mistakes. By the bottom of the 3rd inning, our team was leading 5-1, with vital and crucial runs from the team, supporting each other all the way. All this, would undoubtedly have to be attributed to the support from our hall 2 supporters, spurring our team on all the time, never failing to cheer them on! However, unforeseen errors as well as lack of a stable and calm mindset, allowed the opposing team to score another 3 runs, bringing the score to a demoralizing 5-4. Though we were still in the lead, the errors made lowered our morale and momentum was swinging against us. Having our first 2 batters caught out in the last inning didn’t help the situation at all. Seeing the dire straits our team landed in, the supporters did not give up and continued on with their cheering. Great job to them! After our first 2 batters consecutively got caught out, Ahmad, a consistent batter had his chance to help the team. He hit a nice line drive down to left field fast enough to escape the infield and short enough to escape the left-outfielder. That got him safely onto first base. Up came Zhuo Song to the plate, determined to not let the opponent team strike him out. He hit a nice ball sweetly and sent it down the left line, also getting him safe onto 1st base and Ahmad onto 2nd. Next was team manager and the person responsible for a homerun in the previous inning, Bryan. He contacted well and sent it down the left line as well, just within fair territory, out to the outfield to allow Ahmad to advance from 2nd base to home and Zhuo Song from 1st to 3rd base, while getting himself safe onto 2nd. Zeeshan, team captain and cricket IVP player came on next and hit another nice one out in between left and centre outfield, making the opponents scramble for the ball and fumble about, allowing all our players to run home! All this, resulted in a score of 9-4. With the opponents up next to bat, their morale took a nose-dive after the spectacular batting streak of our boys and the rousing cheers of the supporters by the sidelines. Our boys held well and did not allow the opponent team to score any runs with an easy force out on third base by Bryan, a beautiful pop fly catch round his back to get a 2nd out, and the last easy pop fly out caught by the captain, Zeeshan to end the game off neatly, 9-4. Our boys certainly did us proud and no doubt, the supporters on that day, played a very important role, which allowed our boys to clinch the victory in that round. It could not have been done without them.

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020109 Badminton

Hall 2 played Hall 16 into the quarters on 020109. Right after a brand new year, into a brand new great win! We defeated the other team despite them trying as hard, 4-1. We won our way through the rest of the games after the first game lost. This proved to us that our Hall 2 Badminton players are not to be messed with, they take each of their games seriously. After watching, Badminton seems like an easy-peasy game to our players... We are waiting for more cock-smashing action! Well done!

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301208/ Soccer, Hockey (F) &Table Tennis

Soccer


We played against Hall 11 today, and it would decide our fate of getting into Quarters. The first half saw no goals from both teams. In the second half, Hall 11 drew first blood by scoring a goal first. Hall 2 retaliated with a header just minutes later, rekindling the hope of getting further in the competition. The game drew 1-1 at full time, and the game went into extra-time!

Golden Goal system was used, meaning whichever team scores first win. However, both teams did not want to lose and played very hard, hoping to win the game. You can see that the players were very tired during extra-time, and many fouls and injuries were committed. Finally, no goals were scored and the game have to end with penalty- shootout.

Our goalkeeper, the man of the match, was cool and calm when he faces the players from Hall 11. He managed to block 2 of 3 kicks, while our players scored all 3. In the end, we won the game 3-2 on penalties!! Well done to our players!

HOCKEY (F)

Our Hockey Girls faced a team of similar standard, and Hall 2 team had the will to win this game to go into Quarters. Throughout the game, our players had the upperhand, always attcking the opposition's goalpost. However, luck wasn't on our side as the goalkeeper was able to block our attacks!

The game went into penalty shootout again, a nightmare for the Hall 2 team for the previous game, as they lost to Hall 15 the same way. Our players tried their best, but they lost again during penalty shootout, with the score of 1-2. Our girls are thus out of the competition.

Table Tennis

Our team played against Hall 11, a rather strong team. However, with the help of our IVP girls, they managed to take down the Women's Doubles and Singles, while our Men's doubles and singles lost. The last game, Mixed Doubles, was much stronger than Hall 11 and thus won easily. We won 3-2, and we are now in the Semis!!

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Bridge!!

On 26 December 2008, the Hall 2 bridge team marched into the Hall 8 convening hall for the IH bridge game. We have trained hard for a semester and preparations have started a year ago. We will play against Hall 4, Hall 8, and Hall 16. This was a tough assignment, as our opponents were certainly worthy ones. Half of them are school team players.

Round 1 saw us pitting our skills against Hall 4. After a grueling and stressful battle, we won narrowly by 16 against 12. It was particularly difficult as there were some really difficult boards that require precise calculation to predict who has which important cards.

Round 2 was a critical match against Hall 8. Unfortunately, this time we were not so lucky and lost by 12 against 18.

The decisive round 3 would be played against our strongest opponent, Hall 16. Although we knew that the fight will be a difficult one, and chances of a victory are slim, we still went ahead bravely and played as well as we could. Unfortunately, we lost the match 3 against 25 in the end, and with that we failed to qualify.

In the name of Hall 2, fight on.

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