Badminton Team Hard Done by Opponent

In a hot and tightly contested affair, our IH badminton team battled hard but eventually lost to Hall 5 and hence, was not able to qualify for the quarter finals. From the start, we clearly did not underestimate our opponents and in the men’s singles, Cheng Loo gave his all but as the match progressed near the end, it was obvious that fatigue was setting in and he eventually lost the match 2-1. Things got worst in the next match when the pairing of Kuan Kee and Karine lost 2-0 in the mixed doubles. However, there was a glimmer of hope when our men’s doubles, consisting of Jeremy and Joshua came back from a set down to win 2-1.

It started to liven up in the female’s doubles as this was the deciding match for both halls and we knew we had to win it to stand any hope of getting into the quarters. The pairing of Joanne (lady on the right in the picture) and Jin Jing (lady on the left in picture) took to the court and although they lost the first set, they fought back hard to clinch the second set. At this point of time, we sensed that we could win it and supporters could be seen cheering for both teams as the third set got underway. As the game progressed, we started to trail and at one point of time, we were down 20-14. Still, the girls did not give up and came back to narrow the score to 20-19. Sadly, we couldn’t hold our nerves and in the end, our opponents managed to get the match winning point. This meant that our hall was knocked out of the preliminaries and even though Shu Ting managed to win her match in the female’s singles, it was all but too late.

Even though the team did not make it to the quarters, their battling display was there for everyone to see and we are proud of their team for their never say die spirit although we were trailing at some point of times. It was a good effort put in by the team and the experience gained would indeed be valuable for the next IH. Good job guys and continue to do so!

Reported by:
Dao Hao