Written by: Jun Lu
Edited by: Jared Rajiv
Photos by: EusoffWorks
Our table tennis girl’s last game for the season- their finals against TH has now begun. The sports hall felt relatively quiet for a finals, with not much drum action- which may be good so our girls can focus on their play. Our line up was Joy, Tina and Carlin, Cayla and then Sonia and Sze Han, and lastly Yingisn. This is the first time Joy and Yingsin are playing singles in this season instead of a doubles pair.
We have Joy up first. She smashes relatively lesser when she play singles, but was still doing really well, leading with 2 sets in the bag. But sometimes the vibes may just suddenly become off, or your focus might just decrease suddenly, which is probably what happened to Joy. Although she still had some super good saves and really nice edge shots and smashes, TH returned by taking the next 3 sets, albeit the gap being super close. Its all good though, although it is a bit regretful that Joy was so close to winning it, especially with one set where she relentlessly chased the points up to 10-10, but SH finished it at 12-10. It was a spectacular game full of good plays. Good job, Joy!
Tina perfectly returning THs smash with a calm backspin shot
Next Carlin and Tina were up. They were surprisingly not very stressed, which I was really glad about, and they were kind of full of smiles. The two of them was able to cover every gap on the table. Tina smashed very consistently and well, while Carlin showed us some high level play like returning a smash with a smash. The two of them also had super good communication both on and off court- about what spin to give, when to smash, which gave both of them ample opportunity to perform and smash well. However despite their calm demeanor, you can see they were anxious from how much Tina’s hand was shaking. But she had it in control and with a handful of good shots and super slay teamwork, they bagged the first win of the night, somewhat easily, for us.
Happy faces as the dynamic pair easily sweep their opponents for the gold
Next Cayla was up. She seemed a bit tired and was playing against the first seed in TH, which sounds like it will be tough. And remember the last match when Carlin played SH? How fast and scary and cool it was? Well, forget about that. Warm up between Cayla and TH was literally at god speed. The game begun with speedy rallies and the heated desire to win was apparent throughout the court. Cayla took every single chance to smash hard, and her smashes can even be stronger than a volleyball spike. YOU HOW GOODDD. It was so fire even for a table tennis noobie like me. The plays were insane, and it was my first time seeing Cayla play seriously- and it honestly did not look like a hall game. Their shots were so aggressive Im wondering how the ball is not dented. Cayla plays sharp angles and saves TH’s balls perfectly, and bagged the w with just 3 sets. What a legend. She totally destroyed TH right there man.
For our fourth set we have Szehan and Sonia up, our still, forever-in-line-up-as-doubles pair. They really work very well with each other, as seen from the previous games as well. They play consistently, and have a lot of patience for rallies to hold out as victorious. Sze han smashes, and the first set ended at 11-9. They areon fire today. Sze han and Sonia is dominating this by a margin, since TH is putting up a fight and trying to match up the points. Sonia smashes spectacularly and the second set is ours at 11-9 again. The victory seemed close. At this point, a lot of Eusoff supporters came in to support, wearing our iconic yellow. This may have given the girls a morale boost and final boost. For the last set, the two girls persisted on and refused to back down and could pick up almost every single ball, whether it was a smash or edge shot by TH, and ended the set 11-9, taking another game home. And as they completed that set, THE ENTIRE PLACE BURSTED INTO CHEERS. EUSOFF WAS THE CHAMPIONS FOR TABLE TENNIS 22/23! OUR GIRLS BROUGHT IT HOME AFTER MANY YEARS OF BEING THE RUNNER-UP. WHAT A SPECTACULAR JOB BY AN EVEN MORE AMAZING TEAM. Rest well guys, and be proud of yourselves- that was surely a win to remember 😀.
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