Written by: Chen Kexin Edited by: Leung Lok Heng Photos by: EusoffWorks
It finally came down to Finals for our Table Tennis boys team, who were up against Temasek Hall. Following their previous wins, our boys appeared more than ready to take on TH for the ultimate boss level. Despite the physical absence of supporters, many of our yellow-shirt wearing supporters were behind their phone screens, cheering their hearts out for our boys. Let’s go Team Eusoff!
First Singles
We welcome our fave red shirt-wearing human Hong Yi to represent us for the very first match! As the very first player, he obviously knew the importance of having a strong start, and started the very first set strong with his solid backhands and sick smashes. Even though his opponent was pretty tough, Hong Yi still emerged victorious, winning at 11-9, after a 9-9 tie! Keeping his momentum going, Hong Yi really just be out there like Thor, smashing ball after ball back, eventually winning the second set relatively easily at 11-5. With just one more set needed to win the first match, his TH opponent started to pull up his socks and fight back hard, bringing us to heart-stopping ties of 9-9, then 10-10 to 11-11. However, it ended up in an unfortunate loss at 13-11 sadly. But have no fear, as superheroes always get their happy endings and our very own Thor manages to powerfully smash his opponents away for the fourth set and finally wins 11-9!
EH 1:0 TH
First Doubles
Next up, we have doubles (cutiepies) Zhen You and Daryl, two of the most eligible guys in the team! Our bachelors (at least I hope they are!) were paired with pretty tough opponents, but that never once stopped them from trying their best, what with solid smashes from Daryl or nice backhands from Zhen You. There was even some slicing action but despite pulling all the stops, it was just not meant to be, and our bachelors lost the first set 5-11. Undeterred, the two boys started to fight back even harder by delivering even stronger and better smashes and returns, allowing us to go all the way up to 9-9, but an unfortunate miss and out meant the loss of the second set, at 9-11. Despite the sad loss, it did however gave us a brilliant image of cutiepie Daryl pouting. But that wasn’t effective on their opponents at all, with them gaining the advantage from the start, 5-2. Nonetheless, our boys really never ever gave up, and maintained a strong fighting spirit, bringing it up to 9-9, once again! Alas, despite spectacular rallies, they eventually dropped the two last points, giving the third set to TH with a narrow loss of 9-11.
Zhen You and Daryl put up a tough fight against formidable opponents.
EH 1:1 TH
Second Singles
Moving on with the next singles, we have national cHokEr(?) Heng Kai, IVP Superstar! It is with absolute delight to report that Heng Kai absolutely DESTROYS his opponent in the first, with a near effortless win of 11-3. Apparently he wasn’t even sweating then! (such flex) Heng Kai seemed to be in a festive spirit as he gave his opponent more chance to earn points in the second set (jokes only, the opponent was quite good), having only a one point lead at 7-6. He finally decides to get his game face back on, and finishes the second set with 4 consecutive points at 11-6. Deciding that being in a festive spirit wasn’t enough, Heng Kai decides to play Santa for a short while as he allows his opponent to get the better of him all the way till 4-7. (Or maybe he just wanted to treat his entire Tennis team to ice milo since they had a bet that if he loses a set, he’ll owe them all ice milo?) Anyways, Heng Ka finally decides to stop playing nice and manages to turn the tide back into our favour, and wins his third set at 11-8!
Heng Kai’s swift shots earned him easy points for him to take his match.
EH 2:1 TH
Second Doubles
Our next couple consisted of senior duo Choon Hooi and Carlin(the C cups)! With just one more set needed to take home champions, all eyes were on them as they began their match. The C cups were really strong from the start, taking an early 6-1 lead. Despite some worries as TH managed to climb to 8-5, the match was still in good hands, evidently with their nice backhands and amazing smashes, and they won the first set at 11-7. TH started to amp up their game in the the second set, winning them an early lead at 2-3 to TH, but a solid slice and few nice balls brought it up to 6-6. It was like watching an intense game of tug of war as we saw the score changed from being not in our favour at 9-8, then a tie at 9-9, then in our favour at 10-9, back to a tie at 10-10! Tensions were running real high at that point, but the C cups finally put a stop to the excruciating game as they won the second set at 12-10! With just one set needed to take home gol for IHG, TH really hustled, causing us to lose the third set at 7-11. But as I already mentioned, all superheroes end up with happy endings and it’s no different for our C cups, as they really gave it their all and finally enjoyed a relatively easy win at 11-5 for the fourth and final set, bringing home gold for IHG!!!
Final Score- EH 3:1 TH
P.S I would just like to special mention captain Chee Wan, who would have represented us for the last singles if we *touch wood* didn’t manage to win by the 4th set! Even though he didn’t play, I’m sure he would have done spectacularly nevertheless and bring home a win for us!
A big congratulations to our Table Tennis boys for being IHG Table Tennis Champions! All their months of hard work and training have definitely paid off!
Your IHG 19/20 Table Tennis (M) Champions! Congratulations!
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