West Zone Badminton Champions!

Today marked another milestone for the Hwa Chong Badminton Team(HCBT) yet again! It is the first time we won the champion title, and I feel very honoured and proud of the team's achievement. The atmosphere was tense and both sides had supporters who cheered their lungs out for their school. Our opponent was Kranji, whom we won in the second round. It was rather close for the previous encounter against them, and it was again today. We won the first match comfortably with my twin brother, Joshua, taking down the first match. However, it was a close fight for our first doubles, though we lost in the end. Everybody was hoping that we would have a clear-cut win with the score being 3-0, but it was a disappointment and demoralising when our first doubles lost. I was the second singles and felt pressured as it was a do-or-die situation. We could not afford to lose the second singles or the second doubles either, as the third singles is a tough match. I started off the first set easily, leading him by 7 to eight points. However, I fatigue started to get the better of me and I made many careless mistakes. Luckily, I won the match 21-18 in the end. In the second set, I decided to try a new tactic as I was rather tired out in the first set. It worked rather well and I won the game easily 21-9. It was time for the second doubles. It was a deciding match. Our boys started off quite comfortably, and took down the first set. However, they became a little over-confident and lost badly in the second. However, the desire to emerge triumphant and overcome their opponents increased their morale and fighting spirit. They took the lead right from the start, but was chased up nearing the end. However, the calmed their nerves and won by a marginal amount of 22-20. All of us jumped in joy and were over the moon as HCBT has reached another level. Our supporters, mostly councilors, congratulated us. We were thankful for their unwavering support for our finals and we hope to share the joy with them, as well as the rest of the school. To end off, I would like to thank my coaches, the school, teacher-in-charge Mr Tan and anyone and everyone who made this champion trophy possible to achieve.