SP SETIA ANNUAL TOURNAMENT 2013

Aaron (in white) vs Vincent Fum (in yellow) 

The Setia Annual Tournament has attracted many outstation players and some top local names. Some notable ones were the MSSWPKL 2013 champion, Kenny Khew (10), Times BA 2013 champion, Daryl Foo (10), 2012 BAKTI finalist, Muhd Affan Artabek (11), the up and coming Penang star, Gabriel Loo (10), Wah Jia Wei (11) a season campaigner from Penang and even Rahman Sidek’s son Abdul Rahim (11). Some of them are National Junior Circuit players. Immediately, I knew this tournament will not be easy for the boys. 

On the first day, Aaron started off his campaign with a no show from a Penang player. He had to sit longer for his next game. In the second round, he faced Teoh Hong Kai. This player was a worthy adversary as he collected points again and again from his overhead smashes at Aaron’s side- line. At one point, I was convinced Aaron would not make it to the next round.  To make matters worse, the empire had miscounted Aaron’s score. Both were fighting neck to neck and not far from each other.  Fortunately Aaron found in his deep reserves to snatch a few vital points towards the end and won the game 31-28. He lived to battle another day.

Ryan (in white) vs Lim Ming Hong (in yellow)

Due to the larger pool for boys single under 11, Ryan was drawn into a qualifying round. He cruised to a 31-13 win over a KL player. In the next two rounds, he was untroubled and won comfortably to come back the next day for the last 16.

In the second day, Aaron faced Vincent Fum, a circuit player from Melaka in the third round. As the game progressed, Vincent strokes were evidently sharper and Aaron failed to get himself going. He fell 9-21 in the first set.  In the second set, Aaron tried to come back but he gradually fell into his opponent’s game with many unforced errors. He conceded his second set 14-21.

Ryan’s third round opponent was a lanky Penangnite, Lim Ming Hong who dwarfs Ryan by at least a half a foot. What was more intimidating was Lim Ming Hong wore a Gosen sponsored Penang state jersey with his large name printed at the back. I could see Ryan has already lost the battle before the game begun. Ryan was outplayed and lost tamely 10-21, 5-21. Little did we know that Lim Ming Hong went all the way to the final to defeat Muhd Affan Artabek and became champion.

In the end, the boys ended their campaign with wounded pride. So, we took the boys for a movie to unwind themselves and to relax their tired limbs. The next day, it was back to the drawing board as always. Thus their journey continues…

Boys Singles Under 10

1^st ROUND :         Aaron Wong (SEL) vs Ooi Yi Hern (PEN)                  Walkover

2^nd ROUND :        Aaron Wong (SEL) vs Teoh Hong Kai (KL)                31-28

3^rd ROUND :        Aaron Wong (SEL) vs Vincent Fum (MEL)                 9-21, 14-21

Boys Singles Under 11

Qualifying :        Ryan Wong (SEL) vs Yong Wai Meng (KL)                  31-13

1^st ROUND :         Ryan Wong (SEL) vs Kok Jia Cheng (KED)                 31-17

2^nd ROUND :        Ryan Wong (SEL) vs Jason Cheng                              31-16

3^rd ROUND :        Ryan Wong (SEL) vs Lim Ming Hong (PEN)               10-21, 5-21