School sports

School sports: RI win A Div squash title without losing a single match

Raffles Institution's Aaron-Jon Liang (right) stretches to hit a backhand against Hwa Chong Institution's Regan Tan. He won 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 to seal the A Divison boys' squash title.
Raffles Institution's Aaron-Jon Liang (right) stretches to hit a backhand against Hwa Chong Institution's Regan Tan. He won 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 to seal the A Divison boys' squash title. ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

Raffles Institution (RI) completed a dominant season in the Schools National A Division boys' squash championships after beating Hwa Chong Institution 5-0 in the final yesterday.

The result meant the Rafflesians went unbeaten this year, and have won all six of their ties 5-0 leading up to the final at the Kallang Squash Centre.

They wasted no time in continuing their impressive form yesterday, as Tian Hua Wang beat Hwa Chong's Lorean Murphy 11-3, 11-1, 11-5 in the first match.

Clement Hung doubled the advantage after the second match, dispatching Tan Rui Zhi 11-1, 11-2, 11-4.

Aaron-Jon Liang defeated fellow national trainee Regan Tan 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 in a much closer contest to seal the title.

The Year 1 student said: "I know that he is a really good player.

"We train together in the national squad. I knew it was going to be a tough match, it's going to be really intense.

"I was just really happy to win it at the last point and really relieved that I got it for the school."

RI coach Allan Chang noted that he was wary of the threat posed by Regan and admitted that the meeting between both teams' strongest players worked in his favour.

"Line-up wise, it's unpredictable. It just so happened that I filled in my best player to play against him," he said.

"Luckily, we won. It's not that easy to beat him."

Despite claiming RI's second gold in three years, the newly-crowned champions did not rest on their laurels.

Anders Ong beat Su Wei Zhe 11-2, 11-2, 11-7 before Tan Ijoe wrapped up the 5-0 win over the defending champions by claiming an 11-2, 11-5, 11-4 win over Wong Zhen Xuan.

RI captain Bryan Tan said: "No match is ever an easy match.

"We trained very hard and prepared to our best capabilities for this season.

"(I'm) very glad that we managed to win every match not comfortably, but rather, convincingly."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 04, 2017, with the headline School sports: RI win A Div squash title without losing a single match. Subscribe