Raffles Institution end B Div boys’ table tennis drought with 3-2 victory over Hwa Chong Institution

SINGAPORE – Stepping onto the court at the Pasir Ris Sport Hall on April 9, Jaden Koh and Owen Lim were feeling the jitters as they carried the burden of ending Raffles Institution’s (RI) five-year drought in the boys’ B Division table tennis competition on their young shoulders.

With RI 2-1 up against Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) in the closely fought final, the doubles pair showed great focus to beat Koh Hong Jun and Rayner Young 3-0 for the winning point, much to the jubilation of their boisterous fans.

After taking the opening game 11-7, Jaden and Owen raced to a 5-2 lead in the next game, only for Hong Jun and Rayner to recover and snatch a 10-8 lead. But the RI duo dug deep to save two game points and win 12-10, before romping home 11-8 in the third game to seal their school’s first national table tennis crown in the division since 2019.

Jaden, 15, said: “We were definitely feeling a bit nervous, but we were confident in our abilities because we know that we’ve put in a lot of hard work and we have the ability to win. So thankfully, we managed to convert that and show it on court.”

“We were very prepared in the match. We just put aside our feelings of anxiety and played our best, just focus on the match at hand,” added fellow 15-year-old Owen. “We played our best for every point. Even if we made mistakes, we encouraged each other to play better.”

RI, who finished runners-up in the past two years, started strongly as Li Kaijie came from behind to beat Zhang Xin Ran 3-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8), before their teammates Manyong Koh and Chong Phok Kai overcame Li Xiao Chang and John Ang 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-7) to extend their advantage.

But Matthias Lau pulled one back for HCI with a 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-8) victory over Rafael Lim, before Jaden and Owen, who have been a doubles pair since 2024, secured the title for RI.

RI’s Ang Ray Tze was defeated by Lian Yun Hao 3-1 (12-10, 6-11, 17-15, 12-10) in the dead rubber match.

The victory was even sweeter for the team, as they were hammered 5-0 by HCI in the C Division final in 2023.

Fired up by the determination to avenge that loss, the RI players took up extra training sessions daily, on top of the ones arranged by the school.

Owen, a Secondary 3 student, said: “We’ve worked very hard to make this championship happen.

“Everyone in our team has really cheered our hearts out and encouraged each of our teammates to play our best.

“Everyone’s efforts count, and we only won thanks to everyone, our coaches and supporters.”

Meanwhile, Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) retained the girls’ B Division title with a 5-0 victory over Nanyang Girls’ High School.

Naomi Lum got the ball rolling for RGS, easing past Nanyang’s Giselle Chin 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-7), before her teammates Allysha Tan and Xu Xinran doubled the lead by beating Justine Ng and Pu Keng Tuan 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5).

Chong Zi Sian cruised to a 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-3) win over Valerie Kng to earn RGS their second consecutive title.

RGS vice-captain Naomi said: “We’re overjoyed because the process to being able to win has not been easy. We’ve all worked hard, trained hard and there’s a lot of stress and pressure that we felt. We’re all happy that we were able to overcome the challenges we faced.”

Even though they lost, Nanyang captain Felize Neo hailed her team for their fighting spirit.

The 16-year-old said: “We’re definitely a bit sad because we lost, but I’m proud of everyone for still pushing on to try and win a match even though we already lost.

“Our teachers were really supportive, so we didn’t give up and gave it our all. Our supporters were also really loud and encouraging.”