School sports: Victoria regain floorball title

They beat East View to ease pain of last year's loss while Bukit Merah clinch 7th girls' crown

From top: The Bukit Merah B girls' team celebrating after beating Orchid Park 10-3 for a record seventh divisional title. Victoria's Tan Ding Feng in control against East View's Veerasenan Shaaran. Victoria won 3-2 thanks to Adib Norishaam's late win
Victoria's Tan Ding Feng in control against East View's Veerasenan Shaaran. Victoria won 3-2 thanks to Adib Norishaam's late winner. ST PHOTO: MARCUS TAN
From top: The Bukit Merah B girls' team celebrating after beating Orchid Park 10-3 for a record seventh divisional title. Victoria's Tan Ding Feng in control against East View's Veerasenan Shaaran. Victoria won 3-2 thanks to Adib Norishaam's late win
The Bukit Merah B girls' team celebrating after beating Orchid Park 10-3 for a record seventh divisional title. ST PHOTO: MARCUS TAN

For Victoria School, the 2016 B Division boys' floorball final was not just a chance to bring glory to their school, but also to heal the scars of their loss to Catholic High School in the championship match last year.

The final was closely fought, with Victoria and their opponents East View Secondary School tied at 2-2 until the final minute of the third period.

That was when a last-gasp goal by Adib Norishaam gave Victoria a 3-2 victory, leading them to their second B Division floorball title.

With the dreaded penalty shoot-out looming, the Victoria boys strung together a rapid sequence of passes that eventually found the 16-year-old, whose powerful strike from close range sent the ball flying into the net.

"I don't have any words to describe how I felt after scoring the goal," said Adib.

"We were definitely motivated to get back the title after our loss last year, and this drove us to keep on fighting."

When the buzzer sounded, the jubilant Victoria students rushed towards the court to hail the B Division champions.

That led captain Ryan Tham to praise his schoolmates: "The supporters are like the sixth player on the court, and they played a big part in today's match."

In the B Division girls' tournament, Bukit Merah Secondary School (BMSS) defeated Orchid Park Secondary School 10-3 to win a record seventh divisional title. The sport was first contested in this category in 2007.

Bukit Merah were also looking to heal past wounds, having lost to Springfield Secondary in the semi-finals last year. And they achieved that with a convincing win, as Edelyn Embile netted four goals against Orchid Park.

"We promised our teachers that we would get back the title we lost last year, so we worked hard in training," said Bukit Merah captain Nureen Zubairi, 16.

"For some of us, this is our last year in BMSS, so we really wanted to achieve something for our school," said Edelyn, 16, whose quartet of strikes propelled her school to the championship and a new mark.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 07, 2016, with the headline School sports: Victoria regain floorball title. Subscribe