ITE College East, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 - Despite boasting international badminton shuttlers Ronald Susilo and Kendrick Lee in their ranks, Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) were stunned 2-3 by National University of Singapore (NUS) in their opening Group A men’s team match at ITE College East.
Susilo gave SIM a dream start in the opening singles match when he comfortably brushed aside NUS’ Tan Rui Sheng in straight sets 21-6, 21-7.
Lee did not disappoint either as he took out his opponent Mok Zhi Rong 21-10, 21-6 in the second singles.
But SIM skipper Darrell Lee was unable to follow suit as he and Desmond Ong succumbed in the first doubles match to the NUS pairing of Wilson Kan and Terence Chen 19-21, 16-21.
It was a close first set as both pairings traded points attempting to find a way past the other to build an advantage, but NUS subsequently prevailed with their clever shots in the end of the set.
NUS built on the advantage they had in the first set when they raced to a 11-7 lead, prompting a timeout from SIM.
Lee and Ong staged a mini-fightback after the stop as they closed within two points after the latter’s brilliant smash.
That was to be temporary though as NUS forced the SIM duo to commit errors and regained the initiative in the game.
While Lee saved one match point at the end of the second set, it was not enough as Ong’s shot hit the net to give NUS their most critical point of the game.
With the defeat and deprived of the services of another key player Derrick Wong who was away on international duty, the 2008 runners-up subsequently lost the other doubles match and the final singles decider to hand NUS a shock victory.
Lee was disappointed he and his partner were unable to win what could have been a game-winning match for his team.
“My partner and I were supposed to secure the point that could have won us the match. While he did his best, I was not on form as I had difficulty producing shots I know I can do,” he lamented.
“We gave the opposition a run for their money in the first set, but they were pretty more stable and calmer than us, thus deserving to win the game.”
On his team’s loss, Lee admitted NUS had played a better tactical plan to win the opener.
“As the other teams knew they (virtually) could not beat us in the single matches, they strengthened their doubles pairing and NUS were no different,” he noted.
“They knew that by doing this, they were confident of catching up from losing two points. They also had good fortune when their strongest singles player (Guo Yu He) played in the decider and avoided Ronald and Kendrick.”
The most senior player in the SIM team chose to focus on the positives from the setback.
“During the post-match debrief, the vice-captain and I told the team that the loss was a timely reminder to us that even with star players in the team, everyone has to stand up to fight and be counted.
“We are now aware that the tournament could be determined by a lot of tactical decisions made in fielding the teams. With Derrick’s return to the side, our doubles pairings will be strengthened.
“From today, we will not allow ourselves to be complacent as we did tonight and to show more hunger and desire to fight for the ball and win matches for the team.”