ITE College East, Monday, 12 January 2009 – It was the badminton match that took centrestage that day – ex-national player, Coleen Goh from Nanyang Technology University (NTU) and Republic's Polytechnic's (RP) ace player, Tan Jia Min.

The first set was won by Tan with the score 20-22; The second set ended with the score 25-23, led by NTU.

All eyes were on the third and final set which would determine the winner.

The two players had seized each other up. It became clear that Tan had no problems returning Goh's poweful smashes.

Goh began the game with a low serve which was subtly returned by Tan. Goh responded with stronger force, but with a miscalculation, she hit the shuttlecock into the net. The spectators soon observed a pattern between the two.

It starts with gentle play for a few hits until one side exerts greater force and hits out of court or manages to smash the shuttlecock into the opponent's blind spot.

Goh attempted to tip the shuttlecock over the net, skillfully scoring a point. RP's Tan returned her opponent's netshot by lifting the shuttlecock which Goh then returned with a smash, earning another point.

It was a tight match between the two, but the final score stood at 21-19, in NTU's favour. NTU won the first round.

Coleen Goh, NTU says, “My opponent was very good. I had to change my style in the middle of the match. At first I didn't realise that my shots were not landing far enough. After some time, I then decided to play towards the front more, which means that my hits end up near the net.”

Tan Jia Min, player from RP says, “Actually I find that there was nothing special in the way I played today. In the beginning, I committed a lot of mistakes. So I just kept chasing my opponent. I find that I was always behind her. In the end, I lost because I made more mistakes than her.”

The next four rounds of doubles and singles games between NTU and RP were all won by NTU. The first doubles game saw a score of 21-3, 3-21.

NTU won the next singles game with the scores, 21-4 and 8-21. The following doubles game saw the scores 21-14 and 13-21 and the final singles game had the scores 21-3, 4-21.