Team Tournament: Winning start for CHMS KB shuttlers

The Brunei Times
Saturday, February 20, 2010

CHUNG Hua Middle School Kuala Belait (CHMS KB) took some time off celebrating the Chinese New Year to beat the Private Education Unit (PEU) 2-1 in the opener of yesterday's Badminton Team Tournament between Private Schools held in conjunction with the 2009 Teacher's Day.

Organised by the Ministry of Education's Private Education Unit, the competition at the Multipurpose Hall of the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Secondary School see 12 men's teams and 17 women's teams compete for the title of champions.

The men of CHMS KB awarded their opponents a walkover win in the first match but came back to win the second match 21-15, 21-21 to tie the game.

It was the match which drew most of the crowd's attention, and CHMS KB prevailed despite PEU looking the more experienced side.

The team from Kuala Belait then went on to win the third match 21-13, 21-3 to make it a worthwhile trip to the capital.

"We are very happy with our performance since we came up all the way from Kuala Belait for this," said one of CHMS KB's players, Gerard Sung.

"I think we won because of the way we arranged our matches and paired up the right players. We played the correct line-up.

"Our aim is to get into the final though we have only been practising on and off for the past couple of months," said Sung, who partnered Mak Soon Kok in the second match yesterday.

Their next game is against Chung Lian on March 5.

Though Sung said he was not sure which were the teams to watch out for, he added that he heard Chung Hwa Middle School (CHMS BSB) would pose a challenge.

The other men's match saw St Andrew's beat Nusa Laila 3-0.

Meanwhile in the women's category, CHMS BSB beat the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Secondary School 3-0 and PEU overcame Nusa Laila 3-0.

In her speech at the opening ceremony, the chairperson of the tournament's executive committee stressed that the competition was used to instil a sporting spirit among the contestants and also a healthy lifestyle.

"Among its aims are also to strengthen the ties between the schools and teachers taking part in this competition," Ismah Hj Besar added.

The competition resumes at 10am tomorrow, with three men's matches and 10 women's matches to be played throughout the day.

The final is set for March 12 at 2.45pm.

The guest of honour at yesterday's opening ceremony was Dk Hjh Mastoli Pg Seri Indera Pg Hj Ismail, Director General of the Ministry of Education.