By Heather I’anson-Holton (16A01E)

For the uninitiated, shooting in RI is broken down into two sports – air rifle and air pistol, each comprising of a boys’ and girls’ team. This year’s championships saw our four teams competing over a week of gruelling hour-long matches.

Watching a shooting match is unlike watching any other sports competition – cheering is banned and banners are redundant; audience members are required to stay quiet and unobtrusive, so as to minimise distractions for the shooters. The near-absolute silence of the shooting range is broken only by the sporadic sounds of gunfire as the audience stares at the scoreboards attempting to interpret the progress of the match; the air is thick with tension from start to finish.

While many are quick to say that shooting is not a ‘real’ sport, our shooters claim otherwise. The sport itself is physically demanding; shooters are expected to handle guns weighing up to 4.5kg for hours at a time, with additional heavy body armour for the riflers, and our shooters came away from each match both physically and mentally exhausted.

This championship saw some difficulties for our shooters, the most noted of which happened during the Air Rifle Women’s competition, during which rifler Evelyn Chng’s gun malfunctioned. After making repairs, she was left with just 12 minutes to complete 30 shots.

2015 has been a year of change for shooting, firstly due to the introduction of electronic targets to replace the previous paper targets. These new targets reflected the score of each shot after it had been taken, the subtotal for each set of ten shots, and the shooter’s total score. Shooting is a sport where mind over matter really matters, and the teams had to be extra mindful to focus on their actions and not their scores, a feat that proved to be much harder now that their scores were neatly displayed to them after each shot. Competition rules were also revised – in previous years, a team was comprised of three shooters and a reserve; this year, all four members of the team competed, with the best three results being chosen for the final team score.

Furthermore, the CCA underwent some internal changes as our shooters bade farewell to their pistol coach of many years, Mr Qian Gang, who has since returned to China. Ex-rifle coach Li Jie has kindly taken over the training of the pistol teams, and his wife, coach Ding, has taken up the post of rifle coach. This has been a big adjustment for our shooters, most of them having trained under Coach Li and Coach Qian for many years. However, pistoler Wong Ho Zuan (15S03P) assures us that though it came as a shock, the pistol teams have “transitioned quite well towards Coach Li’s teaching style, and we have both of them to thank for our results today.”

Despite all these challenges however, our shooters did the school proud by securing several trophies:

• ‘A’ Div Air Rifle Women – Team 3rd
• ‘A’ Div Air Pistol Women – Team 2nd
• ‘A’ Div Air Rifle Men – Team 1st
• ‘A’ Div Air Pistol Men – Team 2nd

Special mention also goes out to Sean Tay who clinched Individual 2nd in the Air Rifle Men’s category, and Wong Ho Zuan, who achieved Individual 3rd in the Air Pistol Men’s category.

All in all, the teams are satisfied with what they have achieved. Pistoler Lee Vint Seng (15S03H) says, “in shooting, to aim for the goal is to miss the mark; think of the results and everything you’ve worked towards falls apart.” Rifler Wang Kaiying (16S03E) tells us that it while may not be reflected in the trophy haul, the teams have definitely made progress, and that’s what ultimately counts. “There’s no denying how much we’ve grown and improved both as a team and as individuals.”

By Chew Cheng Yu (16S06L)

After bringing home a double championship just a few weeks ago, the Judo team returned to Hougang Secondary School again for the National Inter-School Individual Judo Championships. This year witnessed the participation of Raffles Institution in all the matches (or more commonly referred to as “bouts”) for the ‘A’ Division Finals, save for the matches in the Girls’ Extra Lightweight and the Boys’ Heavyweight categories.

The atmosphere in the indoor sports hall while waiting for the bouts was slightly relaxed, but the tension was visible on most of the judokas’ faces as they warmed up and practised. Boys’ captain Yong Kang Ren (15S03E), although not participating, was there to support his juniors and batchmates. He agreed that after bringing home the double team championships, there was definitely palpable pressure meeting expectations, but they were also “quite confident in their individual events”, and was certain that both the boys and girls would perform well.

In Judo, individuals have 3 minutes in a bout to score as many points against the opponent in the same category as possible. This can be done in three ways:

1. yuko, where one only manages to throw the opponent to the floor, lacking in two of the following: speed, force or throwing largely onto the back, and hence counts only as a partial point;
2. waza-ari, which is the same as yuko, but lacking in only one aspect, thus scoring a half-point;
3. ippon, a “perfect” throw, earning a full point.

If a throw is unable to be executed, pinning down one’s opponent also earns points; 10-15 seconds for yuko, 16-20 seconds for waza-ari, and over 20 seconds for ippon. Penalties, called shido, may be given for excessively rough play, and can be used to determine the outcome of the match if no full points are scored.

Featherweight Category: Charis Tay Si En (Girls) and Gareth Edward Lee (Boys)

Charis began with some difficulty in grappling her opponent, but eventually managed to score a waza-ari partway through. This was followed by another waza-ari in quick succession, earning Charis a full point, and subsequently victory.

Gareth, despite being in the midst of recovering from an injured foot, scored waza-ari, followed by yuko. Though his opponent became more cautious, and managed to avoid being thrown over in several attempts, Gareth eventually managed to throw the opponent down, scoring an ippon and winning the bout.

Extra Lightweight Category: Ong Jia Xiang (Boys)

In a redux of the team finals’ bout, Jia Xiang faced the same opponent for the gold. The match was tight; in spite of his determination and perserverance, Jia Xiang still lost to the opponent, Kam Wei Lee Wesley (of Nanyang Junior College) by a single yuko, which was scored halfway through.

Lightweight Category: Fadhillah Md Faizan (Girls), Wu Bo Dong (Boys)

In Fadhillah’s bout, her opponent attempted to match her movements, giving her stiff competition for a good while, while countering her throws. However, Fadhillah did not falter, and finally managed to score an ippon with a pin-down.

Bo Dong was a force to be reckoned with in his bout against his formidable opponent – while it was clear he was skilled, managing to score waza-ari early in, his opponent Chua Jun Kai (of NYJC) managed to overcome him and win with an ippon scored towards the end of the bout.

Middleweight Category:Tania Forichon (Girls), Chen Yuan Bo and Thomas Ho Kai Heng (Boys)

Although giving her opponent room to go on the offensive in the first part, Tania later became relentless, attempting to throw her opponent at every last chance possible, and sparing no room to counter. She eventually won with a pin-down, scoring ippon.

For the Boys’ Category, both judokas were from RI, and so the victory was clinched for certain – but Yuan Bo and Thomas faced each other in an impressive clash, with Yuan Bo emerging as the champion.

Heavyweight Category: Joey Low Jia Yi, Joyce Lee Yi Kuan (Girls)

Another gold was clinched; but beyond that, what was important was the fighting spirit that both girls displayed. In the bout between teammates respectively, both displayed great prowess in the sport, but Joey triumphed over Joyce eventually with waza-ari scored towards the end.

To summarise, our judokas had obtained 6 golds (2 for the boys, and 4 for the girls) out of 10, an achievement made possible by impressive efforts all around. The coach, Mr. Tan Yi, said that the judokas were “up to expectations”, and was “very happy” with their progress. Kudos to the judokas for their tenacity and hard work and having attained such high standards!

By Samuel Loh (16A01A)

The sun burnt bright Tuesday morning, while Raffles Institution’s A Division water polo girls geared up for their season’s finals against Temasek Junior College. Burning brighter was spectator Zhu Deng’s (16S07D) immeasurable confidence in the girls’ abilities, evident as he told us, “I feel burning — burning with excitement, burning with passion for my school, and for the team.” Such was the sheer anxiousness amidst the bleachers as supporters eagerly awaited a highly-anticipated finals matchup, which hopefully would bring home RI’s 9th consecutive victory in the Girls’ Water Polo event.

Having defeated Hwa Chong Junior College with a resounding victory of 18-0 in the previous round, Raffles Institution’s A Division girls shot into the finals confident and ready to close the season to the best of their abilities. The first quarter began with little delay, and RI’s aggressive playing style was almost immediately felt across the pool. Chan Fang Yi (16S06R) opened the rally with an impressive display of agility, gaining possession of the ball for the defending champions. 2 near scores quickly set TJC on the defensive. Finally, a third try at the goal following a half-pool sprint saw Rachel Lee (15S03K) score RI’s first point of the game, followed closely by another from Fang Yi. Keeper Stephanie Sim (15S07B) attempted to block a weighty shot at their goal, but the ball barely floated past through to TJC’s advantage. A return score by Madeline Quek (15S07C) concluded the first quarter with RI in a solid 3-1 lead.

The second quarter kickstarted with a fierce struggle for possession of the ball, with TJC attempting a pass on the goal but to no avail. Precise and coordinated passes by the girls sustained great pressure on TJC’s goal. Madeline’s stunning feint widened the score gap to 4-1 in favor of RI, and the Rafflesian team appeared to be going strong.

An action-packed third quarter started with an early goal from RI, raising the count to 5-1, but TJC promptly responded in kind to make it 5-2. A pass of remarkable accuracy brought the ball within scoring range of TJC’s goal, but deflected off Rachel’s shoulders before she could take the shot. Nevertheless, outstanding defence by Stephanie broke the momentum of TJC’s seemingly unrelenting attack without conceding any further goals. Back on the offensive, RI proceeded to score two more goals off the backs of Madeline and Nicole Ong (15S06D). As the thirty-second shot clock inched its way closer and closer to zero, and TJC reinforced their dogged defense, the crowd roared as Rachel scored from the half-court, further pushing the advantage to a comfortable 8-2. A final quarter saw Raffles preserve its six-point lead, largely in part to our concerted defence.

Our girls performed extraordinarily, emerging victorious on a comfortable 8-2 margin and earning themselves the title of national champions for the ninth year running. An illustrious history meant that the A Division girls had entered this season with the greatest of expectations foisted upon them. Yet, there was no question they had done themselves, each other, and the school proud. If anything at all, they certainly lived up to their name — and more.

Team member Andrea Low (16A01A), who was unable to play due to an injury, told us, “I’m really excited and happy for them because we’ve been anticipating this match for so long and we’ve grown so much closer training for our season. You can just feel that it’s really a team thing.” Andrea’s encouragements were audible throughout the match as she cheered her team on wholeheartedly, and she rushed over to join the celebrations.

It was a well-deserved win — the team’s demonstration of seamless teamwork and mutual support for each other was only rivalled by their fiery determination. Team captain Richelle Ang (15S06B) describes their journey and thoughts, “It wasn’t smooth sailing to get to this stage, but I feel relieved and grateful to everybody that helped us make it this far. It’s really all about the process.”

By Melissa Choi (16S06B)

It was not your typical scene at Bedok Reservoir, with 121 Crossers all reared-up and ready to go at the start line. An electrifying atmosphere enveloped the race site as the audience waited in anticipation for the first runner to emerge. Punctuating the morning calm was the sound of cheers from the many impassioned supporters who came down to cheer for their schoolmates. It was the 56th National Inter-School Cross Country championships, and what a race it was. In total, there were six races spanning three divisions, and six titles for Team Raffles to clinch. Rafflesian dominance was strongly felt, with the Rafflesian family clinching four out of the possible six titles.

The A Division boys kicked off the first race at 9am, covering a distance of 4.6km. The Raffles team started strong as a pack, with pre-race favourite Chong Qi taking the lead. As the race progressed and the Crossers neared an uphill slope, a clear separation began to show. Some runners broke off from the pack, with Chester being one of them. Despite their exhaustion, many runners were determined to pick up their pace at the end, and even overtake close competitors such as the team from ACS(I).

Chester recalled that he “wasn’t confident that I could overtake Leroi [one of the runners from ACS(I)] at the start”, but in the last 400m, “the coach told [him] to go get [Leroi]”. This was the push that propelled him to overtake his competitor in the tense last 3 seconds of the race, giving RI a clean but narrow sweep for Top 3 for the Boy’s A Division.

Some even collapsed to the floor after passing the finish line, having given the race their all. It goes without saying that Cross Country is a physically demanding as well as mentally trying sport. However, akin to finishing 2.4km in NAPFA, there is immense satisfaction derived from scaling long-distances and pushing one’s boundaries. Larry (15S06N), the captain of the boys’ team, felt “tremendously proud of the team”, as “the team was always there for one another when it mattered – be it helping pace each other or encouraging each other during tough times”.

Following the close fight between ACS(I) and RI, team scores were tabulated based on the timings of the best four runners from the school. Shohib finished 1st, Chong Qi 2nd, Chester 3rd, and Larry 8th, securing a 13-point lead over our closest competitors Victoria Junior College. Our other two runners also finished in the Top 20, with Shammo finishing 12th and Willy 19th. For Shohib, this was his second straight individual gold; in 2014, he finished with a timing of 14:02.8 on the 4.3km course. Chong Qi was also 2014’s B Division Individual Champion, achieving a timing of 14:26.7; this year, he finished just 12 seconds after Shohib.

Our A Division girls too performed strongly, narrowly losing out to the VJC girls by only three points. The girls were a strong team overall, and “the race could have gone either way”, according to the coach, Mr. Joe Goh. While both girls and boys ran along nearly the same course, the girls took a shorter route of 3.6km, and began their race at 9.40am.

With the VJC girls establishing their lead 400m into the race, and extending it further as the race progressed, Natalie, the forerunner of the Raffles team, tried to keep up but was unable to. Eventually, she finished 3rd, followed closely by Yi Xin in 4th. Faye battled Xin Ying (VJC) for 6th place, but crossed the line 0.2 seconds after her to finish 7th. Edina came in 9th, bagging a team score of 23 points. Valarie and Shiying from the RI team also performed well, coming in 10th and 19th respectively.

It was a neck-and-neck battle though, as the runners who finished third through seventh all finished in close succession, varying only by 24 seconds. Natalie (16S03S) attested to the race being a very close fight, but that “there is nothing to be disappointed about” because “everybody put in their best effort.” Sporting a positive attitude, she remarked that the only thing the team can do is to train harder for next year. “Even though we didn’t get champions, they will still be champions in my heart!” she said.

When asked what she thought of the team, she said, “I love our team, it was super fun training with them up to this season, and they make training much better.” Her teammate Valarie (16S06I) echoes this sentiment, “Even though it’s tough, it’s fun.”

Shiying (15S03F), the captain of the girls’ team, told us, “Though we were unable to bring home the title this year, I can say with certainty that we’ve trained hard for it and given it our best shot.” Although she felt that “losing the title so narrowly was definitely a bitter pill to swallow”, she still remains optimistic and motivated “to train even harder for the upcoming Track and Field championships.”

Confident that the runners have given their best, the coaches are proud of Team Raffles and maintain that the results are secondary. Mr Goh remarked, “They did above expectations…For A girls especially, we had a very close fight with VJC. We [expected] them to give us a tough fight based on the past few races … It could [go] to anybody, just that today they did better than us.”

While many see Cross Country as an individual sport, the Cross team strongly believes in the importance of the team. Larry noted, “Although the nature of the sport is an individualistic one, it never felt this way in this team.” Training three times a week in paced groups, supported by teachers and parents who do all sorts of behind-the-scenes work, has enabled the Cross team to form bonds like no other.

Both Cross teams have shown great sportsmanship and team spirit, and we would like to congratulate them on a job well done. We wish the Cross Country team all the best in their future endeavours!