Arena Badminton Team

Winning 4 gold medals, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals was the prove of our dominance in Gombak District badminton fraternity. The annual  inter school event was held on 19th January 2009 to 23rd January 2009 in Sekolah Menengah Teknik Gombak to select players to represent the Gombak District in the upcoming Selangor Schools Badminton Championships. Arena Badminton Team Coach M. Jivananthan Nair said the result was very positive and believes many of Arena’s players will be seen representing Gombak District in the more important Selangor Schools Meet.

Results:

Arena Players Only

Gold Medalists

• Muhd Lokman (arena) - Under 12 Boys Singles
• Kunaal Dev (arena) - Under 15 Boys Singles
• Ai Wei Jian (arena) / Chong Kah Wai - Under 15 Boys Doubles
• Grace (arena) / Tia Allany - Under 15 Girls Doubles

Silver Medalists

• Ai Wei Jian (arena) - Under 15 Boys Singles
• Grace Marie Peter (arena) - Under 15 Girls Singles
• Lai Cheng Khang (arena)/Lim Yit Toon (arena) - Under 15 Boys Doubles

Bronze Medalist

• Kunaal Dev (arena) / Benny Loo (arena) - Under 15 Boys Doubles
• Calvin Kumar (arena) / Ashwin Dev - Under 18 Boys Doubles

This is a day to remember as it is the first time Arena Masters League is being held at a different venue from its home which is Selayang Mall. Kundang, one of Arena’s development centres was the venue on this occasion and our sponsors Finnex had a sales day. The reason that the Arena Masters League is being held there is to promote the event not only for our centre players but also for the public. The event was also to motivate the younger players to train harder so they can be selected to compete in the Arena Masters League. Players and parents from Kundang and also our Arena Masters League players and their parents gave their all out support by attending the event.

The students and the parent’s were entertained as the match between Kunaal Dev against revitalized Gan Hock Meng began and ended in a thrilling rubber set match. Lately, the veteran Hock Meng has been on fire since recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained earlier this season. In the first set Hock Meng played well with good footwork and fancy skill shots to win 21-17 but Kunaal is not a player that lets you win easily as he battled in the second set by dissolving Hock Meng’s strong defence with strong cross court smashes and good attacking instincts and won 21-19. Both players looked sharp in the third set as both of them entertained the crowed with some terrific net plays and fantastic drop shots and chops, and it was Hock Meng who took advantage of few mishaps by Kunaal to win 21-17. Another interesting game was again involving Hock Meng against Chong Kah Wai also in a three set encounter which the scores were close. Hock Meng still looked tired when he entered the court to face the fresh Kah Wai. Tiredness did not stop him giving a fight to Kah Wai before going down 18-21, but he took second set after both of them battled for 25 minutes. In the third set, both of the players looked energized and gave a fight and also an entertaining set with lots of good rallies. At the end, Hock Meng couldn’t maintain his winning form as he stumbled 19-21. Another player who made his mark on that day was Intermediate squad player Deeiban Raj who defeated High Performance squad player Lai Cheng Khang with the score 21-12, 11-21, 21-14. Development squad player Muhd Lukman showed to the Kundang students what it takes to be in playing in the Arena Masters League when he outclassed Intermediate squad player Lee Chee Hau with a comfortable 21-14 and 21-10. At the end all the players looked tired but were happy with their performance.

• Gan Hock Meng bt Kunaal Dev (21-17, 19-21 21-17)
• Muhd Lukman bt Lee Chee Hau (21-14, 21-10)
• Ai Wei Jian bt Chong Tuck Chung (21-15, 21-11)
• Ng Boon Keong bt Satish Kumar (18-21, 21-19, 21-16)
• Lim Yit Toon bt Deeiban Raj (19-21, 21-14, 21-15)
• Chong Kah Wai bt Gan Hock Meng (21-18, 19-21, 21-19)
• Ng Boon Leong bt Muhd Lukman (21-11, 21-9)
• Lim Yit Toon bt Lee Chee Hau (21-11, 21-14)
• Deeiban Raj bt Lai Cheng Khang (21-12, 11-21, 21-14)
• Wong Yau Yun bt Calvin Kumar (21-0, 21-0)
• Lee Eng Hock bt Ng Boon Keong (21-14, 21-16)

The day started with Gan Hock Meng and Ng Boon Leong battling out against each other for 45 minutes. It was one of the five rubber set matches that was played on that day. In the last league match, Hock Meng lost to Wei Jian in a rubber set match but on this occasion he kept his tiredness aside and sealed the victory by 21-16, 12-21 and 22-20. Intermediate player Mohd Nazrin definitely will remember this day as he was on a superb form demolishing two High Performance players. His first game against Satish Kumar he played excellent four corner shots and good net plays to win 22-20 and 21-17. In the second game, he played against Lim Yit Toon in a rubber set match. Nazrin deservedly took the first set 21-17. Yit Toon known as a player who doesn’t give up easily took the second set 25-23 after trailing Nazrin for most of the set. The third set proved to be the deciding and an exciting match as both players played good rallies and good attacking skills but it was Nazrin who took most of the advantage and won 21-18. In another 3 set match, Wong Yau Yun defeated the much fancied Lai Cheng Kang. Yau Yun could have taken the first set as he hurt his when he fell and Cheng Kang took advantage to catch up and wrapping the set 24-22. Yau Yun overcame the pain barrier by clinching the next to sets 21-16 and 21-19 with entertaining skills and quick thinking shots.

• Gan Hock Meng bt Ng Boon Leong (21-16, 12-21, 22-20)
• Chong Tuck Chung bt Satish Kumar (21-23, 21-9, 21-10)
• Kunaal Dev bt Calvin Kumar (21-9, 21-11)
• Ai Wei Jian bt Lee Chee How (21-16, 21-12)
• Lee Eng Hock bt Deeiban Raj (21-19, 21-14)
• Mohd Nazrin bt Satish Kumar (22-20, 21-17)
• Deeiban Raj bt Muhd Lukman (21-19, 21-16)
• Lai Cheng Kang bt Ng Boon Leong (21-14, 17-21, 21-16)
• Mohd Nazrin bt Lim Yit Toon (21-17, 23-25, 21-18)
• Wong Yau Yun bt Lai Cheng Kang (22-24, 21-16, 21-19)
• Gan Hock Meng bt Chong Tuck Chung (21-17, 21-16)