By Han Yongming, newsroom intern

THE dust from the schools' badminton controversy had hardly settled when a new one, this time involving basketball, erupted.

Two weeks ago, The New Paper reported on a protest lodged by Maris Stella High School, which played Anglican High School in the 'C' division of the Pilot Pen National Inter-school Badminton Championships.

It halted the progress of the competition for more than a week.

Then came the furore in the senior boys' category of the National Inter-Primary Schools Basketball Championships.

It left some 12-year-old basketball players yo-yoing between joy and despair.

The badminton saga ended with Maris Stella High's second appeal being turned down by the Singapore School Sports Council Board of Appeal last week.

The 'C' division badminton matches resumed on Friday and will be played till this Thursday.

The basketball controversy came five days after the Telok Kurau Primary School (TKPS) beat Yio Chu Kang Primary School (YCKPS) 43-42 on 15 Apr.

TKPS players were told on 20 Apr that the score was wrong, and they had actually lost the match.

YCKPS had successfully appealed to overturn the result of the match. The organising committee decided, based on a YCKPS video of the match, to award the win to the school.

School kept going on to win

Never mind that the original score sheet, signed by the referees, timekeeper and scorekeeper, had declared TKPS the winner. Or that, according to the score sheet, YCKPS did not challenge the score then.

Said Mr Suhairi bin Samat, 38, parent of a TKPS player: 'We didn't see them protesting. The score sheet says it all. 'Name of Winning Team: Telok Kurau.'

TKPS appealed that very Monday.

Said Mr Gabriel Ng, 47, father of a TKPS player: 'The boys were told that they had a high chance of winning their appeal. They were encouraged to press on with their match against Nan Chiau the next day.'

Thinking that they would win the appeal, the TKPS boys trounced Nan Chiau 53-41.

But on Thursday, less than 24 hours before the semi-finals, the TKPS boys were given the bad news. The organising committee had turned down the TKPS appeal. TKPS has decided not to appeal again.

Every one of the boys, said the parents of the TKPS players, broke down and cried.

So, what exactly happened?

It seems there was poor communication between the match officials.

Poor coordination

A spokesman for the Basketball Association of Singapore (BAS) admitted that poor coordination between the scorekeeper and timekeeper had partly caused the controversy.

The scorekeeper tracks the score, marking it down on the score sheet. The timekeeper, besides tracking the time, also updates the electronic scoreboard.

The BAS spokesman said the scorekeeper had originally given YCKPS two more points, so they led 44-43. 'But when the scorekeeper saw that the timekeeper had not updated the scoreboard with those two points, the scorekeeper cancelled them, thinking he had erred.

'The scorekeeper realised this only the day after the match, when YCKPS lodged a protest and showed him their video.'

The score sheet bears out this account of events. In the 'running score' section, you can see that the scorekeeper had marked '44' for YCKPS at first, before cancelling it.

Still, the TKPS group is not convinced.

Lyn Tan, 21, sister of a TKPS player, said: 'Many of YCKPS' shots were not counted because they'd fouled.

'How do we know whether the video includes the ref's hand signs?'

The TKPS parents are also upset with the way the issue was handled.

Said Mr Gabriel Ng, 47, another parent of a TKPS player: 'Isn't it unfair for the organising committee to overrule the results based on the video YCKPS took?

'Besides, if you're going to revise the score, shouldn't you do it during or right after the match?

'And why is it that the organising committee could confirm their decision only on Thursday, the day before the semi-finals - three days after our appeal?'

Said Madam Chris Goh, 45, Mr Ng's wife: 'My son told me after that: 'Mummy I don't want to play basketball any more.' Their confidence has been shattered.'

Mr Suhairi said: 'We just want a proper explanation, so that our boys can accept this decision and move on.'

Both the national convener and YCKPS declined to comment, when approached by The New Paper during Friday's semi-finals.

This article was first published in The New Paper.