School sport: Bryan stars, sports school rules

He broke a 16-year-old meet record en route to the gold medal in the boys B Division high jump.

But, in the end, Bryan Wong's feat wasn't enough to help his school win the overall title at the National Inter-School Track & Field Championships at Choa Chu Kang Stadium yesterday.

The final day of the championship saw the Singapore Sports School sweep both the boys' and girls' B Division titles.

Raffles Institution's (RI) Bryan did steal some of the limelight when he set a new meet record with a jump of 2.02m, an improvement of 0.01m from the old mark set by Woon Ta Wei (of the then-Chinese High School) in 1998.

Speaking to The New Paper later, Bryan felt that the small size of the RI team stopped them from challenging for the overall crown. RI finished third in the boys' B Division, behind second-placed Hwa Chong Institution and the Sports School, and Bryan said: "Our team size is really small this year, so if we had more runners, we could have matched them."

Besides Bryan's outstanding individual performance, the girls from the Singapore Sports School also stood out yesterday. They dominated the B Division 100m and the 800m finals, by taking all three spots on the podium in both events.

Izlyn Zaini, 16, who won the 100m gold with a time of 12.61sec, wasn't surprised that they were able to do so well. "It's what we're meant to be doing, so I'm glad that we could do the school proud."

WENT ONE BETTER

RI enjoyed much better success in the boys' A Division, winning the overall crown and also sweeping the top three spots in the 1,500m final yesterday.

In a photo finish in the boys' B Division 100m final, RI's Hariz Darajit, 16, was able to pip the Sports School's Syazani Abdul Wahid, also 16, to the gold medal by 0.01sec.

Hariz's winning time was 11.36 and a disappointed Syazani said: "I'm a little unhappy, but at least I managed to win a silver medal.

"He's (Hariz) always been over my shoulder, even doing better than me in the heats, so I'm not too upset."

Revenge was served later, though, after Syazani and Hariz also met in the final leg of the boys' B Division 4x100m relay. This time the boys from the Sports School stormed to gold with a time of 43.61, with the Rafflesians coming in second ahead of bronze medallists Victoria School.

The fastest girl in the C Division was also crowned yesterday.

The Sports School's Ismi Zakiah Kashful Anuar, 14, won the gold with a time of 13.14sec, ahead of teammate Portia Tan (13.37) and Cedar Girls' Tanisha Moghe (13.54).

CEDAR RETAIN NATIONAL C DIVISION CROWN

They felt that the competition was tougher this year and they didn't think they would defend their crown.

When the announcer named Cedar Girls' School C Division champions in the National Inter-School Track and Field Championships at Choa Chu Kang Stadium yesterday, the students let out a collective scream of joy.

Tan Xin Ning, 13, who secured gold medals in the C division discus and shot-put events, was over the moon. She said: "I'm so happy but, really, I didn't expect this at all. All those hours we spent training and all the sacrifice really did pay off."

Teammate Fatimah Zahra Rafique, 13, did her part by winning gold in the C Division high jump event, posting a height of 1.55m, ahead of Jezebel Koh (1.50) of the Singapore Sports School and Choun Ray Yi (1.43) of Nanyang Girls' High School.

She said: "This year's competition was really tough. The girls from Nanyang and the Sports School were always either ahead of us or behind us, so we didn't know where we stood. It's a relief that we won."

Tanisha Moghe, 13, who won bronze in the 100m, said: "I just wanted to do my best and I'm sure the rest of the girls did too. "Whoever works the hardest will win and I'm not afraid to say that we did work the hardest, so we deserved this."

Cedar's chances in the C Division were boosted when they won silver in the 4x100m relay and bronze in the 4x400m relay. They had another reason to celebrate yesterday as their seniors finished third overall in the B Division, behind Nanyang Girls High School and champions Singapore Sports School.

Overall National Inter-School Track & Field Championships

BOYS

A DIVISION

1) Raffles Institution

2) Hwa Chong Institution

3)Anglo-Chinese Junior College

B DIVISION

1) Singapore Sports School

2) Hwa Chong Institution

3) Raffles Institution

C DIVISION

1) Hwa Chong Institution

2) Raffles Institution

3) Singapore Sports School

GIRLS

A DIVISION

1) Hwa Chong Institution

2) Victoria Junior College

3) Raffles Institution

B DIVISION

1) Singapore Sports School

2) Nanyang Girls' High School

3) Cedar Girls' Secondary School

C DIVISION

1) Cedar Girls' Secondary School

2) Nanyang Girls' High School

3) Singapore Sports School

This article was published on April 17 in The New Paper.

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