Handball MSSKL 2014 (Qualifying Rounds)

written by Amanda Lee Yue Ping, Junior 2 Cempaka, Class of 2014

Last year proud handballers brought back the hard-earned Challenge Trophy, winning gold for both U-18 teams and U-15 girls team as well as bronze for U-15 boys team. This year, players walked onto the pitch with heavy expectations weighing on their shoulders, but also with camaraderie and team spirit - two things that never change about the Cempakan Handball Team. 

Photo Credit: Amanda Lee

The girls matches were held on the first day - a blessing due to the dry courts which you could actually bounce a ball off and not have it land with a splat. The first match started late as usual, right after a short briefing about rules and regulations. At which, we learned that all boys were strictly not allowed on the field that day - causing a bit of a commotion. Besides the fact that the boys then had to hang outside the fence and peer through like convicts, things set off to a pretty good start. Both teams won their consecutive matches with only minimal shouts of ‘EH MONGEK, BUTTERFINGERS AH?  from En Salleh. 

Photo Credit: Woon Tyen Yee

Once the first matches were over, the girls got into their game and proceeded to breeze through the rest of the competition. As for the boys? They were allowed back in around 1.00pm when school was out and the school authorities pretty much couldn’t be bothered anymore (probably cause they noticed that other boys had started coming in through the very large hole in the fence). 

“We were fortunate that the group we got placed into in the qualifying rounds were teams that we were quite confident in dealing with.”

- Woon Tyen Yee, U-18 Girls Captain

Bereft of adept goalie Shi Jinn and star center Sher Lynn, it was questionable as to whether we would put up as formidable a fight as before. Thankfully though our defenses remained strong and though a little careless here and there on the attacking side, formations played out right and goals were scored. 

Photo Credit: Amanda Lee

The weather took a turn in the middle of the second day. The boys played on dry, brittle grass in the morning, then on wet puddles of mud in the afternoon. There were quite a few amazing ballet and skiing moves executed, as they flailed and skid in the pools of water. The boys teams had surprisingly clean sheets this year, with no two minutes given at all. More spectacularly, like the girls teams previously, they also conceded no goals to the opposing teams! It was a close call though, with one ball almost rolling through Seshan’s legs. Both the Under-18s and Under-15’s won all their matches, qualifying the entire Handball team into the quarter-finals tomorrow.  

Below are the scores for the two days: 

Under 18 Girls
1st Match: Cempaka vs SMK Taman Yarl ( 8 - 0 )
2nd Match: Cempaka vs SMK Bandar Baru Seri Petaling ( 2 - 0 )
3rd Match: Cempaka vs SMK Vivekananda ( 5 - 0 )

Under 15 Girls
1st Match: Cempaka vs SMK Bukit Bandaraya ( 3 - 0 )
2nd Match: Cempaka vs SMK Bandar Baru Petaling ( 2 - 0 )
3rd Match: Cempaka vs SMK TTDI ( 2 - 0 )

Under 15 Boys 

1st Match: Cempaka vs Saujana ( 5 - 0 )

2nd Match: Cempaka vs Taman Desa ( 3 - 0 )

3rd Match: Cempaka vs Hartamas ( 4 - 0 )

Under 18 Boys

1st Match: Cempaka vs SMK Petaling ( 5 - 0 )

2nd Match: Cempaka vs Desa Perdana ( 8 - 0 )

3rd Match: Cempaka vs Taman Yarl ( 9 - 0 )

4th Match: Cempaka vs Sentosa ( 4 - 0 ) 

And to the teams who shrugged and said ‘It’s only Cempaka lah’, we definitely showed them. Good luck to everyone tomorrow, play your best! #harderbetterfasterstronger