Never mind that IFG 2012 ended a few weeks back. Relive the games, the passion and the excitement as Justified brings you the final coverage of IFG 2012 with a bumper crop of photos and the captains themselves bringing you their personal account of the games. Despite facing opponents of monolithic proportions, Law faculty surpassed all expectations bringing home 5 medals this year. LAWR and tutorials cramping your muscles already? Watch out for the Law Frat and Law-Med games in the coming months!
Medal Tally
Road Relay: Gold
Floorball (Men): Silver
Floorball (Women): Silver
Swimming (Men): Silver
Squash (Men): Bronze
3rd Runner-Up: Basketball (Man), Contact Rugby, Handball (Men) and (Women), Touch Rugby and Ultimate Frisbee
Table Tennis
‘The IFG Table Tennis team put up a good fight this year despite lacking female players to field in the women’s doubles. We unfortunately never made it past the prelims, but we gained valuable experience and we will learn it and grow stronger for the subsequent IFGs.”
– Team Captain, Clarence Tan (Law 2)
“IFG 2012 was full of surprises for the floorball girls’ team. What started off as a highly promising team — with three exchange students and many year 1 sign-ups – shrunk to a team size that could barely meet the quota, much to our dismay. Holding humble expectations, the team met up twice to train before the group stage games.
On the day of the group stage games, the team played apprehensively for our first game against Business but started the day off well with a deciding goal (Delise) scored in the second half of the game. Our following game against Dentistry gave the team more opportunity to warm up — scoring 8 goals (Xuekun 1, Elin 1, Beihan 1, Cass 2, Delise 3) and maintaining a clean sheet of no goals against us. However, we were to meet our toughest opponent next — Engineering. The girls fought hard without harbouring high expectations. To our surprise, the team managed to put in two goals (Cass and Kaiqi), bringing us to a victory. With boosted morale, we fought fervently for our last game against USP, which we won 3-1 (Xuekun, Cass, Delise) and put us at the top of the table.
The following Sunday, the team braced ourselves for the semifinals against Medicine. Now, it must be noted that the 2012 team consisted of pretty much the same players as the 2011 team — and throughout the previous year we had lost not once but twice to Medicine — in the IFG 3rd/4th placing, and during Law-Med. What’s more, whilst training with the medicine girls we had witnessed the brilliant rigour and discipline with which they trained… we knew it would be a tough game but we were adamant not to go down without a fight. Our fears were gradually assuaged after scoring 2 goals (Kaiqi) in the first half of the game. Alas, the medicine girls scored 2 goals as the second half began, putting us back on edge. In a desperate attempt to claw our way back during the final minutes of the game, we put in our best players to play consecutive shifts — and it brought us sheer joy to see our efforts came to fruition as we scored 2 goals (Kaiqi, Cass) and brought the team to the finals.
We were once again faced with Engineering for the finals. It was evident, however, that this time the Engineering girls came back harder with a vengeance to vindicate themselves… and it showed in the stark difference in gameplay between us and them. While it was regrettable that we did not play up to standard that day, I am still tremendously proud of the team for making it farther then we have been able to for the past few years. Special thanks goes to our only year 1 Xuekun and my lovely year 2s Beishan and Yinhwee for committing to trainings and fighting hard for the team; Hannah Alysha our goalie for being a true jedi master and blocking numerous shots; seniors Priya, Jean Ting and Eunice for making time from their schedule to fight alongside us; Elin for being the most enthusiastic, supportive and hardworking team member I could ever ask for; and Cass, Beihan and Kaiqi for guiding and coaching the team with me. Being part of this team has brought me great joy, and none of this would have been possible without all of you J Let’s continue to fight hard and play good floorball in subsequent tournaments!” – Team Captain, Delise Yang (Law 2)
We were off to a bumpy start, with some of us having other sports competitions before and after the race, and a couple of others having fallen ill. In fact, we found ourselves short of one girl runner, which would have meant instant disqualification if Bi Qi had not offered to run two rounds for us. The other faculty teams graciously agreed to this, so our team was set: Bi Qi would lead off, followed by Hijazi, Joy, Jia En, Alvin, and finally Bi Qi running again for the final round.
We got off to a good start, with Bi Qi coming in fourth for the first round. Hijazi then gained the lead for us, with Joy, Jia En and Alvin fighting to extend it with each lap. Bi Qi, with only twenty minutes of recovery time, then sealed our victory with an impressive final lap. We ran a total of 10km, clocking a team timing of 39:04, for the win.
It was inspiring to see each and every runner throwing all they had into the race, and it was ultimately the combined, unrelenting exertions of all the Law Team runners that secured us the win of the day.”
– Team Captain, Benjamin Wong (Law 2)
Basketball (Men)
“The brave men of NUS Law Basketball made their way down to Kent Ridge Campus on a Saturday afternoon in August, unsure of what to expect. Law had never won a single IFG match for Basketball before, so although we had been training fairly regularly in the buildup to IFG, we were not sure if it would be enough.
Our first match was against our arch rivals Medicine, whom we had lost to narrowly in last year’s Law-Med Challenge. The game started with a flurry of attacks by both sides, but the nervousness of both teams was evident as poor shots were forced up at either end, and the score remained low for a long time.
Before long, however, we started to settle into a more comfortable rhythm with Danny Chua (Y1) calmly leading the offence. Our strength lay in our commanding height advantage, with a rotation of Teren, Kevin (both Y2), Dillon (Y1) and Chase (Exchange) that towered over the centers from Medicine (or any other team for that matter. Seriously, we were a team of giants).
Chase, in particular, was unstoppable and worked his way around the paint, scoring points by the bucketload and throwing players aside with impunity. Teren and Kevin showed their smooth and silky touch from under the basket as well as from mid range. Credit to Medicine for rebounding well despite their size disadvantage, but before long we were in control of the game, and winded up winning by a slim but comfortable margin.
The rest of the preliminary games passed by in a blur, and were won with much wider margins against the comparatively weaker teams of USP and SDE. Not only did we get our first win, for the first time in history, we managed to top our group and qualify for the semifinals!
Highlights of the games included Jinsei (Y1) bulldozing a hapless SDE player when going for a steal, Seetow (Y1) bamboozling a few opponents with his sneaky moves in the post, as well as Douglas (Y1) and Alvin (Y2) effortlessly stroking it in from range over and over again.
Eric (Y1), our spark off the bench, kept the opponents busy with his reliable shooting and penetration skills while Zheng Yu (Y4) and Timon (Y3) did a good job with their distribution and ball handling. On top of that, we had our secret weapons in Riccardo, Faris, Tze Siong (Y3) and Darren (Y2), who on top of their all-round spectacular play, must have distracted the opposition with their good looks.
In the semifinals, despite our greatest efforts and a monstrous game from Danny (who almost single handedly clawed us back from the brink of defeat), we ended up losing to Business by a narrow margin of three points, and ended up in 4th position overall. Nevertheless, it was an excellent showing by Team Law in IFG this year and we fully expect to follow it up with a similar display for Law-Med!”
– Team Captain, Kevin Chua (Law 2)
Basketball (Women)
These were among what the other team members off court were shouting to remind us of our play and to encourage us. Our teamwork was evident in our last game as we combined our efforts to challenge the Medicine girls. In the end, they turned out to be the stronger team and won.
We may not have progressed to the semi-finals, but we certainly fought hard, and we shall fight harder next year!”
– Team Member, Catherine Lim (Law 3)
“The Trug girls finished 4th out of 7 in the IFG tournament, which was conducted round-robin style. This was quite a formidable feat considering that we only started training the week of the tournament (oops) and ¾ of the team was comprised of newbies to the sport.
I’d like to thank the following people for making this possible.
– Xinying Chua (Year 4): senior coach, Most Valuable Player ^^ and Eternally Revered Scorer of the Glorious Try #1
– Siying Goh (Year 2): vice captain, assistant coach and Eternally Revered Scorer of the Glorious Try #2
– Benjamin Ng (Year 2): nominal player and Chief of Defence. Thanks for coming down to act as Defence during trainings, we couldn’t have conducted our drills properly without adequate manpower (i.e. you)
– Mark: Head Coach
Special mention goes out to the Year 1s: Charmaine Lim, Dawn Chua, Deborah Loh, Denise Tay, Dorothy Sim, Joy Lee, Nicole Chee, Xinyuan Ng and Yizhen Sim. You guys have been AMAZING. Thanks for making all 3 trainings at short notice and postponing SLS.
On a side note: This year we had a bumper crop of 9 Year 1s! (Last year our measly harvest amounted to 2. If this trend carries on, we should be able to foresee winning Touch Law-Med within the next decade. Heh heh.) THIS IS A SHOUTOUT TO ALL FEMALES: WE WANT YOU! It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to play, don’t know how to catch a rugby ball, or don’t know what a rugby ball is. All we need is a healthy dose of enthusiasm : )
See you at Lawmed!”
– Team Captain, Phoebe Sim (Law 2)
“The 2012 IFG Contact Rugby tournament started in ominous fashion. Problems with manufacturing and over-time in the gym/canteen meant that more than one jersey threatened to rupture if the wearer took a deep breath. Only the clockwork dedication of then-Sports Secretary and resident Law School cyborg Boon Gan stopped the Contact Rugby train from derailing before the journey even began.
The matches itself however, went well; through a combination of slick ball-handling, slicker hairdos, liberal applications of deep heat, and no small amount of blood and sweat allowing the team to breach the bookies’ favourites FASS much vaunted defence as well as earning a much-deserved victory against 2011 champions Engineering. Law was soon heralded as one of the dark horses to clinch a podium finish.
Alas, the cumulative effect of injuries, freshmen SLS assignment deadlines, and the no-IVP registered player rule exacted its toll at the most inopportune moment, when we faced off in the IFG leg of the bi-annual grudge match against Medicine.
“This year, the Law Frisbee team was made up of many skilled players and even more passionate ones. On top of that, our many intense training sessions together gave us the confidence we needed against the many strong teams out there. With that, we started out the day filled with enthusiasm and optimism, all ready to win some glory for Team Law. Our first game was against the Engineers, an experienced team comprising many club players. The game was a nail-bitingly exciting one, with the score tied up till the final minute. Going into a universal point, our players ran their hearts out, chasing the disc and keeping the mark tight. Unfortunately, we conceded the final goal, finishing the game with a score of 6-5 to Team Engineering. Undeterred, we fought really hard for our next few matches, winning the rest of our games in the group stages, and eventually a spot in the Semi-finals!
We faced Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences in the semi-finals, for a spot in the finals. The Arts team was yet another strong team with many experienced players. However, that did not deter our spirits, but instead, motivated us to perform much better than we did in the group stages. The determining match for first and second placing, this was indeed a match that made our hearts race and constantly left the spectators on the edge of their seats too. Both teams fought hard on both offence and defence, and 30 minutes into the game, the score was tied at 3-3 with a final universal point. The adrenaline of getting into the finals pushed us even harder, but unfortunately, we were no match both physically and mentally for our Arts counterparts and they won the universal point, bringing the total score to 4-3 to Arts. We were left to fight for 3rd place against Medicine.
Facing Medicine, we played with extra soul and tenacity, determined to win our long-time rivals. Medicine took the initial lead, but keeping our heads cool and calm, we managed to pull back, bringing the score to 6-5 to Medicine. Time was running out and the final point was called, allowing us to either tie and hopefully enter into universal point, or lose to them. We fought hard for this final point, but our rivals put up a valiant defence, eventually capitalising on our fumbles, converting and causing us to lose with a final score of 7-5.
Despite coming so close to victories in 3 important matches, Team Law showed great spirit and poise in the face of adversity. Great job Team Law!
To the Frisbee team: Each and every one of you have put in a lot of effort and trained hard for IFG, and showed the other faculties what we are made of and are capable of doing. Thank you (every single Frisbee member), from the bottom of my heart, for all the effort and hard work, as well as dedication to this team! I am very glad to have been able to be a part of this team, and I hope that we can continue to play hard in future tournaments. Let’s continue to train hard and give our best for the next few tournaments: Law Frat, LawSoc, and most importantly, Med-Law.”
– Team Captain, Daniel Ng (Law 2)
“Canoe Polo is rather unheard of so it wasn’t surprising that all the girls who signed up had no prior experience playing the sport. I remember Klara and Isabelle (exchange students from Sweden!) telling me that they “signed up for it because it sounded cool!” We turned up at the SRC pool on the day of the games after just one introductory session where we did a capsize drill and learnt the basic rules of the sport — yup, no actual trainings whatsoever — just expecting to have fun. Our first game against Medicine was quite hilarious. We were facing the wrong direction most of the time and frustrated the referee by not quite understanding the rules of the game (we took 30 seconds before we realized we had to start the ball from the center of the pool). We eventually lost 2-0 to Medicine, which we thought was a respectable loss, given that they had hardcore trainings and canoeists on their team. The second game was against Business. We were starting to get the hang of the game and Isabelle even scored a goal in the first half, which ended with a score of 1-1. A nasty accident took place during the second half when someone’s paddle hit Cheryl Tay’s chin and caused quite a deep cut. She was rushed to the hospital but thankfully no stitches were required. The team was rather affected by the incident and eventually lost 4-1 to Business.The last game in the preliminaries was against FASS and we decided to at least win this match so that we wouldn’t be at the bottom of the table for our group. I must say this game went pretty well and we scored 2 goals while denying Arts the chance to score. Had we played like we did in this game, who knows what the score might have been in our first two matches.
While we didn’t get through the preliminaries, it was an excellent effort put in by the entire team (consisting of Cheryl Chong, Cheryl Tay, Klara Kall, Isabelle Klingmyr Joelle Yong, Parveen Kaur and Quek Lingyi) and I think what mattered at the end of the day was that we enjoyed ourselves and got exposed to a new sport. Hopefully we’ll get to play again during IFG next year!”
– Team Captain, Cheryl Chong (Law 1)
Badminton
Overall, I am very proud that our team managed to put up a good challenge to the rest of the faculties. Would like to thank all my teammates for their commitment at trainings and the spirit they showed on competition day itself: Lili, Khai Boon, Jun Meng, Melvyn, Elin, Shane, Eng How, Bei Shan, Ming Jie, Minhui, Jia Min, Ee Ming.”
– Team Captain, Wong Chun Han (Law 2)
Soccer (Men)
“The soccer girls team this year started off lacking in players but later received enthusiastic response, especially from the year ones. Although we had many players who had never played soccer before, they displayed great determination and effort to learn and improve during trainings.
On the day of IFG, we played four matches in the preliminaries, winning one match, drawing in two matches and losing one match. We conceded only 1 goal in the whole tournament, thanks to valiant efforts from Wan Yi, who stood in as goalkeeper despite usually playing a midfield role. She also scored our only goal from a stunning free kick. Our strong performance was unfortunately not reflected in the score lines, and was not enough to carry us through to the semi-finals. With this experience in mind, we will work to perform better in the law-med games.
Here’s a shout out to all our players for their brilliant effort in the IFG games: Adrienne (Exchange), Hannah, Sarah (Year 4), Arias, Claire, Wan Yi (Year 3), Zhu Lin (Year 2), Anu, Felicia, Jolena, Mel, Minhui, Qianyu and Valencia (Year 1). Special thanks also goes to the boys’ captain Hari for spectating our games and giving us useful tips and advice. Thanks for all your support girls, and let’s train hard and play well in the upcoming games!” – Team Captain, Chng Yan (Law 2)
Squash
Overall: 3rd
Swimming
Men: 2nd
***