IVP 2016: NTU is best performing institution, with 6 golds

By Nicole Chia, Sean Loo

NTU’s Pradeep Ravichandran dribbles the ball to avoid a tackle from a Temasek Polytechnic player.
PHOTO: Nicholas Yeo

With two more golds won by the women netball and badminton athletes at the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Games, NTU was the overall champion with six gold medals.

The Games concluded on 1 Feb, after the men’s football final at Singapore Polytechnic.

Up against the much-fancied team from Temasek Polytechnic (TP), NTU’s footballers were clearly the underdogs.

Despite fending off multiple attacks from their opponents, the NTU team eventually fell to three-time defending champion TP. The final score was 0-0, with TP winning 5-4 on penalties.

The football team had reached the semi-finals last year, and coach T Ramoo, 45, believes his charges can go one better next year.

“The effort my boys put in was priceless, and I’m very proud of them,” he said. “Maybe next year will be our year.”

Goalkeeper He Qixiang, a first-year Sports Science and Management student, agreed. “We knew what to do, but we just came up short,” said the 23-year-old. “Next year, we’ll come back stronger and try to win both the Singapore University Games (SUniG) and IVP.”

On the other hand, the netballers continued their winning streak after beating host National University of Singapore (NUS), 56-45, on 30 Jan. The team also won the SUniG championship last September.

“The match was very intense, and it was a good thing we started well,” goal defender Ng Si Ying, 23, said.

The team led by seven points in the first quarter, but their opponents inched closer in the next three quarters.

It was teamwork that prevailed in the end, said Ng, who is a final-year Art, Design and Media student.

The university’s women shuttlers also hit gold after defeating rivals NUS, 3-1, on home ground at the Sports and Recreation Centre on 29 Jan.

The last time NTU won an IVP gold for women’s badminton was in 2013.

The team also got to avenge losing to NUS at the SUniG games in September.

Captain Lee Cheng Ling, 22, believes early preparation was the key.

The team only had eight players, which meant it only had one reserve player. “I was quite worried,” said Lee, a final-year Nanyang Business School student.

She was in her first year the last time the team won gold at IVP. “Now I’m in my final year, and we did it again, so I’m very happy,” she said.

The netballers’ victory was also sweet for Ng, who is also on her final year.

“This netball season is the last for most of the players, so it was quite important that we win this year,” Ng said. “We really wanted to end our final match well, and I’m glad we did.”

NUS finished runner-up with four gold medals, while Republic Polytechnic was third place with three gold medals.