SUniG marred by haze

By Lynn Chia and Cassandra Yeo

DRIBBLING FORWARD: An NTU player tries to beat an SMU player and carry the ball closer towards goal.
PHOTO BY: NTU Spirit

With unabating haze conditions persisting over the past three weeks, NTU’s sports teams say fixture postponements for the ongoing Singapore University Games (SUniG) have hampered their team’s preparations.

The NTU aquathlon team was just one of the affected teams, with their competition put off for a week as the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit the unhealthy range (101 – 200) on 19 Sep.

Instead, the competition was held last Saturday (26 Sep), at the National Service Resort and Country Club Sea Sports Centre.

The postponement of the aquathlon competition disrupted the organisation of the team’s structure as some members were unable to make it for the competition on the revised date, while the unpredictability of the haze conditions has led to difficulties in arranging routine training sessions.

“We have rescheduled our usual night trainings to be in the morning when the PSI is lower. It definitely takes a lot of self-discipline to be able to wake up at 6am every morning,” said aquathlon captain Ang Jun Xiang, 23, a second-year student from the Nanyang Business School.

While early morning trainings do not sound appealing, night practices may be impossible for some, such as the Ultimate Frisbee team.

Team skipper Henry Ng said his team cannot train at night because floodlights at the Sports and Recreation Centre are turned off when the PSI exceeds 100.

The 24-year-old added that close monitoring of the PSI and the players’ well-being has also become routine.

The final-year student from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering explained that monitoring the PSI is important to ensure that the team can perform at their optimum state during competition.

The importance of maintaining peak performance levels during competition was also stressed by cricket skipper Vasanth Kumar, 21, who said his team felt let down by the postponements.

“The last-minute changes in schedule can affect the team’s mentality as we tend to build up the intensity closer to the match,” added the final-year student from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

While the team’s first fixture against Singapore Institute of Management went ahead on 29 Aug, their second game against Singapore Management University (SMU) had been postponed on two separate occasions.

The fixture was eventually played on 26 Sep, with NTU winning by a score of 194-3 in 20 overs.

24-year-old soccer captain Tan Yong Geng was similarly disappointed by changes in the team’s competition schedule; he said that he and his team felt “cheated”.

The team had suffered two fixture postponements against Singapore University of Technology and Design and SMU.

The final-year student from the National Institute of Education said: “My team and I were looking forward to the match. It has been tiring for us, trying to get into competitive mindset only to be let down by the changes in the fixtures. The act of switching our mindsets back and forth has been very tiring.”

Despite the difficulties posed by the haze, the teams are determined to make the best of their circumstances.

“We simulate match situations during our training as they help to maintain the intensity and momentum of the team. Also, the coach has been helping us to fine tune our game and ensure that we do not plateau,” said Vasanth.

Ng added: “We are in the mood to burst out with what we are capable of the moment the dates are confirmed. We will fight with our 100 per cent  till the end of our last match.”