Story and photos contributed by Siti Sarah Aziz.
Republic Polytechnic, Sunday, June 15, 2008 – After two weeks of blood, sweat and tears, the sixth annual Tertiary Silat Championships (TSC) finally came to an end. The final week of competition saw the best athletes fight it out to win the title of overall champions or sparring champions for their school. By the end of the competition, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) grabbed the title for Seni (Artistic) Champions, Olahraga (Sparring) Champions and of course, Overall Champions. This put an end to Nanyang Polytechnic's (NYP) two-year winning streak. The team from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) took second place while Republic Polytechnic came in third.
Head Umpire, or Ketua Pengadilan, Mr Ramli commented on the higher standard of play as compared to last year. "Participants this year seem have a stronger foundation in this sport. There is therefore a higher level of appreciation of silat, both in the sparring as well as the artistic aspect."
Despite this appraisal, this year's competition seemed more focused on winning. This was according to Mr Aidil Marzuki Mazlan, 22, who first competed in the 2003 competition at Singapore Polytechnic. He felt that the competition was taking a toll on friendship among schools. Competitions used to bond athletes together. However, participants are now too focused on winning medals that they have forgotten to have fun and form closer ties with other schools.
Ever since Mr Ramli Awi started coaching NP from March 2007, things are definitely looking better for them. Assistant coach Md. Zulfakar Ramli is very happy and proud of his team's performance. It was a pleasant surprise for the father and son team who managed to coach NP towards the overall championship title for the first time with a total of 5 golds, 5 silvers and 3 bronze medals.
In second place was NTU, with 4 golds and 1 silver medal. According to NTU coach, Mr Ilyas Hakim Jamaludin, his team had exceeded his expectations of getting 3 gold medals. His team's victory showed their collective effort to win, which he is very proud of.
In third place was Republic Polytechnic, winning 3 golds, 4 silvers and 3 bronze medals. Despite being given the overwhelming task of organizing the event and competing at the same time, they managed to accomplish the task of not going home empty-handed.
Overall, the top three schools have expressed satisfaction with the performance of their team. Special mention to the School Silat Network for Singapore for assisting the organizers throughout the entire event.
With the end of ISC 2008, the tertiary institutions will definitely be looking forward to next year's competition, held at NTU. This would also be a good opportunity for NTU to prepare themselves to host the ASEAN University Games 2009.
On behalf of the School Silat Network for Singapore, we would like to congratulate the winners for this year. For those who did not win any medals, do not lose faith in yourself and in your team. With constant practice, you will build up your self confidence and achieve success in the future. Never give up!
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