Contributed by reader Edward

Kallang Squash and Tennis Centre, Monday, March 22, 2010 – Defending champions Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) started their defense of the C Division Squash Championship title with a resounding 5-0 victory over relative newcomer St Andrew’s Secondary. Last year’s runners-up, Fairfield Methodist School, also scored an easy 5-0 win over Hwa Chong Institution.

The most exciting contest of the day was between St Joseph’s Institution and Raffles Institution. and RI. After four ties, the match score stood at 2-2. Playing the crucial fifth tie was Gladwin Giam, SJI’s number one player, and Gabriel Ang of RI.

Gladwin, who came in fourth in the national Under-15 event last week, easily clinched the victory for SJI with a convincing 3-0 win over his RI opposition.

At the same time, in the girls’ C Division, defending champions, Singapore Chinese Girls’ School, strolled to an easy 5-0 win over Nanyang Girls’ High.

Meanwhile, the favourite for this year’s C Division, Methodist Girls’ School, had to dig deep before emerging victorious over a resilient Raffles Girls’ School team in a close 3-2 encounter. Like in the SJI-RI match, the match up was only settled after the fifth tie was played. Cheryl Boey of MGS won the match for her school with a 3-0 win over Chong Yin Jean of RGS.

After the first match for all schools, the million dollar question would be, can ACS(I) and SCGS retain their respective C Division titles this year?

While the ACS(I) team, packed with top national junior players like Pang Ka Hoe and Benedict Chan, are definitely red-hot favourite for the title, the current SCGS line-up looked much less intimidating than their predecessors.