Contributed by reader Edward

Kallang Tennis and Squash Centre, Monday, March 29, 2010 – St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) beat Fairfield Methodist School 4-1 in a C Division Boys Squash Championship second round match up.

Two courts away, in another Round 2 game, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) easily disposed of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) 5-0.

The clash between SJI and Fairfield was one between two possible finalists. Fairfield drew first blood when Benedict Long created a mild upset by beating former national junior player Daryl Tan 3-2 in a tightly-contested tie, with Benedict winning the fifth set 13-11.

However, Fairfield failed to capitalise on the great start and lost the subsequent four ties, handing SJI a 4-1 victory with Lin Jiele of SJI confirmed his team's victory with a 3-0 win over Fairfield's David Ho. With this win, SJI are definitely in the pole position to qualify for the final and challenge red-hot favourites ACS(I) for the championship title.

Meanwhile, this year’s favourites for the girls’ C Division title, Methodist Girls’ School (MGS), scored an important 3-2 victory over defending champions Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS) and in the process put themselves in the driving seat to qualify for the final.

Like in MGS’ first round match against Raffles Girls’ School (RGS), the outcome of the clash against SCGS was decided only after the fifth tie was played. This time, the heroine for MGS was Victoria Leow who beat Lee Rui Chen 3-1 to earn her school a hard-fought victory.

Meanwhile, RGS beat National Junior College (NJC) 5-0 to put themselves back on track for a shot at the C Division crown.

After two rounds, it is pretty obviously that it will be an uphill task for SJI to deny ACS(I) from successfully defending their C Division this year. However, with one of the best secondary one player, Ashley Ong, in their starting lineup this year, SJI, together with Fairfield who have four year one players and are believed to be building a strong team for the future, should be among the top contenders for next year’s title.

As for the girls’ championship, it will likely be a tight affair between MGS and RGS (no disrespect to SCGS who have yet to face RGS) with much depending on form of the players on the day itself. In terms of strength in depth, both teams are evenly matched and are each
helmed by a couple of national juniors and it will likely be an exciting final.

Results
ACS(I) 5 HCI 0
MGS 3 SCGS 2
RGS 5 NJC 0
RI 5 St Andrew’s 0
SJI 4 Fairfield Methodist 1