REPORT ON THE PENANG-PERAK BAR GAMES 2009

After months of preparation and hard work the Perak team traveled down to Penang for our annual bar games. A continuous tradition that anyone who has ever experienced the games is quick to agree that it always is a blast!

This years games were however dampened by the news that the Golf game would be called off due to conflict of schedules and lack of players from the Penang side (of so I was informed unofficially). Our golfers were actually all prepared to go for the games and win the crucial point for us but alas, fate had other ideas.

This was just the precursor to a few more cancellations. Hockey had to be called off as our convenor fell sick on the day before with fever and flu (hopefully not the AH1N1 kind! – get well soon Jagjit!) and a number of hockey players did not turn up for the games from Perak. The same for darts. For once the drinkers were dart players as well. Hopefully, the participation from members for these games would increase.

Anyhow, on to the games. The Perak contigent started off the games with a bang! Perak won the tennis game 3-0. Kiko Das and Teik Lee saw off their Penang counterparts with relative ease to give us the first point (8-2) and this was followed by a hard fought victory from our first pairing Aw Tai Jak and Kenny Lai who beat their counterparts 8-5 giving Perak the first point of the games.

The icing on the cake came with our 3^rd pairing of Nahtan and Kiko combining to see off the Penang challenge completely. 1-0 to Perak!

Following this, the Perak team had their Badminton, snooker, futsal and table tennis games played almost all at the same time. Despite a valiant effort from Chong Kok Yew and our Perak contigent, we lost Badminton narrowly 4-3. All square now.

More bad news was to come from snooker where Gavin, Kenny, Kiko and our Chairman Shan Theivanthiran lost 4-2 to the Penang team. The only consolation from this was that our actual players for snooker were not available for this years games and hopefully the point would come back to us next yeat. Penang 2-1.

Table tennis was represented by our very own Mr. Ng Poh Tat, Mr. Tan and Mr. Goh from the courts and James Kong. Having watched them battle it out and seeing the concentration and sweat flow, the Penang boys capitalized on their home advantage and our team’s lack of constant practice as table tennis was only scheduled by request 2 weeks before the actual games. Penang 3-1.

There was however good news for Perak from the futsal courts. Perak beat Penang 4-3 with the goals coming from Nicky Chen, 2 from Dave and the winning goal from Kiko Das. The win here was an important one as the Thinakaran s/o Prabakharan challenge trophy (specially donated by M/S Lalchand Nawawi in honour of their friend and partner of the firm) was up for grabs. A minutes silence was held before the kick off as a mark of respect and remembrance of our fallen comrade. Penang 3-2.

The evening session of games came along and 2 more points were at stake, Netball and football.

Despite valiant efforts by our makeshift team of Netball players we lost the game. All credit must go my convenor Mdm. Su Ching for managing to find the players for the games. I must state here however that the participation from the female members for the games is at best appalling. I hope that the participation from the women members increase in the years to come. Penang 4-2.

Football was held and the Perak held off the younger and fitter Penang players for 2 halves throwing themselves at every ball with every ounce of their energy in the blazing evening sun.

The Penang bar threw everything including the kitchen sink at the Perak Bar goal post but some inspired defending from the defenders Ian Choo, Baldip Singh, Andrew Yee and Chong Kok Yew met every challenge and prevailed.

The first half started with Kenny Lai in goal as the regular keeper Nahtan had injured himself in the futsal game earlier. The second half started with Kiko Das in goal in place of Kenny. Half way through the second half Kiko requested to be put in midfield and was duly replaced again by Kenny in goal. Soon after that, a freekick was awarded to Perak about 30 yards from goal 2 minutes from full time..

Having already scored a freekick for Perak Bar in Futsal, Kiko stepped up to put his 21 years experience playing for Perak Bar to use. With the blow of the whistle and a perfect free kick beating the wall and the tallest player from Penang (their convenor GT) and the outstanding keeper (who had a blinder of a game thus far). GOAL! Perak had scored despite the overwhelming odds and Kiko lifts his arms up in the shape of a “V”.

There was still much to do though for the last 2 minutes the onslaught from Penang continued but the midfield of Perak and the Defence of Perak held on and prevailed! Perak had won the football match and pulled one back for Perak. Penang 4-3.

The last competitive point for the day was the boat race and Perak was represented by Janet Wong, Chong Kok Yew, Andrew Yee, YB Kashvinder Singh and Ranjit Singh. Perak led all the way and won the boat race when Penang was disqualified when the 4^th drinker did not wait for the 3^rd drinker to set the cup down on the table before picking his glass up. It may have been a technicality but it was still a point for Perak. Perak 4-4.

The dinner was held at the Penang Sports Club. The food was great and the drinks were flowing continuously and the camaraderie was evident on the faces of all who were there. Friendships were made and competitiveness was set aside for the festivities. The term eat, drink and be merry was the theme for the night. And for some it was a really late night!

The next morning we had the last few competitive games to be played of basketball, volleyball, bowling and cricket.

Somehow, Perak managed to beat Penang in basketball with a score of 28-20. Must have been the inspired commandeering of the squad by its convenor Mr. Stephen Su. Perak 5-4.

Perak however were no match for the volleyball prowess of Penang Bar and duly lost the tie 2-0. Penang 5-5.

Cricket was played in the blazing hot sun and being short of players, the Perak team had a few Penang bar members helping out. A true show of the spirit of the games. And the score was also a great reflection of it. A Draw! 6-6.

The final and deciding game was bowling. Perak raced to a 170 pin lead in the 1^st 2 frames. With one final frame to go, our Perak team must have thought the game was in the bag. The Penang team though had other ideas and fought back to win the 3^rd frame and the overall bowling game by 25 pins. Kudos to Noraisikin and her team for their brave and valiant effort anyhow. Penang wins the challenge trophy narrowly by 7-6.

Overall, the games was held in a great atmosphere and the camaraderie. It has been suggested that the games be toned down and to start the games from Friday night. This would be left to the next convenor. And I hope that the participation from our members increases next year and the Perak-Penang Bar games continues on.

I must put in a word of thanks to all my convenors and all the players and the supporters who took the time to travel to Penang for this installment of the games. Thank you!

Kenny Lai

Sports Committee Chairman