The Varsity tennis team hosted this year’s SEASAC substitute event aptly named the Battle of Bangkok or BOB for short.
The event saw NIST falcons, ISB panthers and Harrow lions playing in a round robin event.
The girls team came flying out of the blocks to defeat pre tournament favourites NIST 4-1 in their opening match and never looked back defeating Harrow and ISB by identical scores with Pin, Aim and Raichah dominating the singles and Pammy, Tatiana, Pam, Aya and Pip combining well in the doubles using tactical strategies they had all worked hard on in practice to always be one step ahead. This was a fitting end to the season and the winners trophy was proudly received by team captain Pammy.
The boys had a more relaxed start comfortably beating NIST 5-0 before a tighter encounter with Harrow ended up 4-1 in our favour. The final match will long live in the memory for not only the players but coaches and spectators who witnessed the drama unfold. With wins from Rainer at singles 2 and Lookkid at singles 3 but a loss at doubles 2 the boys led 2-1 with the remaining two matches level at one set all and playing a super tiebreak (this is a tiebreak first to 10 points which is played as the third set). Although Mark N at singles 1 took an early lead he couldn’t press home the advantage and lost 6-10 leaving Mark C and Mapp at doubles 1 in the decider which couldn’t have been more dramatic. The boys saved 3 match points and had two of their own before succumbing 15-13 in a titanic battle. Although the disappointment was shared by all the boys congratulated ISB on their win and showed great sportsmanship.
As with all Varsity teams, there are many who are graduating and in this particular cohort five students have been involved in school teams and played in many FOBISIA, BISAC and SEASAC events since they were in the Primary school. To Pammy, Tatiana, Mark C, Mark N and Nis you should be proud of all you have achieved not only on the tennis court but latterly with your leadership and support to the younger students who have joined the teams you have played in. We wish you every success.
Teams:
Girls
Pammy Leenabanchong (Captain), Tatiana Blanco, Aya Noble, Pin Manavutiveth, Pam Phanratanamongkol, Aim Wanglee, Raichah de Sousa-Huynen, Pip Kaocharern
Boys
Mark Chan (Captain), Mark Nielsen, Nisal Liyanage, Mapp Buranasiri, Andrew Watcharananan, Lookkid Sinchalong, Rainer Schestak and Al Limvatanayingyong.