CIMB Junior Circuit National Scrabble Competition_05.06.10

Last weekend, the best of the U18 scrabble players from thirty five (35) schools throughout Malaysia congregated at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur to take part in the CIMB Junior Circuit National Scrabble Competition. The seventy-seven (77) players, who took part, were invited for this tournament after qualifying from the respective CIMB Junior Circuit Scrabble Competitions which were held in six states namely Johor, Pahang, Melaka, Penang, Selangor and Perak, from March to May 2010.

The players played fifteen (15) rounds of competitive scrabble during the two day tournament on 5th and 6th June 2010. Registration started at 8.00 a.m. The first of nine rounds was delayed until 9.30 a.m. due to the late arrival of some of the outstation players.

CIMB Nationals participants

Word Challenge Check

After the eight rounds in the first day, it appeared that it would be duel between Cheong Yi Wei and William Kang for the top position as they were paired against each other from rounds ten to fourteen. However in the final fifteenth round, Ker Jen Ho managed to pip William Kang in Table 1 with a score of 462 to 443 to emerge Champion. Ker Jen Ho finished with 12 wins ( margin of 1324 points) followed by Cheong Yi Wei, William Kang, Amery Seow who had 11 wins each but margin of 1582, 1469 and 578 points respectively.

While there were some known players who have represented Malaysia in the past World Youth Scrabble Competitions in the top ten positions namely, Jen Ho, William Kang, Amery Seow and Markus Loke, the tourney marked the emergence of future national players like Cheong Yi Wei and Cheong Yi Hua, siblings from Penang. Cheong Yi Hua, who finished fifth in the tournament is only twelve years old.

The top thirty finishers qualify for the Malaysian National Youth Scrabble Competition (MNYSC) which would be held on 17th and 18th July 2010. All the participants were given a certificate of participation, and trophies and prizes were given for the top fifteen finishers. The Champion was presented with the CIMB Challenge trophy by Mr. Eugene, Project Manger of CIMB Foundation.

Prizes & Certificates

Alex Tan, MSA Vice President, giving his speech during the closing ceremony.

Mr. Eugene presenting the trophies to the Champion Ker Jen Ho, First Runner Up Cheong Yi Wei and Second Runner Up William Kang respectively.

Mr. Eugene, Mr. Alex Tan, Jen Ho, Yi Wei and Raj

Chitra presenting bouquet to Ms Ung Su Ling of CIMB Foundation

We would like to thank CIMB Foundation for sponsoring the CIMB Junior Circuit Scrabble Competitions which has given an opportunity for the U18 school players to participate in competitive scrabble competitions.

It was a tiring but rewarding work for the Malaysian Scrabble Association (MSA) organizing team consisting of Martin Teo (Principal Coordinator), P. Chitra, Chim Wai Main, Cedric and other volunteers. Kudos to the organizers and volunteers whose commitment and hard work has made the CIMB Junior Circuit a success.

The following are the thirty (30) players who have qualified for the MNYSC:

Results after game 15

JUNE 5, 2010 -- CIMB FINALS

Rank Player Wins Mar

---------------------------------

1 Ker Jen Ho 12 1324

2 Cheong Yi Wei 11 1582

3 William Kang 11 1469

4 Amery Seow Su Yin 11 578

5 Cheong Yi Hua 10 1262

6 Markus Loke Qi En 10 1034

7 Mohd Syazwan Aidid 10 701

8 Gan Han Yang 10 676

9 Arvinran Rajendran 10 229

10 Wong Han Wey 10 210

11 Harendraraj Mohanraj 9.5 436

12 Mohd Zahanif M.Zaini 9.5 249

13 Thivagar Valaiyuthan 9.5 239

14 K. Sharsindra Prathe 9.5 102

15 Vinnith Ramamurti 9 1049

16 Jagan Narayanan 9 496

17 Foong Wene June 9 326

18 Johnston Tan Ee Jun 9 275

19 Marc Raphael Parrikl 9 117

20 Eow Li Ni 9 106

21 Ignatius Wong Chen G 9 62

22 Lee Wei Lun 9 -211

23 Beh Aaron 9 -421

24 Muhd Aizuddin Sukeri 8.5 -122

25 Muhd Amirul Azrie 8.5 -199

26 Michael Daniel Louis 8.5 -574

27 Samantha Loh 8 374

28 Jeihiin Subramaniam 8 299

29 Vignesh Venkitasamy 8 236

30 Wan Mohd Azril 8 173

Full results will be published in our MSA website http://www.penster.com.my/

More photos have been uploaded in photo album at http://rajscrabble.fotopic.net/

Wesak Day Celebrations_28.05.10

28th May 2010 was an public holiday for the Wesak Day celebration which commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. This year's Wesak theme was "Promoting Harmony Through Right Understanding". Coincidentally, it was also my birthday!

We visited the Buddhist Association Hall in Subang Jaya for a morning of prayers and to receive the blessing from the priests, as we have done every year. After waiting in the queue, we were ushered into the Hall to be seated before the blessing ceremony.

Rama & Raj waiting in the queue

Ushered into the Hall

Rama & Chitra seated in the Hall
Blessing by priest

It was a different experience this year as there were two big screens on each side of the Buddha statue in the Hall. It was very distracting as the screens were showing the scenes outside the Hall during the arrival of the VIP's like YB Hannah Yeoh etc. We did not have time for meditation and quiet prayers with the music and noise outside the hall.

Big screens in the hall

After coming out of the Hall, we visited the stalls and booths set up. We also bought and lighted up the oil lamp for prayers and blessing.

Chitra lighting & placing oil lamp on table provided.

As we left at 11.00 a.m, the place was filling up with more Subang Jaya residents and devotees.

Football Memories_28.05.10

The World Cup football fever is back again as Maxis has put up some giant billboards potraying our past Malaysian footballers to the theme of ”Committed to the Game”. As I drive pass the billboards of R. Arumugam a.k.a Spiderman in Subang Jaya & Santokh Singh a.k.a Ironman in Damansara, there is a sense of pride and I feel fortunate of growing up when our national football players were living legends and household names in our country!

Our 1 Malaysia football team which I remember consists of legends like captain Soh Chin Aun a.k.a Towkay, defender Santokh Singh, goalkeeper Arumugam, the great forward Mokhtar Dahari, Zainal Abidin Hassan, Dollah Salleh and the twin strikers from Sabah, Hasan Sani and James Wong!

There was a story I heard in the eighties regarding our national goalkeeper, Arumugam. He was known as the Spiderman for his long hands and his agility in goal. There was once a house on fire in his neighborhood in Klang. A crowd gathered as the firemen were trying to put out the fire. A mother was holding her baby in the first floor and was shouting for help from the crowd to catch her baby. Who else than Arumugam, the safest pair of hands in goal, stepped forward and asked the mother to drop the baby. As expected and to the relief of the crowd, Arumugam caught the baby and rolled in the ground. However, his instincts took over and when he got up, he tossed the baby in the air and kicked it! This joke was told over and over again with a few variations over the years!!!

Thank you to Maxis for bringing back our memories and to relive the times when our team qualified for the 1980 Moscow Olympics by beating Korea 2-1. I remembered the second goal when Hassan Sani managed to beat two Korean players before passing the ball to James Wong in the penalty box. We were all on our feet in front of the TV and screaming at him to shoot but he took an eternity to dribble and finally score the winning goal. Every Malaysian rooted for the team and even though we boycotted the Moscow Olympics, it was one of finest moment for our football history.

For more videos and photographs, visit the Maxis site: http://www.maxis.com.my/FIFAworldcup/legendsvid.asp. You can watch the interviews of Dato' Soh Chin Aun and Hasan Sani to relive our past glories. Thank you again, Maxis!

To our past legends, I thank you for the fond memories and to our future players…Don’t Stop Believing . Hold on to that feeling…

CIMB Scrabble To School Selangor Programme (Secondary Schools)_24.04.10

The final part of the ‘CIMB Scrabble to School Selangor Programme' was conducted at Sek. Men. Dato' Hamzah. Pelabuhan Klang on 24th April 2010, by Malaysian Scrabble Association. This was the follow up to the scrabble workshop for secondary schools conducted to four students and teacher from 25 schools held on 27th March 2010. The 'CIMB Scrabble to School Programme' is sponsored by CIMB Foundation.

The school students from 20 secondary schools took part in competitive scrabble by playing five rounds of inter school competition. The first round of the inter school tourney commenced at 9.30 a.m.

Interschool Scrabble Participants

In the final round, SMK Sg. Pelek emerged champions after drawing 2-2 with SMK (P) Bukit Kuda, Klang, finishing with 16 points each but with better spread. SMK (P) Bukit Kuda and SMK Sri Istana emerged first and second runners up with 16 points and 14 points respectively.

The closing ceremony was conducted at 4.30 p.m. Trophies were given for the first three finishers. Certificates of participation were given to all the players who took part.

Plaque & Trophies

Closing ceremony

Plaque for host school SMK Dato' Hamzah

Trophies for Champions SMK Sg Pelek

Certificate of participation awards

Top Three Finishers

Thank you to the teachers who brought the students for the competition. Special appreciation for our sponsors CIMB Foundation and host school SMK Dato' Hamzah, P. Klang.

Results after 5 rounds of CIMB STSP (Secondary) Scrabble Competition:

	Round 5	CUMMULATIVE
No	School	Points	Spread
1	SMK SUNGAI PELEK	16	2731
2	SMK (P) BUKIT KUDA,KLANG	16	1109
3	SMK SRI ISTANA, KLANG	14	1043
4	SMK TENGKU AMPUAN RAHIMAH, KLANG	12	849
5	SMK CONVENT KLANG,	12	553
6	SMK KUALA KUBU BHARU	12	-17
7	SMK SULTAN ABDUL AZIZ, KUALA SELANGOR	11	783
8	SMK SRI ANDALAS, KLANG	11	-123
9	SMK DATO' MUSTAFFA PASIR PANJANG, SEKINCHAN	10.5	416
10	SMK TAMAN KLANG UTAMA, KLANG	10	-55
11	SMK BUKIT GADING SUNGAI PLONG, SUNGAI BULOH	9	-287
12	SMK SUNGAI RAWANG, SG. PELEK	9	-722
13	SMK SIJANGKANG JAYA, TELOK PANGLIMA GARANG,RAWANG	8	-399
14	SMJK YOKE KUAN, SEKINCHAN	8	-817
15	SMK JUGRA, BANTING	7	-407
16	SMK RANTAU PANJANG, KLANG	7	-642
17	SMK DATO HAMZAH,P. KLANG	7	-835
18	SMK (P) KAPAR	7	-884
19	SMK (P) RAJA ZARINA, P.KLANG	6.5	-1040
20	SMK RAJA LUMU, P. KLANG	3	-1080

CIMB Junior Circuit Selangor InterSchool U-18 Scrabble Competition_17.04.10

It was another weekend of scrabble. The Junior Circuit Inter School U-18 Scrabble Competition for Selangor was held in SMK Dato' Hamzah, Pelabuhan Klang on 17th April 2010. It was the biggest gathering of U-18 scrabble players for the Junior Circuit to date, with 91 players from 21 schools, taking part in this one-day tourney.

It was a strong field consisting of players who have represented Malaysia in the previous World Youth Scrabble Competitions i.e Jagan and Chang Ching Yet from SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya, and William Kang from SMK Subang Utama, Subang Jaya. Upcoming players who took part included Cheong Yi Wei from SMJK Chung Ling, P. Pinang and Vinnith from SMK Seafield.

Participants of CIMB JC Selangor Interschool U-18 Tourney.
S. Krishnapriya (SMK Seafield) against Ashley Teo (SMK USJ4)
Jagan against William Kang in the final round

Seven rounds of scrabble competition were played. William Kang was unbeaten for the first six rounds but was pipped by Jagan, who beat him in the final round, to claim the Champion position. Jagan and William Kang ended with six points each but Jagan had a better margin of 1189 points compared to William's 1060. For the next three positions from third to fifth, Vinnith (841 margin), Christopher Chan (428 points) and Ernest Chiew (370 points) also managed to finished with six points. S. Krishnapriya, who managed to finish a respectable eleventh position.

A total of 25 players together with additional wildcard players would be invited to take part in the CIMB Junior Circuit National Interschool U-18 Scrabble Competition to be held on the 5th and 6th June 2010 at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur.

All the participants were given a certificate of participation and the top five finishers were awarded trophies. The teachers who accompanied the students were invited to collect the certificates at the closing ceremony.

Certificates for SMK Sg. Pelek players
Top three winners: Jagan, William Kang and Vinnith

It was again a tired but fulfilling day for the MSA team consisting of Martin, Chim, Cedric, Chitra & myself. Thank you for the sponsors CIMB and the host school SMK Dato' Hamzah.

The top twelve finishers of CIMB Junior Circuit Selangor U-18 Scrabble Competition as follows:

No. Name Points Margin

1. Jagan Narayanan 6 1189

2. William Kang 6 1060

3. Vinnith Ramamurti 6 841

4. Christopher Chan E.Y. 6 428

5. Ernest Chiew Kin Hoe 6 370

6. Cheong Yi Wei 5 941

7. Wong Han Wey 5 719

8. Jeihiin Subramanium 5 653

9. Vignesh Venkitasamy 5 499

10. Ho Hui Jan 5 394

11. S. Krishnapriya 5 365

12.Wan Mohd Azril 5 307

Full results will be published in our MSA website http://www.penster.com.my/