It is hard enough to win a gold medal in an IASAS sport, and it is even harder to repeat the feat. Yet, the girls badminton team just won an unprecedented fifteenth consecutive gold medal at International School of Kuala Lumpur.
At first, co-captain and two-time IASAS player Lauren Lin (‘18) felt the pressure of being the only senior on the team. “I truly felt the pressure to represent the team that always stood strong in the past fourteen years,” says Lauren. Still, the girls team did not lose a single game throughout the tournament, going 5-0 in the round-robin and placing first in seeding. The girls went on to defeat International School Manila in the semi-finals to advance to the championship match, where they beat Jakarta International School to win the gold medal. Once the girls won, Lauren says, “I wasn’t thinking about our legacy but on how the girls had proved to be the players they worked all season to become.”
All-tournament honors went to first singles player Stephanie Loo (‘19), third singles player Glenda Foo (‘19), and the second doubles pair of Erica Chiou (‘20) and Karen Wang (‘20). Stephanie did not lose a single game throughout the tournament while Glenda, and the team of Erica and Karen, both lost one game. With only one senior on the IASAS team, the girls team will be poised for another successful season next year.
On the boys side, the team was able to bounce back from fourth place last year, to winning a silver medal this year. The boys badminton team kicked off the tournament with three close wins against ISKL, JIS, and International School Bangkok, winning 3-2 in all games. The team would go on to defeat Singapore American School and ISM to complete a 5-0 record and to place first. In the semi-finals, the boys defeated SAS to advance to the championship match, where they lost to JIS.
“We didn’t achieve the results we hoped for, but I’m still really proud of the team’s performance throughout the entire tournament,” says co-captain and three year IASAS player Wesley Wang (‘18). “For many of our players, this was their first IASAS experience and their first time playing under such high pressure, so I think just the fact that we fought our way to the finals and won silver is an achievement on its own.”
All-tournament honors went to freshman third singles player, Richard Wang (‘21) and the first doubles pairing of co-captain Kerry Lee (‘18) and Koichi Yang (‘18). Next year, the team will be without seniors Kerry, Koichi and Wesley. Wesley wants to remind his teammates to train hard, listen to the coach, and to keep doing footwork and shuttle run drills. More importantly, Wesley says, “Even though badminton is an individual sport, we win and lose as a team. Treat your teammates like family.”