Wednesday February 3, 2010

A challenging contest

By NG WEI LOON
weiloon@thestar.com.my
Photos by NORAFIFI EHSAN

THE Ultimate Frisbee formidable sides of Kolej Bandar Utama (KBU) and INTEC Wildcats will be starting off as the favourites at the inaugural Nottingham Ultimate Open at University of Nottingham Malaysia campus in Semenyih on Feb 6.

And the hosts, with two sides in the fray, admitted they will face an uphill task to upstage the two frontrunners in the one-day tournament.

However, the side’s top line-up captain Chang Sean Der said it will be a realistic aim for Nottingham Oops! 1 to be among the top three finishers in the seven-a-side contest.

“It is going to be tough to match the two serious contenders in the tournament. They (KBU and INTEC Wildcats) are the strongest two teams in the competition and our chances for a win against both teams are very slim. It will be a challenging path for us to advance to the semi-finals,” he added.

Perfect catch: Chang reaching out for the disc during training.

Following the formation of the Ultimate club three years ago, Nottingham savoured their first victory at the Ultimate Connexion Invitational meet last December.

“After finishing at the bottom of the standings at the Malaysian Ultimate League last year, it was a change to win a minor competition. And the unimpressive run throughout the league was a good learning curve for us. Considering that we were the rookies, we were definitely inferior against the more established sides. We are aiming to put up more convincing performances this year,” said Chang, who is one of the three founding members still featuring for the side.

The other two pioneers are Alvin Chia and Marcus Tan.

Currently, they have 100 registered members but only about 30 players will turn up for their regular training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday at the campus’ training ground.

Chang said the upcoming competition serves as an opportunity for the beginners in their team to have a feel of the competitive environment against other teams.

“Usually, the newcomers do not get picked for the local open tournaments. We will only select the best for competitions. It will be a chance for them to have fun and gauge their skills,” he added.

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Chin Ren Yi, who is the oldest in the pack, will be spearheading their second team’s Nottingham Oops! 2 challenge.

Going through the paces: The Nottingham Oops! team preparing for the challenge.

A total of 10 teams have confirmed their participation. The six teams comprising secondary and tertiary students are the independent side of Carebears, El Nino (combination of Taylor’s College and Catholic High School), All Singapore Rejects, Nilai International College, Inti University College Nilai and U8 Soar (SMK USJ8).

For the group stage, the competing teams will be divided into two groups with five teams each and the grouping will be conducted on the day of the tournament.