People clapped, stood up, and cheered. They were half hearted. It was number 2 in the state . It was number 2, year 7. We always had the dominance, the consistency and the individual flair. The dominance, the consistency, the individual flair never once clinched the championship. A glitch, disarray that we can't put our finger on- or be politically correct about- puts out our flagship teams in the finals.
Seniors have ranted about this. When will we bring it home? One day we shall bring it home. I had hoped along with them.
Foundation was through. I didn't make it to the top 8 breaking list. Powerhouse A team made it to the 2nd and didn't even make it past the semis. The first time in history that a team wasn't in the grand finals. They had hoped.
Come the third year and I'll be ready, I told them. I had made an estimate that we were fully bloomed by our third year.
1st year was through and a team clinched...2nd. Back to our old streak. 2nds, the firsts of the losers.
There was no tournament in the 2nd year. It was a quiet year. Not much outside tournaments. Everyone dispirited. We lay low.
This year is my third year. And I did not want to join. I wanted to focus on my studies. But somehow I did. Can't remember.
Sailesh is my partner. We thought: let's win it all. Lose none.
We won the 1st round. We never won a round after that. 2nd (I have to say there were issues with this one) 2nd 3rd... we had to do well in the last round.
Of all the rounds, the last round had our opponents (OG and CG) come up with a template case. A textbook case. We struggled to find holes and angles of attack on the compact mechanism while desperately trying to revive remnants of ours. They were funny, we were boring, and CO did nothing to help the sinking.
As we waited in the hall we knew we needed 9 points to have a chance to even break. We had only 8 points. It all hung onto the last round. The chief adjudicator decided to speak.
"The breaking teams."
We looked at each other. Sailesh told me, that if we didn't break it was okay, as that was the best we could do. We would be knocked out fair and square.
"1. Swinburne A (Rafie and WC) on 14 points."
Swinburne A were the true contenders of the day. They had won all rounds except where they were in ours. We ruined that round for them or they would have certainly been on 15 (perfect streak)..
"2. UNIMAS D on 13 "
"3. Swinburne C (Ashik and Brendan) on 10 "
The fairytale team of ours. With presumably no chemistry. Breaking third.
"4. Swinburne B (Paul and Sailesh) on 10 "
We looked at each other very quickly. Seems we had squeezed out a 2nd in the last round.
"5. UiTM C on 9"
" 6.Swinburne D (Raj and Daniel) on 9"
Freshies in the break?
"7. Swinburne Swing B(Sophia and Douglas) on 9 "
All teams in the break. I was satisfied. Too bad swing teams can't proceed to the knockout rounds.
"8. UNIMAS A on 8 "
-----
"9. UiTM D on 8"
The 9th team to replace the swing team.
Semifinals. UiTM C and D Opening Goverment and Closing Government. Swinburne A and B Opening Opposition and Closing Opposition.
We were supposed to support ... race-based parties? Swinburne A and B in a round? Nasty.
The semifinals, was a mess. Maybe more than that, but nothing less. We were blown away by torrents of specialized knowledged about the governmental policies and manifestos of even the minute component parties of Sarawak. Lucky us, Sailesh is a foreigner. I was a local and I knew ... well I didn't know.
We debated purely on value-principle, desperately trying to be 'the voice of reason' in that debate.
"And so in Semifinal round 1 the Closing Opposition takes the debate. "
Sailesh and I looked at each other, breathless.
The Closing Government also advances.
From Semifinal room 2, fairytale team advances. UNIMAS A advances.
Upset for A team. They are disappointed. Controversial split decision 3-2.
"You better win this." Rafie said.
In the finals, That Developed Nations Should Pay Developing Nations to Preserve Their Natural Forests. Swinburne C drew Opening Government. Swinburne B is Closing Government. It is Swinburne all out on everyone else. Not good politics.
I knew that the fairytale ended for Swinburne C as soon as Ashik started off his first speech. UNIMAS attacked. Brendan tried to patch up but it was all too late. Now, Sailesh and I had but one task, to tell the house with extreme conviction that what Ashik had said was the gospel truth and nothing else.
And even as we stepped down from the podium we were certain but yet uncertain.
"Good chance! Good chance!" Wee Chung hollered from some distance away.
"Good one. No holes." Rafie gave the thumbs up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the 3rd runner up for this year's state championship."
I held my breath, but if our strategy held then...
"UiTM"
"The 2nd runner up for this year's state championship, is"
"Swinburne-"
"-C."
I still could not breath. Neither me or Sailesh could look at each other.
It is tradition that the champions are announced after the 2nd runner up as the hailing of first runner ups would not bring cheers from the first runner ups themselves but the unmentioned team, and therefore it was indeed a bit odd if they were mentioned first.
It was eternity then and I looked elsewhere.
----
That eternity has long passed and now I must complete this post. It great looking back, all those pseudo-hysterical screams when Swinburne B were crowned state champions. Hopefully our juniors would win it again this year. Anyway, herein ends a chapter of my life and it is time to began a new one. All glory be to God.
