June 18, 2019, by brzmjb1

Tri Campus Games | Melaka visit & Day 4 Matches

Following a breathless day of action it was time for a break and students from UK, China and Malaysia headed to the historic town of Melaka, about an hour from NUMC.

The town is full of history, from the last remaining part of the Portuguese  fort that once stood there to the maze of  red buildings, left by the Dutch. The students enjoyed the climb to the nearby temple, ventures to closeby beaches, and by night, the market of Jonker Street.

Staff and students gather in front of ‘A Famosa’ in Melaka

Event Director Glynn Dignum noted that “more teams than ever are really mixing and getting to know eachother, in the past sports like Ultimate Frisbee have always been good at this, but this year especially, Malaysian teams from all sports are taking the chance to show students around and help them get the most out of the trip. It’s amazing to see our students really engage in the spirit of the games, friendship through sport”.

Volleyball teams from Malaysia, China and UK pose in Melaka in front of Datuk Wira Gan Boon Leong statue – “Mr Melaka, Mr Asia, Mr World and Mr Universe”

After a late return back to campus, it could have made for a quieter day of fixtures on day 4, with tired athletes, but the opening fixtures of the day proved that would certainly not be the case.

The morning began with an impressive show from Team China in the Table Tennis with their second win, this time over Team UK. Despite a good win from partners Ross Brown and Ffion Myers in the doubles, China had sealed the victory already in the singles and secured their place at the top of the Table Tennis rankings.

Men’s basketball, one of the most tightly contested sports thus far, saw more drama on day 4. In the third quarter Team UK’s Edoardo Vacca went down with a suspected medial gastroc tear. Team UK held on for a 54-49 victory over hosts Malaysia, but with two games to play on day 4, their second against China was going to prove far more challenging without the Italian. Ben Gayne, having completed his fixtures for the squash team, stepped up and Men’s Basketball were back to 6 players. After  attention from the medical support team, Vacca was positioned in a wheelchair next to the team bench to watch Team UK face off against China. A strong effort from Team UK wasn’t quite enough as Team China continued to demonstrate an unstoppable shooting accuracy and the game ended 51-42 to the Chinese.

The second match between China and Malaysia Volleyball was tighter than the first. The hosts looked dominant once again in the first set, winning 25-13 but China put on an impressive display in the second, drawing out a 5 point lead after some powerful serves from Russian born PhD student Olia. China’s efforts fell just short with Malaysia coming back to win the second set 25-21.

Outside of the sports Hall, Team Malaysia also started strongly in the Women’s Football. Committed defence saw the contest with Team UK goalless at 25 minutes, given Team UK had scored early in all other fixtures this was testiment to an organised effort by the Malaysians. Team UK broke through first, Maria Santos Macias converting from a corner, it looked as though they might push on from there with near misses from both Ellie Cook and Michaela Brown but it was Malaysia’s Nadha to score next, equalising at 1-1. Team UK went on to pull away, peppering the Malaysian goal in the second half, the final score was 6-1.

Team Malaysia Football celebrate after the Men’s win over China and a much improved Women’s game against Team UK

It’s all to play for tomorrow with the final points up for grabs in a morning of games before the closing ceremony. The outcomes of which could prove decisive in the quest to be crowned Tri Campus Games 2018 champion.

You can look ahead to the final day of fixtures here of keep up to date with all the Tri Campus Games action on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

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