A good turnout of 22 players gathered at the Orchid Country Club, Ruby Suite, to battle it out for honours in the final tournament event on the SG Table Football calendar – the TFAS-OCC Merlion Cup 2014 Open Tournament (a FISTF Satellite tournament).
Back Row (L-R): Amin Anis, Antonio Carabillo, Michael Choong, Giovanni Choong, Vikas Chandiramani, Ouabi Rouis, Bernard Lim, Nur Hashim, Nic Tan, Kok Wee Tan, Den Mulia, Anas Rahamat, Rizal Taib
Front Row (L-R): Rudy Hesty Roselan, Brother of Haikal, Chihiro Takao, Bhavin Sham, Hideaki Wada, Ruhan Sham, John Ho, Irwan Iskandar, Noor Haikal
The players were drawn into 6 groups of 3 players + 1 group of 4 players in accordance to FISTF regulations based the latest available FISTF World Rankings. Odds-on hot favourite was none other than the defending Merlion Cup Champion – Ouabi Rouis!!
The Group standings after the Group games are shown below with the 1st-placed player from Groups A and B qualifying automatically for the quarter-final …
The 2nd-placed player from Groups A and B, together with the top 2 players in Groups C and G goes into barrage match-ups to determine the remaining quarter-finalists as follows …
Below is the semi-final, 3rd/4th placing and Final match-ups and results …
After an eventful day, as expected, Ouabi Rouis successfully defended his Merlion Cup title to add-on to the TFAS Cup and SGTF Premeir League titles he had already won in 2014. What a successful year for him!!
The Runner-Up was none other than our SG National Champion, Den Mulia who lost out narrowly by a solitary goal; while 3rd place went to our President Kok Wee after a hard-fought victory against Bernard in a dramatic playoff – where he led comfortably by 2 goals at half-time only for Bernard to come back with 2 goals to tie the game in the 2nd half.
Alas, there was to be no repeat of their 3rd place playoff in the June National Championships as Kok Wee gain a measure of revenge by snatching victory with a winning goal with 45 seconds left on the clock. It must have been ‘sweet’ for Kok Wee …
Winners (L-R): Bernard (Fourth), Den Mulia (Runner-Up), Ouabi (Champion), Kok Wee (Third), Mr Alex (OCC SNR Facilitator)
A Plate knock-out tournament was also organised for players who did not make it out of the Group stage. Newcomer Irwan Iskandar (in his very 1st tournament) did well to qualify for the semi-finals where he took on Nic – who took the place of Giovanni who had to leave early. What a twist of fate for Nic as he went all the way – taking Haikal to shots to win by 3-2 and emerged as the Plate Champion!! Congrats Nic!!
Plate Champion: Nic (left) with Mr Alex (OCC SNR Facilitator)
Thank you all players for your participation and sporting behaviour throughout the course of the tournament. And congratulations to all Winners!! … as the table football calendar draws to a close in 2014, we look forward to 2015 with the commencement of the 3rd season of the SGTF League and also take this opportunity to wish everyone in the Table Football Community an advanced Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!!
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME ..
Table Football Association of Singapore 