A German guest in Singapore

The Jurong Central Subbuteo Club had its usual end-of-the-month WASPA tournament last Friday with 12 players taking part. Besides the usual group of players that had been taking part in recent months, there were three notable participants: (i) Sven Schilling, a German from the Subbuteo St. Pauli club in Hamburg who was visiting Singapore, (ii) Tan Kok Wee, President of the Table Football Association of Singapore, whose itchy fingers could not resist a flicking session on a Friday evening, and (iii) Mohd Ezan Ahmad, a veteran player and runner-up of a WASPA Futures tournament held here last year, who was taking part in his first WASPA tournament this year.
The 12 players were randomly drawn into three groups of four with the final positions in each group then moving into a separate round-robin group to determine final positions (e.g. top of each group would play one another in a second three-man group). The random draw allowed tough competition not only for our veterans but also for our more junior players, some of who were thrown into the deep end of the pool. Games were played over 20 minutes with no half-time break.

Group A consisted of Nic Tan, Henry Peh, Lim Quan Feng, and Lim Yew Seng. Nic won the group tightly through goal difference over Henry.
Group B consisted of Vikas Chandiramani, Bolkiah Musa, Tan Kok Wee and Rudy Hesty. Rudy topped the group also through goal difference over Kok Wee.
Group C consisted of Mohd Ezan Ahmad, Anas bin Rahmat, Sven Schilling and Lim Ding Heng. Anas won the group convincingly without defeat.

Rudy Hesty (winner) and special guest Sven Schilling

In the final group, Rudy won both of his games against Nic and Anas convincingly to win the tournament. Anas came in second after defeating Nic. There were also close games in the lower groups to determine final positions with shots needed to separate Kok Wee and Ezan, and Sven and Vikas.

Final Standings
1. Rudy Hesty
2. Anas bin Rahmat
3. Nic Tan
4. Tan Kok Wee
5. Mohd Ezan Ahmad
6. Henry Peh
7. Sven Schilling
8. Vikas Chandiramani
9. Bolikah Musa
10. Lim Quan Feng
11. Lim Ding Heng
12. Lim Yew Seng 

(Report by Nic Tan)