Final Matchday Report: Premier League

At the start of the Final Matchday, the league standing was as follow:

Premier League:
team (number of matches played) (number of points)
RM Spartan (4) (64)
EC Shuttlers A (3) (45)
Combo A (3) (43)
OM All Stars (3) (39)
TM Riders (3) (33)

The Championship were up for grab. Any team would have a decent shot at topping the table and winning the Championship. If, at the end of the tournament, two or more teams had the same number of points, their positions in the league table were to be determined by the number of matchdays won. If the number of matchdays won were still the same, the final league position would be determined by the brutal points, i.e. the difference between the points scored and the points conceded.

In the Premier League, RM Spartan team was sitting comfortably at the top of the table, with its nearest opponents were 19 and 21 points behind respectively. In the final matchday, EC Shuttlers A was to meet OM All-Stars and Combo A would meet TM Rider. To have a shot at topping the league table, EC Shuttlers would have to win at least six of their games and Combo A would have to win all their games. Considering the performance of all teams in the tournament, many observers were quietly confident that Combo A had a better chance at overtaking RM Spartan at the top off the league. OM All-Star would provide a greater opposition to EC Shuttlers A.

In the EC Shuttler A vs OM All-Star match, the two teams traded wins and losses, and with the first four games going equally to both teams, the EC Shuttler A missed the chance to leapfrog above all the other teams to win the Premier League. All eyes then turned to the court where Combo A was playing TM Rider.

In the Combo A vs TM Rider match, the first four games went the Combo A's way and many spectators thought that it would be inevitable that Combo A would win all their games, thus winning the Championship. The fifth game in the match was the third mens' double game and the TM Rider players did not seem to receive the Combo A-written script for the night. The TM Rider's men's double players seemed to be playing the game of the tournament. The Combo A players threw everything in the badminton book, but the TM Rider players did better. Against all odds, the first set of the game was won by TM Rider. Sensing that an upset could be on the card, all eyes and ears turned to Court C of LLRC and everyone seemed to have changed their allegiance and supported TM Rider instead. In the second set, both sides traded points and towards the end, the TM Rider players steamed ahead and won the second set, thus stopping Combo A from leapfrogging RM Spartan. The end of the game was a scene of euphoria and disappointment. All TM Rider players invaded the court and congratulated the two TM Rider players, who saved their blushes. It felt as if TM Rider had actually won the League! Almost everyone else was congratulating the RM Spartan player who were not playing and were there to see if they had actually won. The rest of the matches for all the teams did not matter any longer as RM Spartan had won the Premier League outright.

The final Premier League standing was:

Premier League:
team (number of matches played) (number of points)
RM Spartan (4) (64) - CHAMPIONS
Combo A (4) (62)
EC Shuttlers A (4) (58)
OM All Stars (4) (53)
TM Riders (4) (42)

Congratulations to RM Spartan on winning the Premier League. The winner received a trophy and a Challenge Trophy, which they would keep for a year. Each player received a sport voucher worth B$80.

Combo A received a trophy and each player received a sport voucher worth B$50.

Better luck to all the other teams in future tournaments.