Kamil injures himself in charity attempt

For those of you who know Kamil Ghazali, you would know he is a tough cookie with a kind heart. It is this very heart that made him run 120 rounds of a 400m track in the recently concluded trilympics fundraiser. That he ran 48km is itself a feat that not many others can proclaim to have completed for charity. What is more noble is the fact that he hurt his ankle in the process. Knowing Kamil, he would still have done it all over again even if it means getting injured again.

For those of us who did not lift a finger or foot to help out in charity this holidays, the least we can do is to give Kamil our sincere prayers. With less than a month to the all-important competition, the anchorman of the SMU Tennis Team is deeply missed. Although considered one of Singapore's brightest talents ever, being out of action for even a couple of weeks can amount to significant loss of match fitness and sharpness and this may prove decisive in our quest for SUNIG glory.

Let us combine our well-wishes and hope for a speedy recovery for our very own "Speedy Gonzalez"!

Dead or Alive?

To our pious followers, we would like to assure you that the tennis team is very much alive and kicking! The blog has been dormant as we have been involved in many other external activities such as Jason and Kamil's overseas CIP to Guangzhou, Jac and Clarissa's summer school in Switzerland and tour of Europe, Vijay's jetsetting lifestyle; Nick backpacking Vietnam; Josh going Down Under and many more.

However, as SUNIG nears once again, we are putting our hearts, minds, souls and bodies into preparations to defend and hopefully surpass our silver achieved last year. There is some rumour that SIM and NTU have many talented freshmen in their guys stable this year but we believe that with the dedication of our current batch, we will still be able to give them and the defending champions NUS a run for their money. There is quiet optimism in our girls team that this could be their year. With a few freshwomen strengthening the squad, there is every possibility that we can improve on last year's 2nd place finishing. Nevertheless, the new format of the competition - team + singles/doubles - will ensure a very close competition. Watch this space for more details on competition dates, venues and timings.

On a side but very important note, we are deeply saddened by Roger's sudden lack of form. We agonise with him over his heartbreaking loss to Rafael in the finals of Wimbledon and we hope that our combined prayers will help mend his broken spirit. We are still ardent fans of his game - a fusion of immaculate grace and technique - and we hope that he can find in himself the air of confidence and invincibility he once exuded. Only then will he stand a chance against the bull of Pamplona, Rafael. You notice that we talk mostly about the world no.1 and no.2 and not many others, and for very good reason. There is a consensus amongst the guys, at least, that Novak has the poorest attitude and doesn't deserve any praise on this very special blog which is meant only for the greatest of greats.

School begins in 3 weeks but for our dearest fans who cannot wait to catch a glimpse of us, we have regular trainings at Anglo Chinese Junior College between 730 am - 930 am. We will oblige with autographs and pictures for anyone who makes the superhuman effort to come down at such ungodly hours. Yes, inhumane training conditions can do nothing but improve our game.

Till then,
SMU Tennis

P.S. For the girls who disagree with our assessment of Novak because you are mesmerised by his "good looks" (it cannot possibly be his game), it is time to look closer to home, to the green green courts of ACJC, especially on Saturday mornings.