Vinay Patel & Vivika Sahajpal
After taking home the SU Activities Award for ‘Best Event’ last year, the Nottingham Malaysian Games returned to DRSV, hosting a number of universities in yet another brilliant spectacle put on by our very own Malaysian Society. Impact’s Vinay Patel and Vivika Sahajpal were on site to provide a roundup of the day’s events.
The Nottingham Malaysian Games (NMG) see a range of different sports and activities from fan favourites to lesser-known traditional games that are nonetheless just as engaging to watch. Bringing in a massive audience of family and friends, NMG always promises to be a captivating combination of competition, community and collaboration from the amazing team that makes the event happen to the avid supporters that come to watch. This year was no different.
Members of Malaysian Society were able to bring their traditions to Nottingham
With NMG taking place in conjunction with the Malaysian Food Festival, both events were a beautiful celebration of culture that demonstrated the way the members of Malaysian Society were able to bring their traditions to Nottingham. In turn, they were able to share them with us as well as the other supporters and students in attendance.
Universities from all areas of the country made their way to University Park Campus to demonstrate their talents and skills across the diverse collection of sports featured during NMG. Their varying strengths and weaknesses made for a jam-packed day and an ever-changing leaderboard. Here’s a summary of how the events themselves panned out:
Lightning chess saw the razor-sharp mind of Kabir Ajeet Singh secure the win for Cardiff University, with Afiq Naqiuddin of Newcastle University finishing in 2nd place and UON’s Ahmad Faiz ending in 3rd. It was pure University of Birmingham (UOB) dominance in the Scrabble tournament as Nurul Izah (1st), Ain Naquyah (2nd) and Nur Sahira (3rd) provided a massive points boost for UOB in the table.
Batu Seremban […] consists of the throwing and strategic catching of small objects
The traditional Malaysian game Batu Seremban was also featured in NMG 2023; the game consists of the throwing and strategic catching of small objects with varying levels of difficulty as the game continues. In this game of reflexes and dexterity, it was the University of Manchester’s (UOM) Danial Aiman who emerged victorious. Marlissa Svwazwani from the University of South Wales and Ainan Nor Azni from Newcastle University finished in 2nd and 3rd place.
Some of you may be familiar with the traditional tabletop game of Carrom, combining precision of technique and strategy, the game involves players trying to flick disks into the four corners of the board to receive points. It was UON’s Mohamad Izham who secured the win while Wong Huan Yi (University of Huddersfield) and UOM’s Danial Aiman placed 2nd and 3rd.
Lastly, in Dam Haji, similar to checkers or draughts, Arif Iqmal (University of Leeds) got the better of Newcastle University’s Amrum Zafri (2nd) and UOB’s Nurin Irdina (3rd).
Alongside, these more traditional style games, almost every hall and pitch of DRSV had its own matches taking place that had their own influence on the points table:
UOM emerged victorious in touch rugby, with the University of Warick and the University of Sheffield trailing in second and third place respectively. Upon grasping the rules, Captainball proved to be a fun watch as UWE Bristol got the better of UCL and UOB. Ultimate frisbee also took place on the outdoor astroturf, with UCL getting their first win on the board after fending off spirited competition from both UOM sides.
Moving on to table tennis, Huan Swem Ham of Imperial withstood strong UOM competition from Liam Ting Chun Ho (2nd) and Shaheer Shahidan (3rd) in the men’s singles. Men’s doubles oversaw University of Sheffield dominance as two of their sides finished 1st and 3rd respectively, with UOM earning a second-placed finish.
Volleyball saw UON grab their first win of NMG 2023, forcing UOM and UCL into settling for 2nd and 3rd place. Over at the basketball, however, it was the University of Leeds who toppled the squads of UWE Bristol and University of Southampton.
It’s safe to say that badminton was packed full of action as the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles all took place as each university sought to push themselves up the points board:
UON […] got some valuable points on the board in mixed doubles
In the men’s doubles, UWE Bristol recorded another win, with Imperial as runners-up and the University of Sheffield in third place. The women’s doubles saw UON finish just behind the winners, the University of Bristol, while UOM finished third. UON however got some valuable points on the board in mixed doubles, securing third place and joint second with UOM. Lancaster University were the mixed doubles victors.
Now onto the highly anticipated netball tournament, where UOM failed to live up to the billing as one of the favourites. It was pure dominance from the University of Warwick as they secured the top two places, with the University of Bristol settling for third. Finally, the football tournament lived up to expectations, in which third placed UOM and runners up Loughborough University did not have enough to topple the University of Sheffield.
The final university standings saw the University of Warwick finish in third place and UoN ending as runners-up to the champions, the University of Manchester! A well deserved win for UoM, through their well-rounded skills across the board, ended the 34th Nottingham Malaysian Games and another incredibly successful event carried out by UoN’s Malaysian society.
Vinay Patel & Vivika Sahajpal
Featured image courtesy of Jason Liu. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @nottsmsociety via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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