SINGAPORE – Ahead of the National School Games’ B Division hockey final on April 12, Victoria School’s (VS) Rajkishan Rajakrishnan had no inkling that he would be playing.
After all, he had returned to training only in March, having been out for over two months due to an injury which required nose surgery and multiple stitches.
The 15-year-old, a reserve, had also not played at all this season.
So he was shocked when he was brought on with five minutes remaining, with VS leading 2-1 against defending champions St Andrew’s Secondary School.
Another surprise was in store. Within a minute, his first touch of the ball resulted in a VS goal, sparking wild celebrations at Sengkang Hockey Stadium.
It proved to be the decider which helped his school regain the title, as St Andrew’s pulled one back in the dying moments to make it 3-2.
Rajkishan said: “I didn’t really expect my coach to play me in the last few minutes of the game, it’s an unbelievable feeling.
“No one believed in me, but yeah, we are here today. People actually laughed at me during training sessions (saying) I wasn’t good enough.”
The 2022 champions VS were playing without their captain, Ajit Shanmugam, who was out due to a pelvic fracture.
Ajit said: “He really enjoyed the moment and we are all really proud of him. Especially coming back from an injury, it’s not easy but him having scored this goal, really was the decider.”
Coach Nordin Manaff expressed delight at his team’s fighting spirit, adding: “I think our boys wanted to win the final a bit more because in the qualifying round they lost to them.”
VS drew first blood through Maheswar Chandramohan four minutes into the second quarter.
The forward dribbled past three defenders and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner, sending the VS supporters into a frenzy.
Three minutes later, St Andrew’s equalised through a penalty corner when Vijay Rege passed to captain Kyan Goh, who rifled his shot into the top corner.
VS regained the lead three minutes into the fourth quarter when Maheswar was fouled after capitalising on a mistake by the St Andrew’s defence. On-field captain Jorim Lim slotted home the resulting penalty.
That set the stage for Rajkishan’s heroics, as he sneaked the ball home from a tight angle to make it 3-1, before Kyan narrowed the deficit via a penalty corner in the dying seconds.
Kyan said: “I think both teams played very well. It’s just that Victoria had more desire than us, they showed that they wanted it more.”
St Andrew’s coach Paramjit Singh felt that the match was very balanced, saying: “It was a good game and, to be fair, Victoria School played very well. We came fighting back, giving our best and tried to match them in every area but I think, with the defence under pressure, we choked.”
In the earlier third-place play-off, 2023 runners-up Raffles Institution lost 1-0 to a team comprising players from Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) and Queensway Secondary School.
