The football team of Limkokwing University won first runner-up during the Intervarsity Sports Fair that was held at the UPM Sports Centre last 17 to 19 February.
The University’s football team was led by its team captain Kishorenathan A/l Kaliyappan who is studying Bachelor of Science (Architectural Studies) and Sakthis Valatharasu who is studying Bachelor of Business (Hons) in Real Estate Finance, who helped coach the team.
The football tournament was part of the Intervarsity Sports Fair that was launched by the Malaysian Indian Congress’ President YB Datuk Seri Dr. S Subramanian who is also Malaysia’s Health Minister.
The team competed against 32 public and private Malaysian universities including Megatech, USM, UiTM Johor, and Politeknik Shah Alam.
“We started out without a team,” said Sakthis as they prepared before the competition.
They began by surveying the University to look for talented players and forma team together.
“We started selecting people based on their skills. We called them for training and filtered them out to create our team,” Kishoren said. “We needed to find cohesion and the right players for the right positions.”
“When we got the team together, we practised for a month,” said Sakthis. “Eventually, everything began to fall into place.”
According to Kishoren, the first challenge was that the players were used to playing futsal.
“Football and futsal are different and we had to change,” explained Kishoren.
“Our next biggest challenge was that we did not have a field,” added Sakthis. “It is not like futsal where you can practise anywhere.”
Fortunately, through the networking skills they learned at Limkokwing University, they were able to contact a friend who helped them find a location to practise.
In preparation for the competition, the University’s football team also received support from the University’s Student Services Department by arranging hostel accommodations, transportation services, and food.
The University’s Student Services Department has been actively organising several clubs which helps students to participate in sports-related activities on campus.
“During the first part of the tournament, the boys were quite nervous,” Saktish said. “In the first two games, we played to a draw.”
“After they got the feel of playing, they began to get more comfortable,” he added. “That was when the team began to score well.”
After playing against a few more teams, the team started to climb the ranks and even attracted some support by spectators from other universities.
The team’s coach Saktish was able to motivate the team by encouraging them to try something new.
“This gives students the opportunity to show their talents and sportsmanship while encouraging a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
He added that the team did not expect that they would reach the finals.
“We simply concentrated on one game at a time,” he said. “We kept on pushing ourselves by focusing on finishing one more game.”
Eventually, the team reached the finals and competed against Megatech International University. It was a tough fight but they eventually emerged as the first runner-up.
“As a coach, this is a good platform for me,” said Saktish. “It was a great exposure as it allowed us to witness 32 teams compete together. There were also football representatives present during the event.”
“This will look good on our resumes when we are searching for jobs,” added Kishoren.
He also added that engaging in outdoor sports activities makes students healthier and more active.
Their advice for students is to emphasise the importance of having a balanced lifestyle.
“Academics are not everything,” Kishoren explained. “You need to be active in sports so that you can balance both. A healthy body is a healthy mind.”