2017 Nobel Cup

 For the successful attempt to win the fourth  Bullseye  victory year, see 2022 Nobel Cup and Associated Events.

Not to be confused with 2019 Sports Day, the attainment of Bullseye's fourth ever  Sports Day victory. 

The 2017 Nobel Cup was the 4th edition of the Nobel Cup, played on Monday, 13th November 2017 at iM4U Sentral, Puchong. The tournament was won by Bullseye, in a major comeback since the 2017 Sports Day loss of Bullseye, 648-649, to Touchdown. 

This is the first Nobel Cup since the 2017 Sports Day loss, and the first Bullseye win in a Nobel Cup since 2015. Bullseye managed to reclaim the championship from Touchdown which similarly reclaimed the trophy from Bullseye in the 2016 Nobel Cup. It is Bullseye's third Nobel Cup victory. Like 2016, the Nobel Cup for 2017 automatically contributes to the 2018 Sports Day scores.

The 2017 Nobel Cup victory of Bullseye was announced on 17th November 2017, by Mr Narish, on the last day of school, bringing an end to a tumultuous year of unlucky losses for Bullseye. 

Background

Bullseye had lost the 2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports Day after winning the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Sports Days, and the 2014 and 2015 Nobel Cups. The victories of those tournaments were dampened by the dual losses, and the Bullseye members aimed to restore the victory of Bullseye back to what it was before. 

After the 2017 Sports Day loss, Wei Yiang begun drawing up plans for a 2017 Nobel Cup victory for Bullseye, after many attempts to replace the 2017 Sports Day loss with another important icon proved unfruitful. 

2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports Day

In the 2017 Sports Day, the event was meant to be a grand sendoff  for Wei Yiang and Caleb, the architects of Operation Speedrunner. The year 2017 was to be a culmination in the grand scheme of  Operation Speedrunner, a plan to make Bullseye win with origins in October 2014 which led the 2014 Nobel Cup, 2015 Sports Day, 2015 Nobel Cup, and 2016 Sports Day victories. Planned as part of Operation Speedrunner were the 2016 Nobel Cup, 2017 Sports Day and an optional 2017 Nobel Cup victory.  All of these formed part of a Bullseye Legacy Plan, and would have  had won four calendar years, with the Sports Day and Nobel Cup victories forming the backbone of  the success story  of Bullseye in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, with all tournaments  in those  years won by Bullseye. It would have had made big news had the initiative succeeded, and should Bullseye fulfill the aims of Operation Speedrunner, Wei Yiang and Caleb and all the Year 11 Bullseye members would have had tried to  bring the plans to the next captains and  committee to plan the 2017 Nobel Cup victory and 2018 Sports Day. What mattered to Wei Yiang and Caleb was the victory of all the events so long as they were still students of Nobel  International School. The 2017 Nobel Cup would have had been the first Nobel Cup left  unsupervised by Operation Speedrunner's architects and would be the first test of Bullseye's victory project post 2017 regardless of Bullseye's result in the 2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports  Day. The  only prestige for 2017 Nobel Cup in the victory of those  two tournaments by Bullseye was the real test of whether the victory streak can be sustained, and would bring a real challenge to the management. 

As  the clock ticked down to the 2017 Sports Day, the process was  littered witb controversy after controversy, delays after delays, procastination as well as disagreements. Following the Sports Day, Wei Yiang joined an Awards Day skit, the Kangaroo Maths Competition, the Beaver Computational  Thinking Competition, and even tried getting the Top in Malaysia for First  Language  English, which failed. All of  these initiatives did not match the significance and prestige of a Sports Day victory. 

Because Bullseye was unable to win the 2017 Sports Day, and also lost the 2016 Nobel Cup, Bullseye cannot achieve the four year victory streak. The  mental toll of conflicts between Wei  Yiang, Zi Quan and Vicky had caused Wei Yiang dearly; 2018 was seen as a new start, and a fresh year to begin to reclaim the losses of previous years. Thus, Operation Speedrunner was required to make a change; the 2017 Nobel Cup would replace the originally-planned 2016 victory of Nobel Cup on 3rd November 2016, and the 2018 Sports Day would replace the originally-planned  2017 Sports Day victory. Both wins for Bullseye would have had brought closure to 2017, and re-assert Bullseye's 2017 loss as an unfortunate  incident in the series of victories which should  not have happened. The original plan was to win  those  years and then pass the victory plans and strategies to 2018's committees, but the devastating losses forced the Bullseye planners to re-evaluate  the plans. 

Design of Strategy for Nobel Cup 2017 and Sports Day 2018

The 2017 Nobel Cup was designed to replace Bullseye's loss in the 2016 Nobel Cup, and the 2018 Sports Day was to replace  the 648-649 loss of 2017. Both would have had  brought compensation to the losses of the previous years, and thus created the term 'scrapegoat year', which is the definition of a year laid on with esxcuses on why Bullseye lost, and the year must be sandwiched between two Bullseye victory years; one preceding and another succeeding the scrapegoat year. 

Wei Yiang as 2018 House Captain

Planning begun in April 2017, immediately after the loss of the 2017 Sports Day. The plans called for Wei Yiang to assume the role of house captain in 2018.  According  to the plans, Wei Yiang  will delay his college intake to March 2018, following  the conclusion of Sports Day 2018. Wei Yiang had proposed solutions to address  the concerns of  the management. 

The management, under Ms Lim, had long  had a policy of dissuading alumni of  Nobel  International School from participating in the school activities. Ms Lim had said  that the management had to bar alumni in order to give chance to current students of Nobel. The solutions proposed by Wei Yiang  would be  to get the management to accept him as  a second official captain, and have three captains for  Bullseye; the house captain, the assistant captain, and  the  ex student captain. The first two posts excluding the ex student  captain would have had  been held by students, and Wei Yiang would hold the ex student captain post. To solve the issue of logistical constraints between class activities, Wei Yiang proposed delaying the intake of his college intake from January 2018 until the conclusion of Sports Day 2018. The intention of being the captain was to show the committee of 2017 how a Sports Day would be properly done. The  responsibility of the 2018 House Captain was  to oversee the 2017 Nobel Cup and  2018 Sports Day. 

Critics from Wei Yiang's 2017 batch debated  the logistics of such a batch, with Enisha saying it would not happen. However, should the post of the captain not be offered, Wei Yiang proposed a Plan  B, which involved him coming to Nobel frequently to support the students from Bullseye in their persuit of the Sports Day victory, just like  other alumni and ex students in the past.  However, Wei Yiang, unlike other alumni, will try  to play an active  role in coordinating  the Sports Day. The  theory was  that with Wei  Yiang present, Bullseye  will win the  Sports  Day and Nobel Cup due to the influence of alumni. Wei Yiang opted out of presenting the matter to Mr Narish or Ms Lim for fear of repercussions.

2018 House Captain Election

The 2018 House Captain Election took place on Monday, 11th September 2017, ten days before the Year 11 students had their last day of school and also on the 16th Anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Originally, the  House Captain Election was to take place in August 2017; it was postponed to September 2017 because of the Gen N - Dreaming Out Loud Concert, the Year 11 Study Camp, and the IGCSE Trials. 

During the House Captain Election, Sean Mark, in an emotionally crafted message, emphasized the 648-649 loss of Bullseye in the Sports Day and the importance of a responsible house captain and  committee. The entire  squad  of Bullseye members grafted and scuffed at the nonsensical loss to Touchdown, emphasizing the impact of one house point. The election took place in the Dismissal Area of Nobel  International School, and was recognized as deciding the  fate of Bullseye for the future after 2017.

For the 2018 House Captain Election, Mr Narish allowed students to nominate candidates, but the captains will need to fulfill the following criteria:

1) Be free of disciplinary misconduct 

2) Receive good and positive feedback from teachers

3) Demonstrate good behavior

4) Be a Year 11 student in 2018.

Wei Yiang had not recorded any demerit points or disciplinary misconduct; he was a good student in Nobel. House  teachers from Bullseye had praised his activities and he was also given good remarks by his teachers. He had good behavior, but the final criteria; being a Year 11 student in 2018, stopped him from bidding for the post of  House  Captain of Bullseye. Therefore, Wei Yiang decided to  nominate Loo Zane for  the post of  house captain.

Aside from Loo Zane, three  other people were nominated,  namely  Scott Heng, Ethan Chan and Koo Shi Tian. Shi Tian received the most votes, followed  by Ethan Chan and then Loo Zane. Only one person voted  for Scott  Heng and  some suspected it was  Scott voting for himself. Ethan had the  most  inspiring and convincing speech of all the candidates. The election was presided over by Sean Mark and Chong  Vicky, the outgoing Bullseye  captains, and Ms  Yong Wai Yee. 

Preparations for Nobel Cup

From Wei Yiang's perspective

The Nobel Cup preparations took place  in the midst of the IGCSE  October/November 2017 examination season, and on normal occasions, it was a time for Year 11 students  to focus on their examinations. As  the preparation took place despite the  IGCSE examinations, it  was unprecedented  for a Year 11 student to do this. Despite the challenges, enthusiasm  was high  and  morale was rising. The  Nobel Cup was a beacon of light in the IGCSE war. 

Critics had voiced concern over the Nobel Cup interfering with the IGCSE examinations. As the IGCSE examinations  mark a qualifying mark between high school and college, failure of all subjects in the IGCSE exams will lead to non-admission to  colleges and universities. Nevertheless, Wei Yiang managed to score the five credits necessary to enter Sunway College's Foundation in Arts program in March 2018. He achieved one A (Malay Foreign, two Bs (Global Perspectives and Combined Science), three Cs (Economics, Mathematics and Art and Design), one D (First Language English), one E (History), and failed Business Studies. 

The only thing Wei Yiang needed to do was to present himself on Nobel Cup 2017. Unlike heading to school, which Year 11s require permission to do so and only on official matters, such as meeting teachers or going for IGCSE exams, the Nobel Cup, being held at  iM4U Sentral, does not require any prior permission beforehand. All that Wei Yiang needed to do was to head to the iM4U Sentral for the Nobel Cup. Although Year 11 students would still keep tabs on Nobel Cup, Wei Yiang did so more actively. 

Nobel Cup competition

The Nobel Cup competition was held on 13th November 2017, and the tournament was won by Bullseye. Touchdown and Homerun were tied, followed by Slamdunk. This is the first official tie in a Nobel Cup scores.

While heading to iM4U Sentral, Wei Yiang managed to meet  Caleb Chuang who had finished his IGCSE exams and was cheering for the Nobel Cup tournament for Bullseye. The  Bullseye members performed very well; Wei Yiang also managed to return in the afternoon for the  closing ceremony of Nobel Cup.

The results were announced on the last day  of school,  17th November 2017, by Mr Narish, and Wei Yiang and Caleb had a party for the rest of the day at Nobel.  The victory of Bullseye  in Nobel Cup  2017 brought partial closure to Sports Day 2017 and heaved confidence in Bullseye for the future. 

Aftermath

The Nobel Cup  was  the start of Bullseye's success and resurgence. Althougb Bullseye did not  win the 2018 Sports  Day, Wei  Yiang's  presence managed to influence Bullseye  in winning the 2018 Founder's Run, snatching it from Touchdown. Bullseye managed to hang onto  the 2018 Nobel Cup and win the 2019 Sports  Day on 22nd March 2019. Both events resulted in victory streaks for Bullseye in the Sports Day and  Founder's  Run.

Goals for Nobel Cup 2017

The aim was to wrestle the championship from Touchdown to revive the victory of  Bullseye, and to pave the way for an eventual Sports Day 2018 win.

NOBEL CUP

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SPORTS DAY

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FOUNDER'S RUN

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