2017 Sports Day

 "2017 Founder's Run" , "Lau Wei Yiang's Founder's Run Victory" redirects here. For the successful attempt to achieve a  four year victory streak in 2022, see 2022 Nobel Cup and Associated Events. For the successful attainment of a fourth Bullseye  Sports Day victory, see 2019 Sports Day. For the tenth place attainment of Lau Wei Yiang in the Twincity Marathon, see Twincity Marathon 2024.

The 2017 Sports Day was the annual Sports Day of Nobel International School to take place on 31st March 2017. It is the first Sports Day to incorporate the Nobel Cup scores from the previous calendar year. 

The 2017 Sports Day was won by Touchdown. It is most notable for a one-point gap between Bullseye, the runner up, and Touchdown, the first place winner of the Sports Day. Touchdown won the Sports Day with 649 points as opposed to 648 points for Bullseye. As of 2025, this score is the closest score between two houses in Nobel International School's history. 

The 2017 Sports Day schedule was also known for the victory of Lau Wei Yiang in the 5km category in the 2017 Founder's Run, which, alongside Nobel Cup, formed part of the schedule. Wei Yiang, a student with no notable athletic experience, won the Founder's Run in 21:45 minutes in the 5km run. Aside from that, the Sports Day 2017 schedule saw the breaking of school records by Lee Chun Hang in the 1500m category, and also the first dual award of Sports Boy and Sports Girl to Sean Mark and Laura Mark, both of which were siblings. 

As of 2025, 2017 is the best performing year for Bullseye in a non-Bullseye victory year. 

Background

Bullseye, after winning the Sports Day 2014, 2015 and 2016, had lost the 2016 Nobel Cup. The loss of Bullseye had sparked shockwaves after consecutive victories since the 2014 Nobel Cup, spearheaded by Lau Wei Yiang and Caleb Chuang. The plans had caused a lot of upheaval and excitement, leading to the back-to-back 2014, 2015 and 2016 Sports Day victories, and the 2014 and 2015 Nobel Cup victories. However, the victories had invoked the ire of the Management Team, who want the Bullseye victories stopped in order to give a chance to other houses to win. The management had tried to prevent this by changing the event format of Nobel Cup and combining the events with the Sports Day. 

The loss of Bullseye in the Nobel Cup gave great impetus for Bullseye members to hold on to the victory of Sports Day from 2016, and to avert the loss of Sports Day 2017, and to also hang on to the multiple victory streaks. 

The 2017 Sports Day is also the final Sports Day for Bullseye Operation Speedrunner strategists Lau Wei Yiang and Caleb Chuang. After three Sports Day victories, two Nobel Cup victories and one Nobel Cup loss, the plan was to win the 2017 Sports Day and reclaim the Nobel Cup 2017 title at the end of 2017. The 2017 Sports Day would not only mark the revival of Nobel Cup, had Bullseye won, but also act as a grand send off to the strategists. 

Combination of Nobel Cup with Sports Day's events

In January 2017, Mr Narish announced the Sports Day lineup during the morning assembly. He said that the scores for Sports Day would carry on from the scores of the 2016 Nobel Cup. The teachers had decided to add the scores from Nobel Cup to the Sports Day tally. Thus, the Sports Day tally begun with Touchdown leading at 100 points, Bullseye at 90 points, Slamdunk at 70 points and Homerun at 60. 

The management originally did not consider putting the scores from the Nobel Cup into the tally for the Sports Day until school resumed in 2017. The management had been deliberating over whether to include the score. 

The management team, led by Ms Lim and Ms Bee Yong, pressed Mr Narish and Mr Neoh to add excitement to the Sports Day and Nobel Cup. The one major issue discussed in a management meeting on Monday, 16th January 2017, was whether to include the scores from the 2016 Nobel Cup. The management, led by Ms Lim, had been pushing for something to be done to the Sports Day to make the Sports Day competitive. Ms Lim wanted a change to the Sports Day format, and suggested eliminating the class system and replacing it with a system based on each year level participating in the event. 

Mr Narish decided on the inclusion of the scores from the Nobel Cup, after Mr Victor opined that Bullseye had Sean Mark as the captain and that Bullseye still had the upper athletic advantage. This plan was supported by Mr Neoh, the Head of CCA, and Mr Chan Lik Hoong, who said it will make the Nobel Cup a useful tool and not a sidelined tool. 

Ms Lim and Ms Bee Yong were initially unconvinced and surprised; Ms Lim felt that Nobel Cup should be its own event and not combined as part of the Sports Day in order to increase the appeal of the event. However, Mr Chan suggested the inclusion in order to allow people from different talents such as basketball and futsal to contribute points to the official sports day tally. The combination of the Nobel Cup 2016 scores with the 2017 Sports Day tally gave impetus for Touchdown to hold an early advantage and sideline Bullseye. This eventually made the Sports Day competitive whilst keeping Bullseye at bay. 

Theme of the 2017 Sports Day

The theme of the 2017 Sports Day was 'Soaring Together', and invoked a symbol of flight. Lau Wei Yiang initially compared the theme to 'Stronger Together', the theme of Hillary Clinton. This was criticized by the people from the Class of 2017 as politicization of the Sports Day and relating the situation to the United States Presidential Election in November 2016, given that it is a well known fact of Wei Yiang supporting Donald Trump.

2017 Founder's Run

On Tuesday, 3rd January 2017, when the school calendar for 2017 was released, the Founder's Run was scheduled for Wednesday, 8th February 2017. 

When Mr Narish announced details for the Founder's Run on ___ January 2017, the details for the Founder's Run saw a reduction of the Top 20 placing to 10 placings only.  The 2017 Founder's Run would have no changes aside from these. 10km runners would generally contribute more points to Bullseye should they win in the race.  

Wei Yiang's Founder's Run practice

As Bullseye had lost the Nobel Cup 2016, Wei Yiang felt the need to do something; to train and to practice for Founder's Run in order to increase his chances of winning the race. A victory of Lau Wei Yiang in the Founder's Run would be the centerpiece of the entire planned Bullseye victory of Sports Day for 2017 should these ever come to light. 

The aim of the project was to win the 2017 Founder's Run. It remains, so far, one of few Bullseye plans and strategies kept confidential. The main reason for this was to ward off potential competitors within Bullseye, such as Sean Mark, who may foil the plans. 

Practice for the Founder's Run took place everyday after school. The practices were kept secret. Planning for the Founder's Run practices begun in December 2016, with practices officially commencing on Monday, 16th January 2017. The practices involved a long run of 2.5km and Wei Yiang was coached by the security guards at a hilly neighborhood near his home. Aside from that, the practices also used exercise methods taught by Mr Victor. Practices continued until Sunday, 5th February 2017, from which a 2-day rest period took place, before the actual Founder's Run day on Wednesday, 8th February 2017. 

Parents' Fun Run

The 2017 Founder's Run was the first time a Parents' Run was organized. There were 15 parents in attendance, and the parents' run was won by Mr Ravinder Singh; the father of Enisha Kaur Ravinder.

Actual Founder's Run day

On Wednesday, 8th February 2017, the Founder's Run took place. The morning was cool after a midnight downpour, and many people arrived at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam. 

The race was flagged off by Auntie Clarine, starting with the 10km run at 9:00am; the Parents' Run at 9:05am, and the 5km category at 9:10am. Lau Wei Yiang managed to win the 5km category with the time of 21:45 minutes. Nieshaal Thambipillay managed to win the 10km category and defend his title from 2016, with a time of 56 minutes; a 2-minute improvement from 2016.

The most bizarre thing about the 2017 Founder's Run was the students looking at Wei Yiang's shoes. He wore ordinary black Bata shoes to run and win the Founder's Run. 

The Monitor's Council also set up a fundraising charity booth at the start and finish area of the Founder's Run, manned by Berlinda Tan and Pranavee.

Cheer Competition

The Cheer Competition took place on 10th February 2017, and was won by Slamdunk, causing Bullseye to reduce by one rank to third place after coming in last in the Cheer Competition. This resulted in Bullseye being in third place and an increasing pressure to reclaim the first-place lead. 

The Cheer Competition begun with the Bullseye members discussing and praising Lau Wei Yiang for his surprise win in the 2017 Founder's Run. During the Cheer Competition, the houses at one point had a screaming match which got Mr Narish to calm the students down.

The judging was conducted by Mr Sures, Ms Ingel, Ms Tan and Ms Cynthia. Following the Cheer Competition, Bullseye got 547 points, Slamdunk 576, Touchdown 587 points and Homerun 523 points. 

Introduction of the points ranking chart by Lau Wei Yiang

During  the entire course of the Sports Day, Wei Yiang drew up a chart which contained the ranking of all the houses and the scores, which he used it to predict the next pathways for Bullseye and present them to the captains. The chart would subsequently used for future  Sports Days, and plotted from the first competition of the event. 

Resignation of Chia Yan Ying and appointment of Chong Vicky

On 20th January 2017, Chia Yan Ying resigned as assistant House Captain of  Bullseye. This left Bullseye without an assistant house captain for a total of two weeks. 

On 13th February 2017, Chong Vicky was appointed as Assistant House Captain of Bullseye after a discussion among Year 11 committee members to appoint Vicky. Vicky was the deputy president of the  Librarian Board and was formerly the deputy Editor in Chief of the Editorial Board. 

Protest by the House Captains in relation to the inclusion of the scores of Nobel Cup

On 9th February 2017, the house captains of all four  houses; Sean Mark from Bullseye, Lim Wences from Touchdown, Brendan Cheah from Slamdunk and Joseph Diong from Homerun, met in the lower canteen with all house committee members from each of their houses and had a meeting. Joseph Diong produced a typewritten letter containing a message to the management and Mr Narish to cancel the Nobel Cup points from the Sports Day scores. The letter was signed by Year 11 students both inside and outside the committee. The management eventually spoke to all house captains that their decision was final and  that they will need to accept the arrangement.

The captains cited an unfair match; that they weren't consulted in 2016, and that it was also unfair to new students who had entered Nobel. The management told all the captains to adapt to the new changes as it made the Sports Day competitive. 

Disagreements between Lau Wei Yiang, Chong Vicky and Heng Zi Quan

During the course of the 2017 Sports Day preparations, Wei Yiang and Zi Quan had multiple disagreements. Apparently, Wei Yiang had criticized the committee members for being too slow in planning for the Sports Day, which could've cost Bullseye the championship. Wei Yiang tried to lend help to the design of Bullseye's Sports Day  Notice  Board; an assistance rejected by  Vicky. 

Wei Yiang also criticized the committee members, especially the athletics team, for aiding the other houses. Eu Lynn rebuffed the remarks, suggesting that sportsmanship was more important and that no one cared about the  victories. 

From Wei Yiang's point of view, Bullseye was on the verge of losing and many ideas and suggestions, such as a single Bullseye WhatsApp group,  or even assistance to the activities and solutions to the problems, were either rejected or cursed and scolded upon. Zi Quan and Wei Yiang clashed and traded barbs multiple times throughout the course of the Sports Day preparations due to the different approaches  they had with Bullseye. Wei Yiang tried backing down and staying apart, but this was not enough to  convince the Bullseye members to succeed. The suggestions and proposals for Bullseye were repeatedly rejected by Vicky, who held an  autocratic approach with  no consultation. 

Operation Speedrunner Plans

Branding for Bullseye

Wei Yiang wanted to base the fight for the 2017 Sports Day victory for Bullseye after Cold War politics in communist countries. The entire narrative for Bullseye's branding was to be planned to be referencing the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, where large flags held by student protesters in Beijing flew over Tiananmen Square. 

Wei Yiang also conceptualized a tank parade for the Sports Day but did not advance it due to logistical concerns. A planned song rendition of a rock version of The Internationale in Mandarin was cancelled also due to logistical concerns. However, Wei Yiang did made his own homemade red flag out of plastic bags, just like the actual red Bullseye flag on Sports Day. According to Wei Yiang, the aim of this was to rival all the other houses on Sports Day 2017. 

Aside from these, there were similar projects being brought up, such as the flag flypast on Sports Day, as well as some other Communist-style parades. There was the plan to bring up a megaphone on Sports Day as well, but a new plan, the crafting of a dove carrying the Bullseye flag, was to have had been done. Due to lack of time and materials and potential repercussions, these weren't created. 

Proposed renaming of the house meets to the Bullseye National Convention

In 2016, at the height of the 2016 United States Presidential Election, Wei Yiang suggested renaming the currently-addressed Sports House Meets to the Bullseye National Convention. According to Wei Yiang, the name change was to reflect the rise of Bullseye and also to motivate the Bullseye members to do well. The naming of the House Meets as the Bullseye National Convention was intended to uplift the status of the house meets as an important event. Aside from that, the plans were also to rename the House Committee as the Bullseye National Committee, in line with the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention and Committee in the United States.

The proposed names were criticized by Kelsey Tay from Bullseye and Ngei San Ying from Homerun, accusing Wei Yiang of bringing Trump into the picture. 

Lau Wei Yiang's 2017 Sports Day Banner 

The 2017 Sports Day banner design by Lau Wei Yiang was in the form of a stylized red Bullseye flag, which contained the cheer slogans from the 2013 and 2017 House Cheers of Bullseye, symbolizing his journey from Year 7 to 11. Wei Yiang decided to revive the banner for 2017 after failing to display it in the 2016 Sports Day. 

Originally, Wei Yiang considered using the same 2016 banner, but was told by Sean Mark and Ivyna and other Bullseye members to create a new design for 2017 to avoid misunderstandings from the management. 

Wei Yiang made the design of the flag from the stylized flags of  Communist Party Congresses in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and all other socialist states. The design was to be kept simple in order to reduce the abnormalities of the banner's political propaganda messaging as referenced by what happened in the 2016 Sports Day, when the poster that year was grounded by Sabrina Qistina due to political and propaganda concerns. For the 2017 banner, Sean Mark approved the designs of the banner upon viewing it and gave the green light to hang the banner on Sports Day.  

The banner was hung during the Sports Day Rehearsal on 28th March 2017, Telematch on 29th March, and on Sports Day itself. 

Mini hat for Sports Day

Wei Yiang also created a red hat which he wore during the Sports Day practices, Sports Day Rehearsal, Telematch and also on Sports Day. The hat contained cheer slogans and the history of Bullseye and red flags, but it was criticized for mimicking Donald Trump's Make America Great Again hats.

Pre Sports Events and Sports Day Rehearsal

1500m Race

Students for the 1500m Race were told to gather at the Dismissal Area at 7:30am before bording a bus to the Panasonic Stadium. Among the contenders for the 1500m race were Lau Wei Yiang, the winner of the 5km category for Founder's Run, and Nieshaal Thambipillay, the two-time 10km winner of the Founder's Run. The 1500m Race was considered a re-match among the two Founder's Run winners. The race had  to begin at  8:00am to take advantage of the cool weather. Lee Chun Hang won the race  with a new school record; and Wei Yiang beat Nieshaal Thambipillay by a few miliseconds (5 minutes 19 seconds) in the 1500 race to take second place, which was held on the Sports Day Rehearsal on 28th March 2017.

Rehearsal

During the Sports Day Rehearsal, the Bullseye members managed to do well in the races, and the standing of Bullseye significantly improved.

Suspension of Jason Leing

Jason Leing, the Athletics Captain for Bullseye, was suspended from Nobel International School for a total of two weeks due to misconduct as he had uttered vulgar languages. The expulsion took effect from 14th March 2017 all the way until 2nd April 2017.  Jason was an athlete from Bullseye and also the athletics captain. Because of his suspension, he was unable to not only coach the athletics team, but also participate in Sports Day. 

Sean Mark, as house captain, had to take over the athletics practices and coach the house members. This resulted  in him and other Bullseye members such as Loo Zane assisting the athletics practices. The suspension cost Bullseye dearly as  the team had one less  performance-inducing athlete. 

2017 Telematch Competition

The telematch was held  on  29th March 2017; the Telematch was won by Bullseye. The Tug of War competition was also held on the same day and won by Bullseye. 

Prior to the Telematch, Wei Yiang had requested participation in the Telematch Competition to Dylan S. Gill, the  telematch captain. However, this was  delayed because of the controls of admission by Vicky.

During the telematch, the Bullseye banner was unveiled and Wei Yiang was eventually allowed to participate in the Year 11 telematch game aside from serving as a telematch helper. Wei Yiang and Caleb were cheered upon as the game progressed. 

The eve of Sports Day, 30th March 2017, banned all after school practices to allow everyone to rest up.

Actual Sports Day 2017

The actual Sports Day took place on 31st March 2017. The Sports Day begun with the practices and final rehearsal of all houses before  the start of the opening ceremony. Prior to the Sports Day's commencement, Wei Yiang and Zi Quan had an argument after the latter accused him of not showing respect, after Wei Yiang himself tried to make peace with Zi Quan and tell him of some suggestions for Sports Day. 

During the competitions, Bullseye managed to win the most medals out of any house during the Sports Day, mainly in the 100m, 200m, 300m, and 4X100m. Because the Bullseye members had won many medals and points, this  resulted in the scores inching up quickly. 

There was a teacher's run on the track which was won by the Management Team. The run was participated by  Mr Neoh, Ms Bee Yong, Ms Lim, Mr Narish, Ms Sim, and Mr Victor, who won medals on behalf of the management team. The other teachers who ran the race were Mr Lee, Mr Anthony, Mr Simon, Ms Crystlyn, Ms Yong and Ms Hii (Slamdunk), Ms Renee, Mr Loong, Ms Kay, Ms Yong Wai Yee and Cikgu Baliah (Bullseye), Mr Andrew, Ms Ajee, Mr Nick, Ms Kam and Ms Syahirah (Homerun), and Ms Charine, Mr Kevin Wai, Ms Janice, Mr Lim Chiat Shern and Ms Ambiga (Touchdown). 

At 6:45pm, the management announced the scores on the scoreboard, with Bullseye  at 648 points, Touchdown at 649 points, Homerun at 579 points and Slamdunk at  638 points. According to Brendan Cheah, the competition between Bullseye and Touchdown got intense after Slamdunk notched up to second place, as claimed in an interview. 

The Sports Day ended earlier because of the large amount of pre Sports events held beforehand, thus simplifying the schedule. 

Aftermath

Reactions  to the 648-649 lineup

The reaction  to the scores was met with awe. Lau Wei Yiang described  the match as "too close to call", and  that had those who had criticized him and his suggestions had accepted them with an open heart,  Bullseye would have been saved and spared of the loss. 

Many Bullseye members  demanded a rematch. Benjamin Lew from Year 10 criticized and called out Bullseye members who did not register for the Founder's Run. Two  points were contributed by participants of the Founder's Run to their sports house. Many people from Bullseye also expressed frustration that they had  done so much and it still only led to the one-point gap.

According to an interview with the school newsletter, Vicky expressed that the Sports Day results were overwhelming and  that they had been pressured and given the expectation of trying to win the fourth victory year  for Bullseye. The results had shown that, according to Vicky and Sean, better planning and advanced planning and arrested procastination would have had saved the  Bullseye victory from further loss. Sean described the loss as a humiliating moment and that Bullseye members should elect a much better captain in 2018. 

The Touchdowners reacted  with relief and panic, that the victory of the match between Bullseye and Touchdown was a short lived  victory and anything can happen in 2018. 

Announcement of  the Change of Dance Competition Winner by Sean Mark

At 9:46pm, on Sports Day, Sean Mark announced that the dance competition winner of the Sports Day was  changed via a WhatsApp message. Sean Mark said that the judges had informed Ivyna Ong, the dance captain of  Bullseye, that there was a change  in the winner of the dance competition; and that the original winner of  the dance competition was  Bullseye. The judges had changed the winners, purportedly on the request of the  Management Team to "give chance to other houses". 

Sean Mark told all the Bullseye members to accept the unfair results. Apparently, had Bullseye won the dance competition and that the management had "robbed [it] away from us", according to Sean  Mark. Had Bullseye won the dance  competition, it would had also won the Champion House of Sports Day 2017 as well, making it one of the most stunning comebacks of all time. Had Bullseye won the 2017 Sports Day, Sean Mark and Wei  Yiang, would have had led  the Sports Day, with Sean and Wei Yiang winning short and long distance events respectively. Slamdunk won the dance competition, and Touchdown won the champion house title.

Sean took responsibility for the  loss of Bullseye, apologized and said it was his fault, but many Bullseye members urged  him to take it  easy and that he didn't do any major mistake.  Sean also gave a thank-you message to all the Bullseye members and the march, dance, banner and athletics participants for their support and cooperation.

Significance of Bullseye's loss in Sports Day 2017

The loss of Bullseye by one point to Touchdown resulted in further demand and  aspiration for  more  Bullseye victories. The loss, known as the 648-649 Incident, suggested that every point and effort  counts. 

The loss of Bullseye resulted in the fact that the four-year victory streak was not fulfilled. For Wei Yiang, this meant that there  was no major significant event that can replace the Sports Day  loss, such as getting Top in Malaysia for IGCSE, participating in other competitions  such as the  Beaver Competition or the Awards  Day skit, as the value of the events or initiatives did not  match that of the Bullseye victory. 

Because 2017 was faced with rocky hurdles, and because Bullseye lost the 2017 Sports Day, the four year victory streak remained unfulfilled, and that 2017 could not serve as the symbol of the climax of the victory of all victories of Bullseye during  Wei Yiang's time in Nobel. Hence, he returned  to Nobel, fresh from all the insults, barbs and curses as an alumni, to try and win the 2018 Sports Day. While Bullseye lost  the 2018 Sports Day as well, it eventually reclaimed the trophy in 2019 and caused a five year victory streak, besting  the plans for 2017 and achieving all unfulfilled goals and initiatives for Bullseye, from 2019 to 2023. 

Goal of Sports Day 2017

The Goal of Sports Day 2017 was to recover from the 2016 Nobel Cup loss and add the 2017 Sports Day to a total of four Bullseye victories. 

SPORTS DAY

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FOUNDER'S RUN

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NOBEL CUP

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