"20th Anniversary Sports Day" redirects here. For the 10th Annual Sports Day in 2014, see 2014 Sports Day. For the planned 20th Anniversary Nobel Cup or Nobel Cup 2024, see UNLEASH - Sports Day 2025.
Not to be confused with the 2020 Sports Day.
The 2024 Sports Day, formally known as the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, is a Sports Day which took place on 2nd July 2024, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Nobel International School. Touchdown successfully reclaimed the Champion House after five years of Bullseye victory in a shock move during the final day of competition on the 20th Anniversary Sports Day.
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day was a heated affair between Bullseye, Touchdown and Slamdunk, due to the unexpected exemplary performance of Slamdunk's athletes.
For the first time since 2013, the same group of students responsible for leading the previous Sports Day was also tasked to lead the next Sports Day; the Class of 2013 was responsible for the 2012 and 2013 Sports Day. This is also the first Sports Day to have two different captains from the same batch win the Champion House trophy; Aidan Ooi and Soh Yu Yee, representing Bullseye, lifted the Champion house trophy in 2023, and the Champion House trophy for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day was lifted by Shaun Ho and Nishantini of Touchdown. This is the first Sports Day since 2016 to not include the Nobel Cup of the previous year, or to not include the Nobel Cup in the Sports Day lineup. This is also Bullseye's first Sports Day loss since 2018, and the first post-streak loss since 2017.
Background
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day is very significant because it celebrates the 10th Anniversary of Bullseye's first ever victory streak and the first ever Bullseye victory in a sports event in Nobel International School. Since 2021, multiple Bullseye members, including Wei Yiang, had eyed the 2024 Sports Day as an important celebration; not just because it was the 20th Anniversary of Nobel International School, but also the 10th anniversary of Bullseye's first ever victory in a sports tournament.
On 9th April 2014, Bullseye won the 2014 Sports Day, culminating in its first ever Sports Day victory after years of trying. It became the second house after Touchdown to win a Sports Day. The 2014 Sports Day showcased the success of Bullseye and was the first sports victory of Bullseye. It was also the first of five consistent Sports Day and Nobel Cup victories from 2014 to 2016. The 2014 Sports Day paved the way for Operation Speedrunner, which introduced the Bullseye victory streak and victory tradition of Bullseye.
Beginning from the 2014 Nobel Cup, Bullseye won many events through Operation Speedrunner, and the plans were reused for the 2015 Sports Day, 2015 Nobel Cup and 2016 Sports Day which Bullseye won following the victory of Bullseye in the 2014 Nobel Cup.
In 2016, Bullseye lost the Nobel Cup that year, and failed to win the 2017 Sports Day by a margin of 648-649; the Sports Day was won by Touchdown. Starting from Nobel Cup 2017, plans were formulated to win the 2017 Nobel Cup and 2018 Sports Day to replace the failed victories of 2016 Nobel Cup and 2017 Sports Day. The Bullseye members eventually replaced the 2016 Nobel Cup loss with the 2017 Nobel Cup victory, and the 2017 Sports Day loss with the 2019 Sports Day victory. From there, the Bullseye members faltered in the 2019 Nobel Cup, but managed to win the 2020 Founder's Run and secure ownership of the 2020 Sports Day title, achieving the highest standings of all houses as of the cancellation of Sports Day 2020. The confirmation of the victory of Bullseye in 2020, 2021 and 2022 were confirmed in 2023 by the victory of Bullseye, which confirmed the five victory years for Bullseye, outperforming the 2017 Legacy Plan and fulfilling all the unfinished goals of Bullseye which were planned, proposed and formulated by the Bullseye members. The 2020 Sports Day confirmation fulfilled the replacement plans for the 2018 Sports Day loss, and the 2022 and 2023 Nobel Cup victories replaced the 2019 and 2020 Nobel Cup losses. The successful replacement of all failed victory years, fulfillment of all plans, visions and goals by the Bullseye members, as well as the outperformance of initial expectations shocked Nobel International School, especially with the confirmation of the second Sports Day victory streak of Bullseye and the involvement of Chee Fooi Foon in the Sports Day, which was welcomed by all the Bullseye members.
Therefore, to commemorate the Bullseye successes and losses over the years, the plans were formulated to celebrate the success of Bullseye by winning the 20th Anniversary Sports Day. According to Lau Wei Yiang, when the plans were drawn up, "every Bullseye member; alumni and existing student, welcomed the plans". The request for Bullseye to win the 20th Anniversary Sports Day was so overwhelming that for years since 2021, Bullseye members had welcomed the plans and were anticipating the anniversary celebration. At least 1,000 requests were made from current Bullseye members, alumni, members of the public and even other houses according to Wei Yiang, to "request for Bullseye to win the 2024 Sports Day because we want to celebrate and honor every single Bullseye member who had worked so hard to make Bullseye win over the years. Whether Bullseye won or lost, only two losses were made and it would be great to also recognize the failures which led to Bullseye's success. We want to recognize every Bullseye member, dead or alive, dumb or clever, selfish or kind, athletic or not, skillful or skill-less, we want to ensure that every Bullseye member is recognized because they were part of the success story of Bullseye."
Interferance of Bullseye's victory by the Management Team of Nobel International School
Since the 2016 Sports Day victory of Bullseye, the five consecutive victories in the 2014 Sports Day, 2014 Nobel Cup, 2015 Sports Day, 2015 Nobel Cup and 2016 Sports Day had riled up the management team of Nobel International School. Beginning from 2017, the management had attempted to dissuade and remove Bullseye as the champion house of Sports Day, starting with the alteration of competition format for the 2016 Nobel Cup, incorporating the Nobel Cup into the Sports Day scores for 2017; cancelling and rejecting Bullseye as the winner of the 2017 dance competition; tightening the school security policy and barring alumni and banners and cheers held by them for supporting Bullseye in 2018 and 2019; using Covid 19 as excuses for the 2020 Sports Day and Founder's Run to be made internal events; chasing away alumni in 2022; simplifying the competition format in 2022 and 2023; and barring student-alumni communication as well as attempting to remove Founder's Run and Nobel Cup from Sports Day to disadvantage Bullseye.
Throughout the period of 2016-2023, the Bullseye members had faced harsh resistance from the management, especially when it comes to the student-alumni collaboration. A study published in 2024 found that every single Sports Day, Nobel Cup and Founder's Run had been rigged since records begun in 2013. In each study, it was concluded that the management had expressed genuine hate towards Bullseye for the multiple victories held since 2014. The management has also attempted to censor records of previous Bullseye victories and information regarding the school's history to dissuade Bullseye members from winning.
The significance of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day to the management team was the culmination of 20 years of the existence of Nobel International School since its humble beginnings as Sekolah Sri Nobel. In the first ten years of Nobel International School, no Sports House had attempted to win many years, and the victory of all the sports houses and champion houses kept on rotating from time to time.
The consistent victories of Bullseye challenged the past norms of Nobel where each house was given a chance to be the champion house. This made the management upset, and the management were reeling from the 2023 Sports Day win by Bullseye and that they had to accept Bullseye as a victor in the championship.
Significance of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day Victory for Bullseye
If Bullseye wins the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, the victory of Bullseye was intended to be a gift to the previous Bullseye members. It was meant to be a token of appreciation to all the previous Bullseye captains and committee members as well as all the graduated alumni who formed part of Bullseye since the 2013 Sports Day. The intended victory was meant as a "thank you" to all the previous Bullseye members and to honor every Bullseye member for contributing to the victory of Bullseye.
While the 20th Anniversary Sports Day's hypothetical Bullseye victory origins from the same reason as the 2023 Bullseye Sports Day victory, that is the extension of the Bullseye victory streak from five years to six, which could have lengthened the already-long Bullseye victory streak in Nobel's history, the caveat to the 20th Anniversary Sports Day is that it will be a celebration of Nobel and Bullseye. As such, a different rationale was used to win the 20th Anniversary Sports Day; not just as a celebration of Bullseye and the honoring of many Bullseye members, but to also practice the school's core values that made Bullseye possible; through the one single victory that started it all.
In the aftermath of the Bullseye victory of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, the plan is to further extend the Sports Day to win the year 2025 and 2026 in order to amalgamate the 10th anniversaries of the 2015 and 2016 Sports Day victories. Wei Yiang proposed a cut off date of 2025 in the event of Bullseye's 20th Anniversary Sports Day victory, and an optional date for 2026 to be included.
Planning for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day had taken place since MCO 3.0 in June 2021. The plan was for Bullseye to win the 2022 or the 2023 Sports Days, whichever was held first. Bullseye eventually won the 2023 Sports Day, paving the way forward for the proposed 20th Anniversary Sports Day victory.
Due to the significance of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day in commemorating the anniversaries of Nobel and Bullseye, the 20th Anniversary Sports Day would have had been the crown jewel and centerpiece of the Bullseye victory streak from 2019 to 2023 had Bullseye won the Sports Day, making the already-long victory streak, which was considered unprecedented in the history of Nobel International School, even longer, but the focus would be to celebrate every Bullseye member who had contributed to the victory of Bullseye. Aside from that, Bullseye's victory in the 20th Anniversary Sports Day would also result in the first competitive triple title victory streak since the 2016 Sports Day; out of the years from 2019 to 2024 in this scenario, only the 2022, 2023 and 2024 results were formal, giving way to a repeat of such streak since 2016.
Kongsi Raya
Kongsi Raya refers to a phenomenon in which the Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidifitri festivals in Malaysia fall in the same week. This phenomenon occurs once every 33 years. Similar phenomena include DeepaRaya, the coincidation of Deepavali and Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
The plans called for the anniversaries of Nobel and Bullseye to be commemorated together in a grand celebration, which excited the Bullseye members. The last occasion an anniversary was commemorated jointly was in 2022, when the 10th anniversary of Nobel's transition to an international school was celebrated, along with the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of Bullseye.
Wei Yiang's prediction for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day
Following the conclusion of Bullseye's victory in the 2023 Sports Day, Wei Yiang warned that despite the wonderful performance of Bullseye in the 2023 Sports Day on 20th November 2023, Bullseye's performance had yet to reach pre-pandemic levels seen in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Wei Yiang compared the runners as "jogging on the track" and that many runners from Bullseye slowed down before reaching the finish line. He noted that the sports performance had tremendously dropped since the 2019 Sports Day as a result of the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic which prevented collusion between outgoing batches and incoming students.
Wei Yiang also took the opportunity to forecast that the upcoming 20th Anniversary Sports Day would be predicted for Friday, 28th June 2024. He said that "despite the heatwave, the management will make contingency plans to deal and adapt to the situation should the heatwave repeat in 2024". This means that if Sports Day was scheduled for June 2024 just like in 2023, the management will not afford a postponement of the Sports Day. The management may instead try to deal with the situation, such as putting the Sports Day in the evening or staggering the events in order to allow students to have a cool atmosphere during the Sports Day, and that the management does not want an end-of-year Sports Day just like in 2023. This meant that the upcoming Sports Day in June 2024 would take place only a little over six months following the conclusion of the 2023 Sports Day, marking the shortest duration between two Sports Days; most Sports Days only last a year of gap duration.
Wei Yiang also added that the management will try to make the Sports Day as hard as possible in order to deter Bullseye from winning. He said that the management, upon reviewing Bullseye's performance in 2023, may consider bringing back the marchpast, dance and banner competition for the Sports Day to help other houses win. According to Wei Yiang, the 20th Anniversary Sports Day "will be very hard, and Bullseye must be prepared."
First day of school, 2024
The first day of school for the Academic Year 2024 took place on Tuesday, 2nd January 2024. The morale from the 2023 Sports Day was still going strong; there was a need for Bullseye to win the 20th Anniversary Sports Day. All the Bullseye members, informed of this important anniversary, worked very hard from the first day of school to win the Sports Day.
Change of principals at SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft)
On Monday, 18th March 2024, Dr Kow Cheong Wei, the Chairman of SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft)'s board of directors, announced Principal Kuan Muk Lang as the new Principal of SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft). Principal Chee Fooi Foon was subsequently transferred to SJKC Serdang Baru 2, and Principal Kuan was transferred to SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft) from SJKC Chio Chao, Sepang.
The community members in Puchong were saddened at the departure of Principal Chee; she was given a farewell in the days leading up to the last day of school and also praised for the Bullseye victory. She was honored during the school's Chinese New Year celebrations on 8th February 2024.
Wei Yiang attempted to get Principal Kuan Muk Lang to support Bullseye, but she wasn't interested back then as she had arrived at SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft) for her duties as principal.
Emergency Management Meeting
Planning for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day begun in January 2024. The Management had been debating on names to call the Sports Day. The management intended to call the Sports Day as the 20th Annual Sports Day; this was rejected as three Sports Days were not held due to the Covid 19 pandemic. This made the 2024 Sports Day the 17th annual Sports Day instead of the 20th. Hence, the management decided to make the Sports Day known as the 20th Anniversary Sports Day.
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day was to be fused in the same manner as the 10th Anniversary Concert, which was a grand concert in 2014 to celebrate Nobel's 10th Anniversary. For the 20th Anniversary Academic Year, the focus was to be on sports.
The management were very well aware of the year 2024 as the 10th Anniversary of Bullseye's first ever victory streak on 9th April 2014, and were determined to put a stop to it. Thus, the Sports and Recreation Department were told to craft strategies to make the Sports Day competitive. The management had also invested considerable time in planning for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day as it was the main event for the year 2024 and to celebrate Nobel's 20th Anniversary.
Resignation of Ms Bee Yong
On 28th February 2024, Ms Bee Yong resigned as the Senior Principal of Nobel International School as she was returning to Singapore. The farewell was recorded in a ceremony on Wednesday, 28th February 2024 during the morning assembly. Following her resignation, the post of Senior Principal was abolished.
The resignation of Ms Bee Yong did not change the Management's stance towards Bullseye. Mr Chan Lik Hoong advised the Sports and Recreation Department to make the Sports Day more competitive, and to allow other houses to challenge Bullseye. The management had made it very clear that they do not want to see Bullseye keep on winning and advocate for other houses to have a chance to lift the Champion House Trophy.
Launch of Sports Day 2024 by Mr Meshach David
The coordinator for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day was Mr Meshach David, who had joined Nobel International School for the year 2024. Mr Meshach was chosen because he had an ability and skill of emceeing an event. He was also enthusiastic and passionate for school activities. Mr Meshach begun his teaching career in 2018 at Sayfol International School Kuala Lumpur and served as the Head of Physical Education at Sayfol. Aside from Mr Meshach, Mr Lew Wei Him was serving as deputy coordinator of the Sports Day, assisted by the CCA Department and the Sports and Recreation Department.
Mr Meshach David launched the Sports Day during the morning assembly on Friday, 1st March 2024. The lineup announced by Mr Meshach David for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day comprised the Founder's Run, the pre Sports events and the actual Sports Day tally to form the official tally for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day.
Aside from the announcements, Mr Meshach announced the Founder's Run for 27th April 2024 and the tentative Sports Day date for 29th June. Similarly, Mr Meshach also announced that the Elementary School will have a Telematch event, tentatively scheduled for mid July.
Appointment of Bullseye National Committee by Aidan Ooi, House Captain of Bullseye
On Friday, 8th March 2024, Aidan Ooi announced the captains and committee members for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day representing Bullseye. The marchpast team was to be led by Elizabeth Yu, the dance team led by ___________, the banner team led by _______, and the secretary and treasurer be_____. This was confirmed as part of the management's desire to bring back the judging events for Sports Day.
2024 Founder's Run
The 2024 Founder's Run is the first event of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day. The run took place on 27th April 2024 at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam. For the second consecutive year, the run was held on a Saturday. The date of Founder's Run was criticized because of the weekend approach, intended to dissuade Bullseye members from running in the event. Nevertheless, the Virtual Run still continued. The overall winner of the 2024 Founder's Run was Bullseye. The 2024 Founder's Run is the first Founder's Run to incorporate both the Elementary and Junior and Senior School in the same running event at Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam.
Registration
Registration for the 2024 Founder's Run begun on Monday, 26th February 2024 and was supposed to end on Friday, 15th March 2024.
The registration was extended by another 10 days to 24th March 2024, and then it was extended again to 28th March 2024 because less people were registering for the Founder's Run. This was because many people complained about the high registration fee for the Founder's Run. The fee was priced at RM 150; the highest registration fee in history. One student reported that the fees had been increasing year upon year and predicted that the registrration fee will increase to RM 200 in the 2025 Founder's Run after logging RM 50 in 2022, RM 100 in 2023, and RM 150 in 2024.
The 2024 Founder's Run was consequently the Founder's Run with the least physical turnout. The turnout was described by some students as "nothing more than just a social event". This is the second Founder's Run to be held on a Saturday.
On Monday, 29th April 2024, the Founder's Run results were released. Mr Meshach David announced that Bullseye was the champion house of the Founder's Run. The results dealt a shock blow to the management team.
Wei Yiang was originally planning to attend the 2024 Founder's Run but was unable to do so because he had to rest at home for the Twincity Marathon on 28th April. He eventually won 10th place for the full marathon.
2024 Mid Year Examination
The 2024 Mid Year Examination took place from 6th May to 25th May 2024. Subsequently, the IGCSE Malay and Mandarin examinations also took place during the same timeframe. Thus, the 2024 Mid Year Examination became the first exam since the 2023 Final Year Examination to take place before a Sports Day. It is the second examination, also after the 2023 Final Year Examination to be sandwiched between a Sports Day and a Nobel Cup.
2024 Telematch Competition
The 2024 Telematch Competition took place during the PE lesson with telematch events. The telematch competition ran from 24th June to 28th June.
Wei Yiang's banner for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day
For the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, Wei Yiang designed a banner theme based on Elon Musk. The banner featured aliens in the words of Chee Fooi Foon and the Chinese name of Kuan Muk Lang on the banner, gliding across the galaxy and over Planet Earth, holding Bullseye flags. A comet passing through a spiral galaxy formed the Bullseye symbol. The aliens were chasing each other in a nod to the change of the principals at SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft). The theme of Elon Musk was suggested by Mr Thomas for the 2023 Sports Day; as the 2023 Sports Day had a Chinese theme to celebrate Hing Fook Soon's birthday, it was reserved for 2024.
The six words in total spelt out the six victory years of Bullseye from 2019 to 2024, along with the words 'Hail to Bullseye'. The fusion of the comet, galaxy and the Earth harmonized the vision of Nobel International School "To produce global citizens with noble hearts and minds" as well as Bullseye, to celebrate the anniversaries of Nobel and Bullseye.
2024 Sports Day Rehearsal and Pre Sports Events
The 2024 Sports Day Rehearsal took place on Tuesday, 18th June 2024. The rehearsal was held to accommodate the 1500m, 800m, 4X400m, Long Jump, Shot Putt as well as the rehearsal for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day's opening ceremony.
The Sports Day Rehearsal was held from 8:00am to 12:00pm. Unlike the previous 2019 Sports Day Rehearsal, students were told to head directly to the Panasonic Stadium instead of being bussed to the arena.
The Sports Day Rehearsal was emceed by Mr Meshach David and Ms Sarah Wong. The rehearsal begun with students gathering on the track for a briefing and the announcement of the agenda for Sports Day by Mr Meshach. After the briefing, each house was given the opportunity to blast their cheers. Once that was done, all students proceeded back to their assigned stands, and athletes participating in the events were told to gather at the basement tunnel entrance. Students not participating in the events were told to return to their seats. The athletes gathered at the tracks at 8:00am where Mr Wen Khai and Mr Wong held a briefing on the rules and regulations.
At 8:15am, students participating in the marchpast, dance and opening ceremony proceedings were told to do their practices by Ms Praveen. The 1500m events started first, followed by the 4X400m in which the female category was won by Wong Pey Yi, Ong Zi Xin, Joanna Crystal Vijaya and another Bullseye member, while the male category was won by Teh Min Kang and a few other Bullseye members.
At 9:00am, the main rehearsal begun as the students begun to march onto the track. The rehearsal took place from 9:00am to 10:30am, followed by a Tug of War match between the houses at 10:45am. Bullseye was the winner of the Tug of War match.
At 11:30am, the prize giving ceremony took place, with Ms Praveen and Mr Chan Lik Hoong presenting the awards. This was then followed by another round of cheering by Mr Meshach and the unveiling of the scoreboard showing Bullseye in a first place lead. The students were told to clean up at 12:15pm and were dismissed formally at 12:30pm.
High Jump Events
The High Jump events took place after school hours in Nobel International School, from 5:00pm to 9:00pm in the school's hallways. The high jump mat was installed in the corridors and then supervised by the PE teachers for students to jump. The High Jump tournaments were mainly won by Touchdown and Slamdunk. The tournament featured notable athletes like Caleigh Chan Li Ern. The High Jump events took place as follows:
Class 1 Male and Female: 24th June 2024 and 25th June 2024
Class 2 Male and Female: 26th June 2024 and 27th June 2024
Class 3 Male and Female: 28th June 2024, from 1:00pm to 6:00pm
The knockout events took place from 19th June 2024 to 21st June 2024 after school to select the finalists for the events.
Re-introduction of marchpast, dance and banner for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day
On 14th June 2024, photos circulated by Caleigh Chan Li Ern showed a photo of the Homerun banner, confirming the management's decision to bring back the judging events which were last contested in 2019 and 2020. The decision attracted attention from Wei Yiang and his team of Bullseye strategists.
According to Wei Yiang, the Management team had forecast that from the 2023 Sports Day results, 2022 Overall Score tally and pre-2020 Sports Day results, Bullseye would do well in the athletics events, and that the Management would use the Sports Day judging events to counter the scores and block Bullseye's victory. This means that the Management can worryingly use the judging events to award a high amount of points to balance the lopsided Bullseye victories in the athletic events with other houses' victories. Due to the subjective nature of the judging events, concerns that the judging events be used to weaponize things against Bullseye took place. Wei Yiang urged caution and told everyone to take matters seriously.
Proposed extension of 2019-2023 Bullseye victory streak by Mr Thomas
On 20th June 2024, Mr Thomas proposed to Wei Yiang an extension of the Bullseye victory streak. The extension was planned to be from 2025 to 2031, and include the 20th Anniversary Sports Day in 2024. The reason given by Mr Thomas was to complete the Chinese zodiac. The proposal came as Wei Yiang was updating Mr Thomas the progress of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day.
The year 2019 was the year of the Pig, and so is 2031. This means that Bullseye will need to win the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031, to complete one full zodiac cycle. Mr Thomas said it would be good feng shui if this operation was achieved.
Should the proposal come true, the plan will need to involve every single student in the Junior and Senior School from Year 7 to 11, and the Year 4, 5 and 6 students in the Elementary School who were enrolled in the school in the year 2024, as they would form the Year 11 committees for Bullseye in the Sports Day from 2024 to 2031. At the same time, this would involve all students in Nobel International School from Year 1 to 11 who were enrolled in the 2024 Academic Year, as the youngest students in Year 1 and the oldest students from the Nobel Early Years would enter Year 8 and Year 7, respectively, at the time of the 2031 Sports Day.
The plans were laughed off by Wei Yiang when it was presented to him, as hypothetically, it would be impossible and that the 20th Anniversary Sports Day results were not confirmed although Bullseye was in the lead. He urged Mr Thomas to focus on the 20th Anniversary Sports Day victory first, since the Sports Day was still ongoing and not reached the final day of competition.
According to Mr Thomas, the plan, if implemented, will more than double the Bullseye victory streak that is spanning from 2019 to 2023. Had the plan would have worked, this would mean the longest Bullseye victory streak ever, and it would have had spanned a decade. The plans would occupy every single year in the 2020s decade, and two years of the 2030s decade, in addition to the year 2019 from the 2010s. It would have had created a lopsided balance of all houses. This also would have had drawn outrage from the management team, who remain steadfast that the houses need to be rotated to each take turns becoming the champion house.
20th Anniversary Sports Day
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day took place on Tuesday, 2nd July 2024. It was originally planned to take place on 29th June 2024; this would have had been the first Sports Day to have had been held on a Saturday since the 2009 Sports Day, which took place on Saturday, 18th April 2009.
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day was postponed to 2nd July 2024 in order to accommodate the students' availability and teachers' schedules and to encourage attendance turnout, making it the second Sports Day after the 2023 Sports Day to be postponed. The postponement was criticized by Wei Yiang and other Bullseye strategists, claiming that the postponement was done by the opponents who wanted to catch up to Bullseye as Bullseye is leading way too ahead and way too far.
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day was the first to conclude at 8:00pm; the first time it ended this late, since 2016.
Opening ceremony
The 20th Anniversary Sports Day took place on 2nd July 2024, from 4:00pm to 7:00pm.
All students were told to arrive at the Panasonic Stadium by 1:00pm. This was then followed by a dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. Parents and alumni, however, were told to wait until 3:00pm before being told to enter the stadium. According to Ms Sha, the management had "changed the rules."
Wei Yiang and his team arrived at the stadium at 1:00pm to speak to the Bullseye members but, however, were blocked by the restrictions. Therefore, he and his crew met the Bullseye marchers on the field near the field's entrance next to the carpark of the stadium. The Bullseye marchers waved at him as he unveiled the 2024 Bullseye banner he was holding.
Wei Yiang was also approached by some Elementary School students who went to have a look at his banner. The Elementary School students were participating in a dedicated event for Year 4, 5 and 6 students. While waiting, Wei Yiang also spoke with Mr Simon, Ms Belle, Mr Kevin Wai and Mr Lee. The teachers praised Wei Yiang over the humongous lead of Bullseye. At the start of Sports Day, Bullseye had a lead of 2190 points, followed by Slamdunk at 2080, Touchdown at 2040, and Homerun at 1840. Wei Yiang subsequently suggested that Bullseye win a total of 8888 points to appease Chee Fooi Foon and the transporters of SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft), who were "bidding for 4D numbers". The suggestion was cheered on by the Bullseye members.
At 3:00pm, the school staff opened the gates to let parents and visitors enter the stadium. There, Wei Yiang entered the stadium and then sat down with the parents' row. Wei Yiang attempted to head to Bullseye's stand to motivate the Bullseye members, but were told that only students can enter the area. As such, he proceeded to the parents' area.
Auntie Clarine was greeting all the parents and visitors, before praising Wei Yiang on the marathon achievements. Then, students involved in the Opening Ceremony did a brief rehearsal before the marchers entered the stadium from the car park to line up on the cornering on the left hand corner of the track. Ms Praveen encouraged all houses to cheer, and so did Mr Meshach.
At 4:00pm, after all the students had gotten onto the track and everyone was seated, a group of eight track and field students then skipped and danced while holding the Malaysian flag and Nobel International School flag. The students then set off flares in the colors of the four houses before the official announcements to open the 20th Anniversary Sports Day was made by Mr Meshach and Ms Sarah Wong.
Following the opening skip, Mr Tan Seng Kee, the Executive Director of Nobel International School, Mr Chan Lik Hoong, the Management Advisor of Nobel International School; Ms Praveen Shadaan, the Principal of the Junior and Senior School; Ms Ingeldeep Kaur, the Principal of the Elementary School; and Ms Jean, the Chief Executive Officer of Nobel International School, were invited to cut a bunch of balloons containing the 20th Anniversary banner in the center of the stadium. The balloons were released but were blown sideways due to the wind while still kept on tethered ropes.
A group of dancers from all four houses came onto the track and danced an opening dance before the official marchpast begun. The marchpast was led by Hannah Tan, the Head Prefect of Nobel International School, who carried the Malaysian flag. This was then followed by the parades of Homerun, Slamdunk, Touchdown and Bullseye, who entered the stadium. Unlike the 2019 marchpast, the 2024 marchpast included other moves. The Bullseye marchers, led by Elizabeth Yu, cheered "Happy 20th Anniversary" to the VIPs. The judging of the marchpast, dance and banner designs were done by Mr Tan Seng Kee, the Executive Director of Nobel International School, Ms Celine Ritz, the Educational Consultant of Nobel International School who hails from California, USA, Ms Sarah Tan, the Social Wellbeing Director of Nobel International School,who is also the daughter of Mr Tan, and Mr Samuel Tan, the Chief Executive Officer of Fungates Superflow Foundation. This was then followed by the Negaraku, School Song and Sports Pledge, which was done by Aiden Lee, the Sports Boy for the 2023 Sports Day. The Negaraku and School Song were performed by a student. The marchers soon marched out and this was then followed by the dancers in the same order; Homerun, Slamdunk, Touchdown, Bullseye. Prior to the dance competition,a combined dance from all four houses' dance captains occurred.
After the dance competition, each dance contingent blared out their cheer, before leaving. Once all dance groups had finished. Mr Meshach declared that the competition had already started and then called all houses to blare their cheer, beginning with Slamdunk, Bullseye, Touchdown and Homerun. This was then followed by the Elementary School's athletic events at 4:45pm and a prize-giving ceremony for the students.
100m events
Following the Elementary School's athletic events, the Junior and Senior School events begun, with the 100m. A group of Touchdown and Slamdunk athletes briefly won their races, and the Bullseye members were faltering in their performances. Then, at 5:30pm, as Wei Yiang presented the tally on his score chart to Aidan Ooi, the House Captain of Bullseye, the official score was revealed, showing Bullseye in third place. The scores showed Bullseye having 2340 points, with Touchdown at 2543 points, Homerun at 2250 points, and Slamdunk at 2480 points. This produced a shocking defeat for the Bullseye members, and the 20th Anniversary Sports Day became the first Sports Day in which another house successfully topped the initial leader on the leaderboard. Prior to 2024, no such incident happened on the Sports Day, but the closest such an incident happened was in 2017, when Bullseye almost managed to topple Touchdown from the initial leaderboard. The final score at the time was 648-649.
Subsequent events and closing ceremony
Bullseye continued to falter in the marchpast, dance and banner scores; the judging events were won by Homerun, Touchdown and Slamdunk. Overall, Touchdown, Homerun and Slamdunk managed to occupy a lot of podium positions in the Sports Day while Bullseye athletes did not perform well.
The closing ceremony included a Tug of War match between the teachers on the field, and involved Ms Praveen and Ms Celine Ritz participating in the event. The winners were presented trophies by Ms Praveen.
The final scores were revealed by Mr Meshach and Ms Sarah Wong who announced the results. Bullseye managed to win a total of 3160 points. Touchdown came on top with 3493 points, Slamdunk 3360, followed by Bullseye 3160 and Homerun 2890. The students were told to leave the stadium quickly. Nishantini became the first Touchdown captain since Michelle Adlina to win the Champion House trophy, and the Touchdown athletes cheered as Auntie Clarine handed out the Champion House Trophy. Mr Tan Seng Kee handed out the trophies for march, dance and banner respectively.
The shock defeat of Bullseye stunned all onlookers, including the management team, who called Touchdown's victory "a stunning comeback." Overall, for the judging events, the rankings were:
March: Homerun, Touchdown, Slamdunk, Bullseye
Dance: Touchdown, Slamdunk, Bullseye, Homerun
Banner: Slamdunk, Touchdown, Bullseye, Homerun
Wednesday, 3rd July 2024 was declared a holiday in conjunction with the Sports Day to allow students to rest up; the declaration was made by Ms Praveen.
Aftermath
For more information, see UNLEASH - Sports Day 2025
Criticism of Mr Chan Lik Hoong by Mr Thomas
Following the announcement of the results, Wei Yiang requested that the entire Bullseye committee resign and apologize as it was the worst performance in Bullseye's history at the time. He even offered to apologize.
Mr Thomas posted a response to Wei Yiang when the scoreboard results were shared, disagreeing with him that the house committee should resign. "Blame Chan for this. Why did he not run? Stupid man! A very poor example! Let him resign first." Mr Thomas put the blame on Mr Chan Lik Hoong solely for not running on the Sports Day and that he was busy taking photos and could manouvere with the results on the scoreboard. The theory was debunked by Wei Yiang and the other Bullseye members, saying that the results were fair. Even if Mr Chan ran on the Sports Day, he could not be able to contribute points; points were only awarded by students who participated in the events.
Prior to the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, Mr Thomas had criticized the management team of Nobel International School. He had alleged, via management politics, that Ms Chia Bee Yong, Mr Chan Lik Hoong and the top members of the management team had been paid more than three times the normal average for a person. According to Mr Thomas, Mr Chan Lik Hoong was getting "most of the credit." Mr Thomas also mentioned that Ms Bee Yong was paid RM 40,000 a month as Senior Principal, and that for Mr Chan, his pay was as much as the same. He complained that Ms Bee Yong had made all the teachers stressed and that there was heavy workload at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic. These grievances increased into certain discontent towards fellow colleagues.
Mr Thomas demanded the sacking of Mr Chan, as well as the ousting of all management members in the school's administration for the loss of Bullseye. He claimed that as long as Mr Chan is still with Nobel International School, Bullseye cannot win the Sports Day. The criticism was dismissed for unclaimed evidence and for unsportsmanship spirit. Mr Chan denied any wrongdoing. Then, Mr Thomas suggested Wei Yiang become the Principal of Nobel International School. "When you are the Principal, I can visit the school," he said. He continued to call Mr Chan a crook in the months following Sports Day.
Wei Yiang debunked Mr Thomas' theory, suggesting that it was very clear that Bullseye's athletes were performing very badly on the Sports Day. He also said that in order for Bullseye to win, blaming Mr Chan Lik Hoong should not be the act; the act was that the Bullseye members will need to train more in order to succeed in the Sports Day. Wei Yiang said that as long as Mr Chan Lik Hoong was blamed, it will undermine the standing of Bullseye and the trust between alumni and Bullseye members. Throughout the entirety of the months post-July 2024, and towards the run up to the 2025 Sports Day, Mr Thomas continued to blame Mr Chan and suggest all funny ideas for the victory of Bullseye in the 2025 Sports Day, from declaring Bullseye as Crowseye and putting tens of thousands of crows in the stadium.
Investigation of Sports Day results
On 19th August 2024, Wei Yiang uncovered a shocking piece of news when deducing the 20th Anniversary Sports Day results. The investigation of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day results begun following the conclusion of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day.
Wei Yiang eventually deduced the scores for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day. In the post-Sports Day report, the 20th Anniversary Sports Day had a change to the scoring format for the track and field events, namely the running events, high jump, long jump and shot put. From the scores, the first place winner got 100 points, the second place winner got 50 points, and the third place podium finisher got 20 points. This was deduced from replays of the event as well as the scores published on the scoreboard. The big clue was that the units placing on the scoreboard of all place values remained unchanged from the start of the Sports Day to the end of the event.
According to Wei Yiang's investigations, the management had changed the scoring format; in 2023, the winner for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings received 10, 5 and 3 points respectively. Investigations suspect that the management changed the points format in order to ensure that Bullseye does not have an added advantage in the Sports Day, since the 2024 Founder's Run was won by Bullseye. The previous pre-pandemic Sports Day, the 2019 Sports Day, saw Founder's Run contributing at least 55 percent of the scores for Sports Day. Around 42 percent came from the Sports Day events and the remainder from the Nobel Cup. As Bullseye won the 2018 Nobel Cup and 2019 Founder's Run, the score was instrumental in achieving Bullseye's 2019 Sports Day victory. At the 2023 Sports Day, Bullseye's victory in the Sports Day, Nobel Cup and Founder's Run resulted in a clean sweep for Bullseye in all the events. The management, according to Wei Yiang, were unhappy of this and requested the format be altered in order to give an advantage to the other houses. A simulation done by him and his team found out that had the old scoring format from 2019 and 2023 be used for the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, Bullseye will be the winner.
For the Sports Day Judging Events in 2024, Wei Yiang removed the judging events' results from the official tally. The winners for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th got 250, 200, 150 and 100 points as announced by Mr Meshach during the closing ceremony. The removal of the points significantly changed the results for Sports Day. Under the revised tally, without the judging events, Bullseye will emerge as the winner of the 20th Anniversary Sports Day with 2910 points. This will then be followed by Touchdown with 2843 points, Slamdunk with 2810 points and Homerun with 2540 points.
The revised tally was deemed a shock to all the Bullseye members. According to further investigations, the Bullseye members "were motivated by Wei Yiang's banner" when it was hung after Bullseye started drooping down. This repeated the trend seen in the 2023 Sports Day; the Bullseye members improved their time once the banner was displayed, along with Chee Fooi Foon's name, as they were motivated. This gave rise to the Chee Fooi Foon effect, which is a surge in Bullseye's performance following the display of Chee Fooi Foon's name. For the 20th Anniversary Sports Day, the name of Chee Fooi Foon and Kuan Muk Lang were displayed on the banner.
Unknowing to all Bullseye members and spectators, Bullseye managed to defeat Touchdown and Slamdunk and overcome the third place drop at the start of the competition on 2nd July 2024 when it was first thought to be impossible, as subsequent scores showed Bullseye in the third place drop till the announcement of the champion house. According to Wei Yiang, this proved the point that the management does not want Bullseye to win and had succeeded in using the judging events to block the victory of Bullseye.
The reveal of the scores triggered mass protests across the community of SJKC Shin Cheng (Harcroft), the Puchong community members, as well as all the Bullseye members in Nobel International School.
SPORTS DAY
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[preceding event] [current Sports Day] [succeeding event]
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FOUNDER'S RUN
<<< 2023 Founder's Run 2024 Founder's Run 2025 Founder's Run >>>[preceding event] [current Founder's Run] [succeeding event]
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