Well Done Cagers!

Congratulations to the MCKK Cagers basketball for winning the Piala Hamdan Tahir for the fourth time in a row. The Piala Hamdan Tahir is the ultimate trophy for the inter residential school basketball tournament and the Cagers has really stamped their mark by lifting it for the record of 12 times since its inception.

Even way back when I was in MCKK, it always amazed me on how dedicated these basketballers are. For most of us playing for college, the training session starts about two or three months before the tournament (be it at district or state level) and the team would be disbanded once it is over. However, these group of dedicated athletes would begin their training the day the school starts and last day of training would be the last day of school. Despite having the state and district level tournament to play for, these cagers only have one goal in mind : to lift the Piala Hamdan Tahir.

In 1992, the Piala Hamdan Tahir was held in Sekolah Tun Fatimah, JB (together with the Piala Perdana Menteri - English and Bahasa Malaysia debate championship). Despite my promise to my parents to stay in KL and attend tution for my add maths (a lost cause I would say) while they perform the Hajj, I managed to coaxed the tution teacher to postpone my last two sessions to another date and managed to convince my aunt and cousin that it is important for me to be in JB for the PPM/PHT. There were some ulterior motive to be there as well but since I am now happily married to a TKCian, I'd rather not elaborate on that! I took the night train and arrived in JB just in time for the semi final game against SEMSAS. Our English debating team had earlier lost in the quarter finals but our BM team will be competing in the semi finals later that day. The cagers won the semi final, and will face RMC in the finals on the last day of the tournament.

The PHT Finals... MCKK vs RMC. Gosh, this was almost 15 years ago so I can't really go into details but suffice to say, the atmosphere was magical. We were shouting ourself hoarse and was on the edge of our seat for the better part of it. However, when the final whistle blew, all of us stormed into the court. After a very long wait, PHT is coming home to Kuala Kangsar.

1992 turned out to be a good year. We made it to the finals of the PPM BM debate and in August '92, at the Dewan Muktamar Pusat Islam, we lifted the PPM, again after the absence of so many years.