Kota Kinabalu: Old Boys overwhelmed Present Boys in seven out of eight events at the two-day La Sale Alumni Annual Sports Carnival held on August 10-11.
However, Present Boys gave Old Boys a 6-0 thrashing in football played in the school’s classic football field Tanjung Aru, where Sabah cum Malaysia’s renowned soccer legend Datuk James Wong was honed in his school days at La Salle.
Organised by The Association of Ex-Students of La Salle and Sacred Heart Alumni (2023-2025), the carnival attracted an unexpectedly large turnout.
In the bowling event played at downtown Centre Point Growball, which features Trio and Double categories, Old Boys showcased their experience, scoring a commanding 3852 pins against Current Boys’ 2992 pins.
In a closely contested Futsal played at the UTC arena, Karamunsing, the thrilling game ended in a 4-4 draw, but Old Boys clinched victory in a nail-biting penalty shootout.
In the Handball event played at the same venue, Old Boys thrashed Present Boys 16-7.
August 11 saw a marathon of sports events across multiple venues:
In Badminton, Old Boys trounced Present Boys 5-0 at the Senior School hall.
In Darts, Old Boys narrowly edged Present Boys 3-2.
In a ‘battle of strategy’ Chess game, Old Boys out moved Present Boys 2-1.
In Basketball played at the John Lee Pavilion, Old Boys scored a thumping victory 60-41.
The Junior Block Field was the venue for the day’s final events:
In the Football, Present Boys demolished Old Boys 6-0.
In Rugby, the Old Boys Sharks Rugby Team won 3-0.
The carnival ended with a grand prize presentation ceremony, presided Alumni President Datuk Ram Singh, and school Principal, Vijaya Kumar.
In his remarks, Ram noted a turnout of over 500 people “when we originally catered to only 200.”
“So we ordered more food from the school canteen and everything was finished.”
Noting the large crowd, Ram said: “ The sports carnival fulfilled one of our prime purposes – to encourage old boys to return to and reconnect with their school physically.”
