SIFE World Cup 2009 DAY 2

Critical morning. Today, we HAVE to make it into the Top 16.

Is 10.35am an auspicious time?

Superstition aside, this is our first attempt to wow them. This is what we are here for. And this banner confirms it.

It really gives one a sense of pride and achievement to see that in print.

Strategy-wise, our strongest opponent in League 7 is South Africa as African countries always have very strong community-humanitarian projects. We are confident of the strength of our projects too. Nevertheless, it's always a must to seek some divine assistance.

As usual, we have our multi-faith prayers session. Turns out that this ritual is sacred and for all future members, please take note: join in the prayers with a sincere heart and clear conscience. When you pray, you really want it.

Our turn came and we entered this small, long room for our presentation. Hearts thudding, still trying to smile. 24 minutes to show the judges why we were there and to convince them that we deserve to proceed to the next round.

That evening, the results were announced. League after league, they announced the two semi-finalists, the third-placer, and the recipient of the Spirit Award. Can you imagine? Having to sit through six league announcements, the suspense almost killed us. When they called us to go up on the stage we were partially relieved.

But did we manage to make it into the next round of competition?

SIFE Dr. Jose Matias Delgado University from El Salvador got the Spirit of SIFE Award.

SIFE Auckland University of Technology from New Zealand was awarded Third Place.

Which means SIFE University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and

SIFE University of Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia

made it into THE SEMI-FINALS!!!

For the Semi-Finals, teams were divided into four leagues with four teams each, competing for that one place in the Finals. League drawing time again and this time, we kind off lucked-out. We drew number 15 which made us the second last to choose our league and presentation time.

We had absolutely NO CHOICE at all. Hello toughest league. Hello league with last year's World Cup Champs. SIFE UMS will be competing in League 4 at 10.25am the next day with

SIFE University of Tirana, Albania;
SIFE Maseno University, Kenya and
SIFE Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.

Can we do another miraculous job?

Stay tuned for the Final Day!


Breaking chains for change