AFTER a close-fought battle, Shaun Orange clinched a third MetroSport Forecast Challenge title by just 10 points ahead of Ivan Loh, in the just-ended English Premier League season.
The Challenge, crafted for the StarMetro football pundits and based on predicting the outcome of four selected Premiership matches each week with a system that rewards the exact scoreline with 40 points and 10 for the correct result (win, lose or draw), came down to a nail-biting end as Shaun finished with 930 points and Ivan with 920.
Indeed, on the final weekend of the 2022−23 season, Ivan collected 40 points to Shaun’s 20, and it proved enough for the latter to edge it.
Liverpool fan Ivan, who was runner-up last year as well, had correctly forecast the score for Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Fulham, for 40 points, on the last day of the season, while Shaun got the results right for Tottenham’s win over Leeds (who were relegated) and Manchester United’s victory.
Red Devil Randeep Singh, who was also in with a shout for the title until the end, finished third with 900 points, while Arsenal supporter Hariati was fourth on 890 points.
Defending champion and another Liverpool diehard Jagdev Singh was fifth in the standings this season with 860 points, while Adznam, a Chelsea fan making his debut in the MetroSport Forecast Challenge, was sixth with 820 points.
Commenting on the outcome, The Star managing editor Brian Martin said: “The Challenge proved a close-run thing again – 10 points, just one correct result, was all that was in it.
“The Footnotes Challenge generated much interest among our readers – the Premier League being the most entertaining of all football leagues – just as it has over the past few years.
“But perhaps next season we will try to add even more excitement to it. We’ll maybe introduce one or two new things. We will see,” he said.
MetroSport Forecast Challenge
Final standings
Shaun 930
Ivan 920
Randeep 900
Hariati 890
Jagdev 860
Adznam 820
