The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Asyraf joins Ivan in the main draw of the Australian Open
- Decha marks return from injury with superb wins in Chennai
- Joo-bong: Japan will be happy if two make it to the semi-finals
| Asyraf joins Ivan in the main draw of the Australian Open Posted: 07 Aug 2011 06:48 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Two-time Asian Junior champion Ivan Yuen pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career to qualify for the main draw of the Australian Open in Canberra yesterday. The 21-year-old Ivan, ranked 121st in the world, was up against Kiwi national champion and world No. 59 Campbell Grayson in the second qualifying round. Despite playing poorly in the past few tournaments, including at the CIMB Malaysian Open, Ivan served a reminder as to why he was once regarded as the top junior in Asia by beating Grayson 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8. It was also a good day at the office for national No. 4 Mohd Asyraf Azan, who made it to the main round after beating Austrian Aqeel Rehman 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7. But the day certainly belonged to Ivan, who became the only player out of the top 100 rankings in the world to have made it to the main draw. "It's a very good win for me because it will give me precious ranking points which I really need," said Ivan. "This is my first time playing in the Australian Open and I am happy to have made the main draw. "I wasn't playing well at all in the past few tournaments but I'm doing well in this tournament and my performance in the qualifying rounds are certainly prove of that." The Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) student, however, has a mountain to climb in the first round as he will be up against world No. 2 Ramy Ashour. Asyraf, meanwhile, stands a good chance to get into the second round as he faces fellow qualifier and Malaysian Open semi-finalist Alan Clyne of Scotland in the first round. Clyne overcame local hope Rex Hedrick 11-13, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5. National No. 2 Ong Beng Hee and No. 3 Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan look to have fairly easy paths into the second round. Beng Hee will face Kiwi veteran Martin Knight while Asian champion Nafiizwan will take on Dick Lau of Hong Kong. National champion Mohd Azlan Iskandar, though, is drawn to play former world No. 1 David Palmer in the first round. The qualifying rounds for the women's event will only begin today, but all four Malaysians – Nicol David, Low Wee Wern, Delia Arnold and Siti Munirah Jusoh – are already in the main draw and will only begin their campaign tomorrow. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Decha marks return from injury with superb wins in Chennai Posted: 07 Aug 2011 06:47 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Yamaha Thailand Racing's Decha Kraisart scored emphatic victories in Round 3 of the SuperSports 600cc class in the Petronas Asia Road Racing Championships at the Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai, India, yesterday. The wins capped a fine return to racing after he missed the previous round due to injury. The 16-lap Race 1 was cut short after it was red-flagged on the 11th lap due to the crash between Michael Edward Jones of Petronas Syntium Moto Yamaha Raceline and Decha, The Thai, who was leading at that time, was declared the winner based on the ninth lap standings with a total time of 15:49.209. Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman of Boon Siew Honda Racing took second spot in 15:49.505 while compatriot Mohd Zamri Baba was third in 15:49.910. Race 2 saw defending champion Decha and Azlan trading blows to take the lead before the Malaysian took charge in the 12th lap. However, Azlan was involved a crash in the 14th lap and that ended his hopes of a podium finish. He went on to finish the race in 14th spot. The crash allowed Decha to resume superiority at the front and to take the chequered flag ahead of Zamri and Aaron Morris of Yamaha Indonesia Racing. "I feel good on my machine but it definitely wasn't a stroll in a park. It was a thinking game as I needed to observe Zamri's and Azlan's weak points as well as deciding the right time to make my manoeuvring move," said Decha. In the Underbone 115cc category, Rafid Topan Sucipto was simply unstoppable, winning both races. In Race 1, the Yamaha CKJ TJM Racing rider capitalised on his pole position to complete the 10-lap race in 20:11.485 – 8.190 seconds ahead of Hadi Wijaya of Kawasaki NHK Rextor Manual Tech. Hadi settled for second in 20:19.675 while Mohd Ramdan Mohd Rosli (Petronas Syntium Yamaha Moto AHM) was third in 20:22.058. Race 2 saw Rafid produced another perfect ride to win by 6.886 seconds ahead of Hadi (20:11.196). Hadi again finished second in 20:18.082 while Ahmad Afif Amran of Yamaha CKJ TJM was third in 20:23.468. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Joo-bong: Japan will be happy if two make it to the semi-finals Posted: 07 Aug 2011 06:37 PM PDT JAPAN have one of the biggest contingents at the World Championships but chief coach Park Joo-bong will be happy with at least two semi-finallists. Joo-bong said their goal was to equal the feat they achieved at the 2007 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur. "We have not been hitting the mark for the last four years and it will be good if we can repeat what we achieved in 2007. That was Japan's best outing in many years," said Joo-bong. Joo-bong said that their best chance was in the women's doubles, where Japan have four pairs, including world No. 2 Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna and world No. 4 Mizuki Fujii-Reika Kakiiwa. "China are still the favourite in this event. But we hope our girls can make at least the semi-finals," Joo-bong said. Japan's only title in the world series came through the women's doubles pair of Etsuko Toganoo-Emiko Ueno in 1977. In the men's singles, Joo-bong said that Sho Sasaki, who defeated China's Lin Dan in the second round of Indonesian Open and won the US Open two weeks ago, was shaping up well. "We had a 10-day centralised camp and Sasaki has shown good progress. We are happy with his form and he is quite on par with Kenichi Tago," said Joo-bong. Sasaki is in the same quarter with South Korean Lee Hyun-il and two China players – Lin Dan and Du Pengyu. Japan's trumpcard in the women's singles is Eriko Hirose, if she is good form. As for their men's doubles challenge, it's hard to see them going far after getting a tough draw. Related Stories: |
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