The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- NBA: Players and owners approve new labour deal
- Hendrawan to get tough with his charges in a bid to transform them into champions
- Wei Feng out to end losing streak against former world champ Chen Jin
| NBA: Players and owners approve new labour deal Posted: 08 Dec 2011 04:50 PM PST NEW YORK: National Basketball Association (NBA) players and owners ratified a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, formally ending a five-month lockout and ensuring the season will start on Christmas Day. Both sides voted in favour of a 10-year-deal that will allow a shortened 66-game season to start Dec. 25 with five games. Free agency and training camps will open on Friday. "I am pleased to announce that we have concluded the collective bargaining process and have reached an agreement that addresses many significant issues that were challenges to our league," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement. "This collective bargaining agreement will help us move toward a better business model, a more competitive league and better alignment between compensation and performance." The NBA season was in jeopardy after talks between the two sides collapsed in June, triggering the lockout and tit-for-tat anti-trust legal action. The pre-season and first six weeks of the NBA's regular season, in which teams normally play 82 games, were cancelled before owners and players agreed last month to a compromise deal after both sides lost millions of dollars. The players began voting on the deal Wednesday, even though some of the final details were not sorted out until just before Thursday's vote by owners. Although the new deal was for 10 years, the league and the players' union retained an option to opt out after six years. Under the terms of the deal, players and owners agreed to a 50-50 split of basketball related income, one of the major sticking points of the dispute. The NBA board of governors said the new revenue sharing plan would quadruple the funds previously shared among NBA teams. "The board realized that it was imperative that our revenue sharing programme be improved," Stern said. "We have found a solution that should provide our league with better competitive balance." The sides also agreed to new tax rates and to set the salary cap for the 2011-12 season at $58 million. The maximum length of player contracts was reduced by one year to five years for a team's own players, while salaries for new player contracts may increase by up to 7.5 per cent per year. They also reached an agreement to bolster the doping program with the introduction of offseason testing, increased penalties for violations involving performance-enhancing drugs, and blood testing for human growth hormone once a test was validated. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Hendrawan to get tough with his charges in a bid to transform them into champions Posted: 08 Dec 2011 05:23 PM PST PETALING JAYA: The men's singles second stringers have had less than a stellar year but national badminton coach Hendrawan is not perturbed. The soft-spoken Hendrawan intends to crack the whip next year to transform his players into champions. Under his guidance, Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Goh Soon Huat, Misbun Ramdan Misbun and Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin have shown some improvement but they still lag far behind world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei. They will be drilled even harder in training to make the quantum leap to succeed at the top. Hendrawan is also contemplating sending some his charges for exposure in Europe. All his plans are, however, subject to approval by the BAM coaching and training committee who meet on Dec 16. "It has been far from a satisfactory year. There have been improvements but they are minor ones. There are weaknesses which need working on," said Hendrawan. "I'm far from satisfied. As coach, I know I can do better with the players I have. There has been a change in attitude in training but I expect much more from them. "We will redouble our efforts and everyone will be pushed to the limit. My year of teaching them the basics is over. It's now time to push them hard." While Arif and Soon Huat have been giving some of the seniors like Liew Daren, Chong Wei Feng, Chan Kwong Beng a run for their money, they have failed to shine on the international stage. Hendrawan will have a tough time naming his squad for next year's Thomas Cup Finals as all his players are pretty mediocre, at best. This is most disconcerting as no one looks good enough to fill the second and third singles spots in the team. Arif and Soon Huat were named for the last month's SEA Games but the former did not live up to expectations while reserve Soon Huat did not play. Cracking the whip alone may not be enough as there clearly is a dearth of real talent. So unless Hendrawan has a magic formula to transform his players, Malaysia may have a hard time getting past the Thomas Cup qualifiers, nevermind the Finals. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Wei Feng out to end losing streak against former world champ Chen Jin Posted: 08 Dec 2011 03:22 PM PST PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will be banking on Chong Wei Feng to halt China's Chen Jin's march to make the Olympic Games when they cross swords in the quarter-finals of the South Korea Grand Prix Gold in Hwasun-gun today. World No. 77 Wei Feng breezed into the men's singles quarter-finals with a 21-14, 21-11 win over Lee Cheol-woo of South Korea yesterday. He will take on top seed and former world champion Chen Jin, who overcame a sluggish start to beat Soo Hwang-jong of South Korea in another third round match. Wei Feng is determined to end a three-year losing streak against Chen Jin. "I remember beating him in the India Open Grand Prix in 2008. It was my biggest win but I have failed to get the better of him since," said Wei Feng in a telephone interview. "My condition is quite good and I will not give in easily against Chen Jin." If Wei Feng wins, it will stall Chen Jin's plans to rake in some extra Olympic ranking points before the year ends. The Chinese is currently ranked fifth in the world. His two compatriots – Lin Dan and Chen Jin – are second and third respectively. A country can have a maximum of three if all of them are ranked in the top four when the qualifying period ends in May. A win in the South Korea Open will strengthen Chen Jin's plan to overtake Denmark's Peter-Gade Christensen, who is holding strong to his world No. 4 spot. It was also a good day for Liew Daren and Mohd Arif Abdul Latif who set up an all-Malaysian quarter-final to ensure one place in the semi-finals. The other two quarter-final match-ups will be between reigning Macau Open winner Lee Hyun-il of South Korea and Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto, and Koreans Shon Wan-ho and Hong Ji-hoon. Malaysia's challenge ended in all the other events with the exits of men's doubles pair Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid-Vountus Indra Mawan and women shuttlers Tee Jing Yi, Sannatasah Saniru and Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei in the singles and doubles respectively. *RESULTS (Matches involving Malaysians only) Men's singles Second round: Chan Kwong Beng bt Chun Shih-kueh (Tpe) 22-20, 19-21, 21-12; Mohd Arif Abdul Latif bt Choi Ho-jin (Kor) 15-21, 21-14, 21-16; Liew Daren bt Christian Boesiger (Sui) 21-14, 21-15; Chong Wei Feng bt Im Jin-hwan (Kor) 21-15, 21-17. Third round: Shon Wan-ho (Kor) bt Chan Kwong Beng 21-18, 21-8; Liew Daren bt Choi Young-woo (Kor) 21-18, 19-21, 21-13; Chong Wei Feng bt Lee Cheol-woo (Kor) 21-14, 21-11; Mohd Arif Abdul Latif bt Jung Hoon-min (Kor) 23-25, 21-13, 21-12. Men's doubles Second round: Hong Wei-Shen Ye (Chn) bt Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid-Vountu Indra Mawan 21-11, 21-18. Women's singles Second round: Sung Ji-hyun (Kor) bt Tee Jing Yi 21-13, 21-19; Miki Takagi (Jpn) bt Sannatasah Saniru 21-14, 21-18. Women's doubles Second round: Luo Ying-Luo Yu (Chn) bt Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei 21-18, 21-9. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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