The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Bolt, Ennis honored at Laureus Awards
- Golden day for Malaysia at Asian Cycling Championships
- Road to world title full of pitfalls for Chong Wei
| Bolt, Ennis honored at Laureus Awards Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:40 PM PDT RIO DE JANEIRO: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt and British athletics queen Jessica Ennis won the top prizes as athletics dominated the Laureus World Sports Awards on Monday. Bolt was crowned the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the third time following his triple gold-medal winning performance at London 2012, where he won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m crowns. Bolt pipped a star-studded field of nominees which included British Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi, British distance runner Mo Farah and German F1 ace Sebastian Vettel. The winners of the awards are chosen by the Laureus World Sports Academy, a jury made up of 46 sports stars. Ennis, who delighted her homeland with victory in the Olympic heptathlon last year, won the World Sportswoman of the Year Award. "It is so surreal to stand here in front of all these amazing sportsmen and sportswomen," Ennis said. Meanwhile retired US swimmer Michael Phelps was also honored with the Laureus Exceptional Achievement Award after becoming the most decorated Olympian in history in London. Phelps quit swimming after the London Games where he took his career tally to 22 medals, including 18 golds. "It has been an amazing career and it is crazy to think that it is over," Phelps said in accepting the award. "But I've done everything that I wanted to do in sport. I wanted to change swimming and take it to a level, and I have." Meanwhile Europe's golfers won the Team of the Year prize following their remarkable fightback to beat the United States in the Ryder Cup at Medinah.-AFP |
| Golden day for Malaysia at Asian Cycling Championships Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:10 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: It was raining gold for Malaysia as the cyclists chalked several firsts on the final day of the track events at the Asian Cycling Championships in New Delhi yesterday. Fatehah Mustapa started the ball rolling by blazing her way into the history books as the first Malaysian to win the women's elite sprint title for the first time. Teenager Muhd Firdaus Mohd Zonis took up the gauntlet as he stormed his way to the men's junior sprint and keirin titles to take his tally to three following his win in the 1km time trial last Thursday. Veteran Josiah Ng completed the memorable day by taking the men's sprint gold medal for the first time in his career. He then went on to successfully defend the keirin title as well to become only the second Malaysian to do so after Azizulhasni Awang. Fatehah delivered on her promise not to be intimidated by Chinese sprinter Shi Jingjing in their showdown for the coveted women's sprint title. Fatehah lost the first heat in the final but bounced back to beat her Chinese rival to force a third heat. The Chinese appeared to have won the deciding heat, but Fatehah's dismay turned to joy as her rival was relegated to a silver for a technical infringement. It was a timely birthday present for Fatehah, who turns 23 today. But Fatehah, who bagged the bronze in the 500m time trial on Sunday, failed to defend her keirin title. She settled for silver behind London Olympic bronze medallist Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong. "I am so happy. I came here with no expectations as this was my first competition since the London Olympics. I have to thank my coach (John Beasley) and the support team for their encouragement and making this possible," said Fatehah, who was the first Malaysian woman cyclist to qualify for the Olympics last August. India proved to be a happy hunting ground for 33-year-old Josiah as he romped his way to his first sprint success at the Asian level, beating Iran's Hassanali Varposhti in two heats. Josiah, who won the keirin gold at the same venue in the Commonwealth Games three years ago, then played his tactics well to get the better of Iranians Mahmood Parash and Mohd Parash, Jun Won-gu of South Korea, Xu Chao of China and Yuta Wakimoto of Japan in the keirin final. "I was not sure what to expect here as my form dipped after the World Championships in Belarus last month due to all the travelling. "But I've rested a lot since I've arrived here and my form came back nicely in time," said Josiah, who was the only Malaysian hope for keirin after Azizul failed to make it to the top-six final. Malaysia have collected seven gold medals so far from the track with the road events scheduled to start tomorrow. |
| Road to world title full of pitfalls for Chong Wei Posted: 11 Mar 2013 04:30 PM PDT BIRMINGHAM: World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei's job to become Malaysia's first world champion at the World Championships in August has just become harder and tougher. On Sunday, energetic Chen Long of China destroyed Chong Wei's hopes of a third All-England title with his sizzling attacking game to win 21-17, 21-18 in an intense men's singles final at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. With his excellent court coverage, deadly smashes and tight netplay en route to winning his first All-England crown, the 24-year-old Chen Long proved that he is now as dangerous as his senior Lin Dan, the two-time Olympic champion. And there are also others that can pose a threat to Chong Wei. The 25-year-old Jan O Jorgensen – another striking and solid attacking player from Denmark – reached the All-England semi-finals to prove that he is shaping up well to assume the place vacated by retired Peter-Gade Christensen. Qualifier Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand also showed promise while Hong Kong's Wong King Ki and India's P. Kashyap are also players to look out for. National singles coach Tey Seu Bock admitted that Chong Wei's road to the world title is full of pitfalls. "We knew that it would not be easy for Chong Wei even without Lin Dan around at the All-England. Chen Long proved to us how serious he was in wanting to beat Chong Wei," said Seu Bock. "There are other Chinese youngsters like Du Pengyu that we must not disregard although he lost early here. Other youngsters are also catching up. "There is some homework for Chong Wei to do after this. We will do some video analyses on Chen Long and Jorgensen's matches. To me, both of them played exceptionally well in this All-England. "Chong Wei's next tournament is the Australian Open (April 2-7). He has to play because of sponsorship obligation. He is not playing the Axiata Cup. His wife is expecting and may deliver at the end of April or early May and he may skip the India Open (April 23-28). It all depends. Being a father will give him another new responsibility. But I believe he knows how to handle it." Chong Wei has vowed to be a stronger player after the All-England defeat. "I will not let this defeat demoralise me. I am down but not out. All players are after my head but I will be ready for them," said Chong Wei. On Malaysia's second echelon players like Liew Daren, Chong Wei Feng and Mohd Arif Abdul Latif who failed to clear their early round matches, Chong Wei came to their defence. "Daren played well although he lost to Chen Jin of China. He still has to tighten up his game. I hope all our players will continue to push hard during training and stay free of injuries," he said. Daren, Wei Feng and Arif will get a chance to make up for the disappointments by doing well in the Swiss Open, which begins tomorrow in Basel. Results Men's singles: Chen Long (Chn) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 21-17, 21-18. Men's doubles: Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan (Chn) bt Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (Jpn) 21-11, 21-9. Women's singles: Tine Baun (Den) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-14, 16-21, 21-10. Women's doubles: Wang Xiaoli-Yu Yang (Chn) bt Cheng Shu-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) 21-18, 21-10. Mixed doubles: Tontowi Ahmad-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei (Chn) 21-13, 21-17. |
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