The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Pandelela-Mun Yee and Yan Yee-Jun Hoong bag bronze medals in Mexico
- World No. 1 Nicol sinks Waters to reach British Open final
- China confident of sweeping aside their final opponents
| Pandelela-Mun Yee and Yan Yee-Jun Hoong bag bronze medals in Mexico Posted: 25 May 2013 06:22 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: It was girl power to the fore as Malaysian divers mounted the podium twice in the final leg of the FINA Diving World Series in Guadalajara, Mexico, yesterday. Wendy Ng Yan Yee partnered Cheong Jun Hoong to a well-deserved bronze in the 3m springboard synchro final in style by breaching the 300-point barrier for the first time. The duo ended their World Series debut with their third bronze and it could not have come at a better time with barely two months before the World Championships in Barcelona in July. They claimed back-to-back bronze in Edinburgh (third leg) and Moscow (fourth leg) in the series. Wendy-Jun Hoong bounced back after finishing empty-handed in the previous leg, also in Guadalajara, by finishing third with an impressive score of 305.70 points – their highest score in seven competitions after being paired up this year. China's He Zi-Wang Han were a class above the field as they took the gold with 327.00 points while Mexico's Paola Espinosa-Dolores Hernandez won the silver with a 313.20 total. Espinosa, the 10m platform individual world champion in 2009, was making her first appearance since the London Olympics last year. "It felt really good to be back on the podium again after we missed the fifth leg last week. "It's even better to win a medal with a good performance like this," said Wendy, in a telephone interview. "I have said before that we don't mind finishing last if we can score above 300 points. We did it today and the reward is another medal. It's a double joy for us," added Wendy. It was Wendy-Jun Hoong's fourth medal at a world-level competition as they also claimed bronze in the United States Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale at the beginning of the month. It was, however, a climb-down for Pandelela Rinong-Leong Mun Yee. The duo's four-silver streak, including one in the US Grand Prix, came to a halt as they could only manage a third placing in the 10m platform synchro final. Pandelela-Mun Yee amassed 311.46 points to settle for the bronze behind champions Li Huixia-Si Ya Jie (335.16) of China and Britain's Tonia Couch-Sarah Barrow (317.10). The Malaysians were in silver medal position going into the final dive but they only managed 68.16 and were overtaken by the British pair, who chalked up an impressive 75.84. Malaysia's Ooi Tze Liang-Ahmad Amsyar Azman were also in action, competing in the men's 3m springboard synchro. However, the young pairing finished last out of six pairs after garnering 382.41 points. Pandelela will compete in the 10m platform individual today where she will attempt to win her second medal in the championships. |
| World No. 1 Nicol sinks Waters to reach British Open final Posted: 25 May 2013 06:23 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: It was all smiles for world No. 1 Nicol David after dishing out a scintillating performance to reach the women's final of the prestigious British Open squash championships at the KC Stadium in Hull yesterday. A day after bad weather forced the quarter-finals to be played indoors, Nicol thrived under the sun to demolish world No. 4 Alison Waters 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 in just 20 minutes. Nicol, a four-time British Open champion, showed no signs of her recent decline as she totally dominated Waters. Still without a single WSA title this season, Nicol started off lethargically to allow Waters a 4-0 and 5-3 leads. But as soon as she found her rhythm and length, there was no looking back for the 29-year-old Malaysian. She stepped up to score eight straight points to win the first set. Nicol was even more ruthless in the second set, making only one error in winning 11-4. Waters, however, refused to give up and tried to force a comeback by taking a 2-0 lead in the third set. But Nicol was able to pick up everything Waters threw at her. The seven-time world champion dropped three more points before sealing the set 11-5 and a place in the final. "I'm still in focused mode. I don't really have a plan for the final yet," said a jubilant Nicol after the match. "But I'm really pleased and happy to be in the final once more and I will be looking forward to it. "Now I just want to enjoy the game that I love and I'm definitely saving the best for last." On the match against Waters, Nicol said: "She started really strong and I was just hanging on. It took me a few rallies to settle down. Once I got used to the court, I managed to grow into the game and the match." Nicol will face England's world No. 2 Laura Massaro in today's final. KL Open champion Massaro overcame a slow start to beat talented world No. 3 Raneem El Weleily of Egypt 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 in the other semi-final. |
| China confident of sweeping aside their final opponents Posted: 25 May 2013 06:26 PM PDT Eight-time champions China flexed their muscle as they romped to a 3-1 over Denmark yesterday to put themselves on track for a ninth win in the Sudirman Cup at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil. China, finalist of the biennial mixed team event since 1995, have only lost once – to South Korea (2003) – their opponents in today's showdown for the title. Nevertheless, China's chief coach Li Yongbo, is not worried about the Koreans repeating the feat. Instead, he is confident his players will take care of business on court. Yongbo said that although South Korea are a strong side with some good players, China have the upper hand in terms of indepth strength and line-up. "We are not like other countries. We have a lot of good players to choose from and even can afford to rotate our line-up as it will not affect our chances," said Yongbo. "All out preparation up this stage has gone according to plan. So which line-up we decide upon for tomorrow (today), I can assure you it will be the strongest." As to whether Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng will play in the men's doubles, Yongbo said they would conduct a post-mortem of the team's performance against Denmark before making a decision. Yesterday, it was China's mixed doubles pair and world No. 3 Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei who drew first blood as they sent Danish counterparts Joachim Fisher Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen packing with a 21-15, 21-12 win in 42 minutes. "This was not our best game. They controlled most of the play. I guess you could say they were too fast, too strong. We couldn't find our best speed and reach our best level," said Pedersen. "It's hard to win against China when you are always on the defence," added Fischer Nielsen. It was an impossible task for the Danes to win from then on as world No. 2 Chen Long made it 2-0 by beating Jan O Jorgensen 21-16, 21-16. The pressure was then on world No. 1 men's doubles pair and last year's London Olympics silver medallists Carsten Mogensen and Mathias Boe to salvage some Danish pride. The delivered and in the process exacted sweet revenge over their conquerors in London, Cai Yun and Haifeng, winning 21-16, 21-17 to make it 2-1. But Li Xuerui made short work of Line Kjaersfeldt in the women's singles winning 21-13, 21-9 in 26 minutes to send China into their fourth straight final since 2005. |
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