The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Adrian a good bet for World Cup title
- Manager George believes Malaysia can win last eight clash
- Thomas Cup test awaits Hafiz
| Adrian a good bet for World Cup title Posted: 30 Nov 2011 02:52 PM PST PETALING JAYA: Adrian Ang, fresh from his SEA Games heroics, is well-equipped to become Malaysia's first winner in the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup which gets under way today at the Northcliff Bowling Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. Adrian showed indomitable spirit in Jakarta to bag four of Malaysia's five bowling gold medals. Now, the 23-year-old will be looking to ride the crest of that wave in his second World Cup appearance since his debut in Venezuela 2006. Jacqueline Jenelee Sijore, who has been a model of consistency this year, carries the women's challenge. Jacqueline was the winner in the doubles event with Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi at the SEA Games and the singles gold medallist at the World Championships in Hong Kong in September. Team manager Cheah Ban Cheng said Adrian and Jacqueline were the form bowlers and chosen on merit. "They carry our best hopes. One of them could well be our first World Cup winner. But it isn't going to be easy," said Ban Cheng. The 47th edition of the World Cup in Johannesburg will feature 152 bowlers from 100 countries. Defending champions Michael Schmidt of Canada and Aumi Guerra of the Dominican Republic will be out to retain the titles they won in Toulon, France, last year. Also in the fray is former champion Diandra Asbaty of the United States, who will be making her second appearance in the world meet. Diandra was the women's winner in Venezuela 2006. Representing the US in the men's category is Tommy Jones, who is making his World Cup debut. Jones has 13 Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) titles under his belt thus far. Other notable names are third place finisher last year Engelberto Rivera of the Philippines, who also featured at the recent SEA Games, and Kimmo Lehtonen of Finland, who is ranked No. 20 in the World Bowling Tour (WBT). A notable absentee is South Korea's Gye Min-young who finished second in the women's event last year. Bowlers will play four blocks of five games before the field is cut to the top 24. They will then play eight games to determine the top eight who will make the round robin stage. The top three advance to the step-ladder finals on Dec 7. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Manager George believes Malaysia can win last eight clash Posted: 30 Nov 2011 02:54 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia should not be written off despite their dismal showing in the group matches of the Champions Challenge 1 at the Randburg Hockey Stadium in Johannesburg. The national hockey team, who finished last in Group B with just one point from three matches, have vowed to bounce back against Group A champions India in today's quarter-finals. Malaysia lost their opening match 1-3 to Canada before managing a 2-2 draw against Japan. However, they were outplayed 5-2 by Argentina in their last group match. Malaysia have scored five goals but conceded 10 and India, coached by Australian Michael Nobbs, will start as favourites as they have been quite impressive. India, the Asian Champions Trophy winners, have scored 17 goals and let in seven in three matches. Team manager George Koshy said in a telephone interview yesterday that although Malaysia have played India many times, they would find the going tough. "India have improved a lot since we played them in the Asian Games in Guangzhou last year and in the Asian Champions Trophy in China in September. "They are playing exceptionally well and have cut down on their tendency to overdo things," said George. In the Asian Games, Malaysia defeated India 3-2 in sudden-death extra-time to qualify for the final. In their last meeting in the Asian Champions Trophy, the match ended in a 2-2 draw. George added that India were also much fitter and play a fast attacking game. "It will be tough stopping their forwards, who have scored 12 field goals. They are also quite lethal in their penalty corner execution. "The Indians have scored a number of goals from penalty corners and our defence will have to work extra hard to keep their forwards at bay," said George. "Our team have been too inconsistent. We had a bad start against Canada. We played an open game and lost. Against Japan, we stuck to a close marking game and did well to collect a point. "Against Argentina, our forwards missed a number of chances and the defence made too many mistakes to concede five goals in the second-half. "We cannot afford to play an open game against the fast attacking Indians," said George. Indian skipper Tushar Khandker is their top scorer with three goals. "It's going to be a challenge beating the Indians. But we have done it before and can do it again," said George. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 30 Nov 2011 02:53 PM PST PETALING JAYA: KLRC's Mohd Hafiz Hashim's wish to impress the selectors for a third singles slot in next year's Thomas Cup squad will depend on his match against Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto in the third round of the Macau Open today. Yesterday, Hafiz became the sole Malaysian survivor in the men's singles as he advanced to the third round with a 21-8, 21-18 win over national back-up player Chan Kwong Beng. Tommy reduced Malaysia's challenge when he trounced Pei Wee Chung 21-3, 21-9 while it was also the end of road for Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin who crashed 17-21, 15-21 to Taiwan's Huseh Hsuan-yi. World junior champion Zulfadli Zulkifli was shown the exit by Indonesia's Simon Santoso who won 21-15, 21-8. A win against Tommy, Indonesia's probable choice for third singles in the Thomas Cup, will strengthen Hafiz's claim for a place in the premier team event. Hafiz may be past his prime, but he is still much better than most of the back-up players in the national squad. In the men's doubles, Malaysia's top back-up pairs – Goh V Shem-Lim Khim Wah and Mak Hee Chun-Ong Soon Hock – were dumped in the opening round yesterday. V Shem-Khim Wah went down fighting 19-21, 21-12, 12-21 to Indonesia's formidable pair of Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunwan while Hee Chun-Soon Hock started off brilliantly before going down 20-22, 13-21 to South Korea's Kim Ki-jung-Shin Baek-cheol. National coach Tan Kim Her said: "Khim Wah-V Shem made many errors at the front court. "They must improve on their service returns and add some variety to their game. Most importantly, they must have self-belief. "Mak and Soon are excellent in service return but, for now, they have to work on their speed and power to sustain quality shots throughout the match." Malaysia will be banking on KLRC's Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari and Mohd Lutfi Zaim Abdul Khalid-Vountus Indra Mawan to carry the country's challenge in the second round of the men's doubles. Zakry-Fairuzizuan will take on top seeds Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong of South Korea while Lutfi-Vountus meet Taiwanese qualifiers Huang Po-jui-Lu Ching-yao. If the Malaysians win, they will take on each other in the last eight. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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