The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Surfers making waves in Desaru
- Former convict arrested after robbery attempt
- UTM students win competition with design based on cars from the 1920s
| Surfers making waves in Desaru Posted: 22 Jan 2013 06:35 PM PST THOUSANDS of extreme sport fans thronged the Desaru public beach area in Johor to catch a glimpse of 80 local and foreign surfers competing in the annual Monsoon Mayhem International Surf Challenge. The three-day event that was held from Jan 4-6, saw participation of surfers from Malaysia, Australia, Holland, Indonesia, Japan, Maldives, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. Desaru beach was chosen for the competition, which was in its seventh edition as it was one of the best spots for water surfing in the region with "extreme and harsh waves" posing perfect challenges for competitive surfers. Among the 80 participants were two brothers - Mohd Helmi Jasni, 16, and Mohd Haikal, 23 - both sharing the common passion for surfing since they were young. At the competition, Mohd Helmi clinched the Best Local Surfer title while Mohd Haikal emerged as the winner of the Men's Open Category. Mohd Haikal said his friends introduced him to the water sport when he was 12 years old and his passion for surfing grew ever since. "I enjoy surfing and practice my skills every day as my house is located near the Tanjung Balau beach,'' he said. He and his brother also travel to beaches in Desaru or Tanjung Sedili to practice and horn their skills as different beach locations had different waves patterns. Mohd Haikal said he planned to use the cash prize of RM2,000 to travel to Bali next month with his brother and three other surfing buddies to catch the waves at the popular Indonesian holiday destination. Mohd Helmi on the other hand, would use the winning cash of RM500 to buy new surfing gears, as his current ones were a little outdated. "I have been in training for three years now, and my surf board is getting old, so I am planning to get a new one for myself," he said adding that his ambition is to become a pro-surfer. Mohd Helmi also said that his brother was his source of inspiration and grateful to him for teaching the surfing skills and techniques to him in the past three years. "My brother has taught me many tricks and always guided me during our daily training sessions," said the SMK Bandar Penawar Kota Tinggi student. |
| Former convict arrested after robbery attempt Posted: 22 Jan 2013 06:04 PM PST TANGKAK: A former convict was arrested after he tried to rob a foreign worker from Bangladesh using a fake pistol near a textile factory here. Ledang police chief Supt Harun Idris said the suspect, aged 20, was detained by a police motorcycle patrol team which rushed to the factory after being alerted of the robbery attempt. He said the incident happened at 2.35pm on Jan 12 when the suspect who came in a car approached the worker and threatened him with the pistol. The suspect then demanded the foreign worker to surrender his wallet and a mobile phone. Two policemen on motorcycles who arrived at the scene managed toarrest the suspect, he told reporters at his office yesterday. Supt Harun said the pistol was a fake Walter P99 with plastic bullets and the suspect was a former convict who used to serve time in prison. He said the suspect, who was tested positive for drugs, was previously sentenced to six months jail and fined RM1,800 for a drug-related offense. The suspect has been remanded to assist in investigations under Section 32 of the Firearms Act 1960 and Section 385 of the Penal Code. |
| UTM students win competition with design based on cars from the 1920s Posted: 22 Jan 2013 06:33 PM PST JOHOR BARU: The classic Ford T car produced in 1927 inspired a group of 12 final year students to win a fuel saving car design competition held by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) here. The group, which called themselves Power Rangers, are students from UTM's Kemahiran Hidup (Living Skills) Education faculty, beating five other groups to win the overall title. Power Rangers leader Nurfairus Jaafar Sidek, 28, said that the group's car design was loosely based on classic cars from the 1920s. "Our single seater car is only 130kg which is one of the lightest in the competition with a top speed of 60kilometres per hour. "The engine itself comes from a Honda motorcycle which I bought all the way from Kelantan as it was in good condition and cheap," he said adding that in total the group spent RM4,000 to build the car from scratch. He added that the reason the group's car was influenced by the Ford T model was because the vehicle was light and could go far without using much fuel. "It was a challenge as we could not find such cars on the road now but we wanted to build something similar to the Ford T. "In the end, we researched online about the model and finally came up with the winning design," he said. He added that the car was completed a week before the competition and the group put it through several tests to ensure that it was in good condition. "This is why we were pretty confident that we would emerge as champions," he said. Nurfairus also said that the group's car managed to save about 30% of petrol per litre in the one-kilometre track. "Everything went well for our car from the handling to its performance and I am very proud as our hard work has paid off. "Our next focus is to improve the car further and represent UTM in the Eco Shell Challenge that will be held in June," he said. |
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