The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Fazilla aims to stay hot
- Whole national diving squad to train in China for six weeks
- Wen Yan hungers for more titles after winning medals at AYOF
| Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:22 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR: Forward Fazilla Sylvester Silin has been on fire in the Spanish Hockey League. And she hopes to carry on her free-scoring form for Malaysia in the World League second round in New Delhi from Feb 18-24. Fazilla and midfielder Siti Noor Amarina Ruhaini went to play for Barcelona-based club Castelldefels for 10 weeks in the Spanish League last October to gain experience. Fazilla was in her element, emerging as the club's top scorer and second on the league scorers' chart with 14 goals in nine matches. Siti Amarina, on the other hand, netted five times from penalty corners. Castelldefels are now second in the 10-team league and Fazilla and Siti Amarina will return to Spain when the league resumes on March 1. Fazilla, who has 90 international caps, is excited at the prospects of helping Malaysia reach the 2014 World Cup from the World League second round. Besides Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Fiji, Russia and hosts India are the other competing teams. Only two teams will qualify for the World League semi-finals where 16 countries will battle for the eight spots to the World Cup. The 26-year-old Fazilla believes she is a better player now after playing in the Spanish League. "I have learned new things and also improve my skills. It was a dream come true to play in Spain. "I am more confident in my game now. As the key forward, I hope to give my best and also score in all the matches in New Delhi," said Fazilla, who scored five goals and was named as the Player of the Tournament in the World League round one in Kuantan last year. Fazilla believes that Japan and India will pose the biggest threat to Malaysia's hopes of finishing in the top two in New Delhi. "Japan are the top seeds while India are seeded second. We are only seeded fourth behind Russia. I hope we can defy the seedings and grab one of the spots to the World League semi-finals," said the Sarawak-born Fazilla. Meanwhile, defender Nor Hasliza Ali and midfielder Noriani Abdul Rashid have recovered from their knee injuries and will also feature in the competition. "We have 22 players in training. We will drop four before the team leave for New Delhi on Feb 8," said S. Shamala, the senior vice-president of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC). "We are arranging three friendlies against the local Indian sides before the start of the tournament," added Shamala. Former national goalkeeper Mohd Nasihin Nubli is the coach of the team. |
| Whole national diving squad to train in China for six weeks Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:25 PM PST PETALING JAYA: The National Sports Council (NSC) have given the go-ahead for the entire national diving squad to be based in Dali, China, for six weeks. Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) secretary Edwin Chong was pleased with NSC's decision. "We will take all the elite squad divers to train in Dali for the new challenges this year," added Edwin. There are 16 divers in the elite squad, including four – Mohd Nazreen, Mohd Danial, Loh Zhiayi and Nor Dhabitah Sabri – who were promoted at the start of the year. "The divers will probably be going before the Chinese New Year (Feb 10-11). The purpose of this training stint is to get the seniors and juniors to focus on learning their routines without any distractions. "Over here, there are just too many distractions. "We want the divers to learn new routines. It will be hard for them to be competitive if they are unable to come up with new routines. "The juniors, especially, have a lot to catch up outside the country as they have yet to be comfortable with the more difficult dives. "That is why we requested for NSC to send all the juniors and seniors to China as it is time for them to learn new things to get ready for the next Olympic cycle," said Edwin. Edwin added that there is a possibility Bryan Nickson Lomas will join the trip to China if he makes the cut for the FINA Diving World Series starting in March. Bryan wanted to take a break this year to concentrate on his sports science studies at Universiti Malaya but he may get an invite to dive in the Diving World Series in the individual 10m platform event. The Diving World Series is only for the top-eight ranked divers in the world and has been expanded to six legs from four previously. Beijing hosts the opening round from March 15-17 and this will be followed by stops in Dubai, Edinburgh, Moscow and two in Mexico. "The deadline has been extended to the end of this month and we will know whether he gets in or not. If he is going, then we have to discuss with him where he is competing. It will be better for him to join the team to train in China to prepare for the Diving World Series." There are two major events for the divers this year. They are the World University Games in Kazan, Russia, and the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona. Both are being held in July. Malaysia won a medal at the World Aquatics Championships for the first time when Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee bagged a bronze in the 10m synchro platform in Rome in 2009. Pandelela has finished fifth twice in the women's 10m platform individual final and there is hope she can improve on the showing this time after her historic exploits at the London Olympics last year. The 19-year-old became the country's youngest ever Olympic medal winner when she took a bronze in the women's 10m platform. Pandelela also bagged two silver medals at the last World University Games in Shenzhen in 2011. The two silvers – in individual and synchro platform with Mun Yee – were the only medals Malaysia won. |
| Wen Yan hungers for more titles after winning medals at AYOF Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:25 PM PST PETALING JAYA: The year has got off to a great start for Choo Wen Yan and the shooter is now hungry for more titles this year. The 20-year-old made an impressive debut at the recent Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF) in Sydney where he won a gold and a silver. Wen Yan shot a personal best of 664.7 points in the 10m air rifle to finish ahead of China's Li Hang (662.9) and compatriot Abdul Hadi Abd Malek (660.7) on Thursday. It was his first win at international level. Two days later, Wen Yan returned to the Sydney International Shooting Centre in Cecil Park where he shot 599.6 in the his pet event, the 50m pistol, to take silver behind China's Wu Jiayu (606). Australia's Kristian Callaghan was third on 596.2. "To be honest, I was expecting to medal at both events. I was happy to come away with one gold and one silver but I never expected to improve my personal best. It really took me by surprise," said Wen Yan. Wen Yan will now turn his sights on two events – the Selangor Shooting Championships and Milo-NSC-SportExcel First Malaysian Junior Shooting Championships. Both events will be held simultaneously at the Subang Shooting Range from Jan 31-Feb 3. "The next competition is in 10 days' time and my aim is to do better than I did in Australia," said Wen Yan who will be competing in both the 10m air rifle and 50m free pistol events. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan