The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Top divers head to Barcelona instead of Kazan
- A crucial week in Kuantan for the premier teams
- High time for Thien How and Wee Kiong to justify world No. 7 ranking
| Top divers head to Barcelona instead of Kazan Posted: 01 Apr 2013 03:52 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will have to make do without their top divers, including London Olympic bronze medallist Pandelela Rinong, in the World University Games (Univer-siade) in Kazan, Russia from July 6-17. The Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) do not want to release them as the Games are too close to the World Championships in Barcelona from July 19-Aug 4. For Asum, the divers' priority should be on the Barcelona meet, which is the biggest event in the international aquatic calendar for the year. Asum secretary Edwin Chong said it would not be ideal for the divers to compete in both meets. "We have met and discussed with MASUM officials (Malaysian Univer-sity Sports Council) on this matter. "They requested for the services of the national divers as they believe diving has the brightest chance of winning medals at the Universiade. "However, we told them we cannot release divers like Pandelela, Wendy Ng Yan Yee and Cheong Jun Hoong. "Their priority should be on the World Championships because their chances of making it to the FINA Diving World Series hinge on how they fare in Barcelona. "It is important for our divers to make it to the top 10 in their respective events as that will get them into the elite field for the World Series. "We do not want them to commit to two competitions in the span of three weeks. "If they were to go for both, it would be too taxing for them in terms of travelling. "They have to cut short the centralised training stint in China by three weeks to go to Kazan. And then it's back to China before leaving for Barcelona. Their preparations will surely be affected. "However, we can release divers like Ooi Tze Liang, Chew Yiwei and Kam Ling Kar to represent our country at Universiade," said Edwin. At the last Universiade in Shenzhen, China, two years ago, Malaysia won all their three medals in diving. Pandelela made history by becoming the first Malaysian diver to win a medal by snatching the silver in the women's 10m platform individual. She also won a bronze with Leong Mun Yee in the synchro event. Malaysia also bagged a bronze as the third best overall team for the women's events. |
| A crucial week in Kuantan for the premier teams Posted: 01 Apr 2013 03:53 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: It may be still early days in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) but the battle lines are already being marked out in the Premier Division title chase. Double champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club lead the way with 10 points after four matches. They are followed by Maybank on nine and Tenaga Nasional on six. KLHC and Maybank are clearly the early favourites with Tenaga, touted by many as potential champions, clearly losing their winning touch with three draws. KLHC team manager George Koshy believes it's still early days to predict who will emerge champions. "I see every team in the Premier Division with a fighting chance for the title. We have yet to reach the halfway mark. Tenaga may have drawn a few matches but they are still very much a threat and a potential challenger for the title. "Most of the teams have assembled a balanced team. Based on the results last weekend, we can expect more surprises in the coming weeks," said Koshy. All the seven teams will now move to Kuantan for this week's matches. All three – KLHC, Maybank and Tenaga – will be involved in two matches each. "One defeat can change the positions of the teams in the standings. We are not going to take anything for granted but to ensure we win our matches," said Koshy, whose team will tackle Terengganu on Friday and Sapura on Sunday. As for Maybank, they are down to play Nur Insafi on Friday and Tenaga on Sunday. For Maybank coach Wallace Tan, he is quietly confident of winning the title this time around. The last time the Tigers emerged league champions was in 1995. Wallace, a shrewd tactician, has retained the three Pakistanis – Shakeel Abbas, Mohamed Waqas and Mohamed Irfan – he hired last year. For this season, he added two more top players – Pakistani Shafqat Ali and national star Jiwa Mohan – to his squad. The rest are local players who have been with the team for the last few years. "We have a more settled team this year. The difference this year is that the foreigners are able to merge well with the local players and we have more experience in the line-up. It's important for us to keep pace with KLHC in the title chase," said Wallace. Tenaga coach Nor Azlan Bakar said it was disappointing to have drawn all their last three matches. "It is back to the drawing board for my team. We are still searching for an answer. We had chances to score but failed to put them away. "The good thing is that we did not lose any matches. But three draws are one too many. We need to win and our next two matches are very important. "Dropping points will only increase the distance with the top two sides. There is simply no other way but to gain full points in Kuantan," said Nor Azlan. Both Koshy and Azlan believe the matches in Kuantan will provide a better assessment of the teams' chance for the title. "The Kuantan venue will be tricky as we have not played there before. So, it does not give any team a clear advantage. "For us, staying at the top of the heap after this weekend will put us in the driving seat. "But it will not mean the title race is over. It will just give the leaders the edge in the next six matches," added Koshy. |
| High time for Thien How and Wee Kiong to justify world No. 7 ranking Posted: 01 Apr 2013 05:41 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Doubles shuttlers Hoon Thien How-Tan Wee Kiong wrapped up their campaign in the Axiata Cup at Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium without dropping a match to justify their standings as the country's second best pair. Now, it is high time for the duo to justify their No. 7 ranking in the world. The duo have broken into the top 10 since January this year to book a ticket to the World Championships in Guangzhou in August. Unfortuna-tely, they are the only pair in the world's top 10 without any titles to their name. All the other pairs – Mathias Boe-Cartsten Mogensen of Denmark (No. 1), Malaysians Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong (No. 2), Ko Sung-hyun-Lee Yong-dae of South Korea (No. 3), Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan (No. 4), Kim Ki-jung-Kim sa-rang of South Korea (No. 5), Hong Wei-Shen Ye of China (No. 6), Bodin Issara-Maneepong Jongjit of Thailand (No. 8) and China's Liu Xiaolong-Qiu Zihan and Cai Yun-Haifeng — have tasted success before. Thien How-Wee Kiong have played together for more than a year now but they have never reached a final in their international outings. Thien How said they were still in the midst of stabilising their game. "We have done well to consistently reach the quarter-finals or semi-finals but it gets tougher after that as the opponents are so much stronger. "We are struggling to get past them. We know we can beat them but just can't lift our performances on match day. We have to be more stable and focused," added Thien How. National coach Paulus Firman insisted that Thien How-Wee Kiong would make it at the right time. "I have two pairs in the top 10 but the standard of play between Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Thien How-Wee Kiong is of a different level. Thien How and Wee Kiong have not become champions yet but we are working towards that," said Paulus. "They did well in the Axiata Cup. In the absence of Kien Keat-Boon Heong, they justified their role by beating all their opponents (all ranked lower than them). There is still room for improvements. "We must be patient. If Thien How-Wee Kiong can work harder in training, we will surely see progress. They have already taken the first step to break into the top 10. "The men's doubles competition is wide open now. Even the top pairs can be beaten in the early rounds," added Paulus. Paulus is happy that he has about a month to whip Thien How-Wee Kiong into tip-top condition. The next tournament for the pair is the India Open Super Series in New Delhi from April 23-28. "Thien How-Wee Kiong will stay at home while Koo-Tan will be taking part in the Australian Open GP Gold in Sydney this week. I will be able to spend more quality time with them and prepare them for the India Open," said Paulus. In the Australian Open, Kien Keat-Boon are the top seeds. Hopes are high on the duo to win their first international title this year after their below-par performances in the last three Super Series in South Korea, Malaysia and England. |
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