Day: May 22, 2024

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MALAYSIA MASTERS: JUN HAO, JIN WEI STRUGGLE TO GET PAST OPENING ROUND


KUALA LUMPUR, National men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao fought for 81 minutes to bounce back from a game down and show China’s Lei Lan Xi the exit in the first round of the Malaysia Masters 2024 at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil here today.

World number 37 Jun Hao lost the first game 12-21 but showed tremendous determination and resilience to win the next two games 23-21, 21-12 to clinch victory in front of the home fans.

“To me, when I play here (in Malaysia), (I) must give my best. I never gave up and gave it everything I had… and that’s one reason why I won today.

“I feel that there is improvement because now I’m in more high-quality tournaments. I’ll take it one game at a time and one step at a time to reach a higher level,’ he told reporters here today.

Asked if it’s true that players from China are tough nuts to crack, Jun Hao said every player has his weaknesses and finding their weak points can help take them down.

Jun Hao’s next opponent will be either Toma Junior Popov of France or third
seed Li Shi Feng of China.

National women’s singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei also had to slog for three games before overcoming Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova 21-16, 18-21, 21-14 to set up a second-round date with Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan tomorrow.

The 24-year-old Jin Wei has lost three times to Busanan, in the 2016 Indonesia Masters, 2016 Thailand Open and 2018 Badminton Asia Championships.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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ASIA CUP: MALAYSIA MOVE INTO ASIA CUP SECOND ROUND AFTER 5-4 WIN OVER INDONESIA


KUALA LUMPUR, The National men’s indoor hockey squad booked a slot in the second round after a dramatic 5-4 victory over 2023 SEA Games gold medallist Indonesia in a 2024 Asia Cup Group B action in Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan, today.

Muhammad Najmi gave Malaysia the lead in the fourth minute through a field goal before Muhammad Firdaus Omar made it 2-0 seven minutes later and a few seconds before the end of first half action, Malaysia were awarded a penalty stroke that Muhammad Aslam Mohamed Hanafiah scored to make it 3-0.

The start of the second half saw Indonesia claw back into the game when Revo Priliandro knocked in a penalty corner in the 24th minute before Muhammad Najmi added his second goal of the match and Malaysia’s fourth, with a 29th minute strike.

Indonesia continued to stage a fightback when Muhamad Alfiana struck twice, first through a penalty corner in the 31st minute and a field goal in the next minute.

Undaunted by the Indonesian surge, Faridzul Afiq Mohd added Malaysia’s fifth and winning
goal in the 35th minute while Indonesia reduced the deficit with a 37th minute goal from Adi Leksono.

The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) in a statement said head coach Mohd Rodzhanizam was optimistic that his charges can continue the momentum in the second round to earn a slot for the final and retain the title won in the 2022 edition held in Bangkok.

Following Malaysia into the second round was Group B runner-up Kazakhstan, Group A winner Iran and Thailand.

Malaysia will face Thailand tomorrow, and face eight times winner Iran on Friday.

The top two teams will move into the final on Saturday and earn automatic qualification to the 2025 Indoor Hockey World Cup that is scheduled in Porec, Croatia from Feb 3 to 9, 2025.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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MALAYSIA MASTERS: ZII JIA TAPS INTO THAI TRIUMPH TO SPARK FIGHTBACK IN OPENING WIN


KUALA LUMPUR, National men’s singles professional shuttler Lee Zii Jia believes that his recent triumph in the Thailand Open helped him to bounce back from a first-game loss to overcome China’s Zhao Jun Peng in the opening round of the 2024 Malaysia Masters today.

The 26-year-old, also the fifth seed, lost the first game 19-21 before putting on a calm, composed and controlled performance to win the next two 21-11, 21-14 in 61 minutes at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil.

“I think the confidence I gained in Thailand helped me to manage the disappointment (of losing) the first game. I am happy with how I managed the game today,’ he said.

This is Zii Jia’s third win over Jun Peng, having defeated the China shuttler in the 2022 German Open and 2023 Hong Kong Open.

Zii Jia, winner of the 2021 All England title, will next take on Kiran George after the India shuttler downed Japan’s Takuma Obayashi 21-16, 21-17 in another first-round match of the Super 500 tournament.

‘Usually, these young players (that we ackno
wledge as) rising stars… they have no pressure and just come up and upset you. As a seeded player and ranked in the top 10 in the world, these are the challenges that I have to manage (against Kiran),’ he said.

Top national men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also cleared the first hurdle when they edged South Korea’s Kim Young Hyuk-Wang Chan 21-18, 22-20 today.

“We made many mistakes but we gave it our best shot and regained our focus when we took the lead in the second game. This is not permissible but we managed to handle the situation,’ Wooi Yik said when asked to comment on the game.

The win ensures the top-seeded Aaron-Wooi Yik a first-ever meeting against China’s Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi in the last 16 tomorrow.

On paper, 2022 world champions and current world number four Aaron-Wooi Yik should have no problems getting past the world number 25 China pair for a place in the quarter-finals.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

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Cambodian, Chinese Legislative Bodies to Strengthen Cooperation for People’s Benefits

The National Assembly (NA) of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China have agreed to work together to strengthen their friendship and cooperation to be more active in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks that will bring benefits to the two countries and peoples.

The agreement was made between Cambodian NA President Samdech Moha Rathsapheathika Thipadei Khuon Sudary and visiting H.E. Shohrat Zakir, Vice Chairman of the NPC’s Standing Committee, during their meeting here at the NA Palace this morning.

Samdech Khuon Sudary considers the visit of H.E. Shohrat Zakir to Cambodia to be of historical significance, stressing that it will contribute to further strengthening, expanding and enhancing the traditional friendship and the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation” between the two nations, as well as to building a high-quality, high-level and high-standard Cambodia-China Community of Common Destiny.

The NA president requested the C
hinese side to support the project to develop the NA of Cambodia into a digital NA and to rehabilitate the infrastructure of the 25 provincial and capital parliamentary offices.

For his part, H.E. Shohrat Zakir reaffirmed the NPC’s continued support for the development of Cambodia in all fields, including infrastructure construction, agriculture, agricultural imports from Cambodia, energy, technology, security, education, health and so on. He promised to promote Cambodia’s potential to Chinese investors and people to invest in and travel to Cambodia.

H.E. Shohrat Zakir also voiced his support to the promotion of cooperation between the two parliaments through exchanges of high-level visits, experiences, specialised committees, friendship groups, youth parliamentarians and at the NA General Secretariat level.

The Chinese side is looking forward to welcoming the visits of His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni, Senate President Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet, and NA President Sam
dech Khuon Sudary to China in the near future, he added.

An NPC delegation led by H.E. Shohrat Zakir arrived in Cambodia on May 21 four a four-day official visit.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

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STATE GOVTS URGED TO DRAW UP NEW APPROACHES TO INCREASE EFT IMPACT


PUTRAJAYA, State governments should fully optimise provisions in the Ecological Fiscal Transfer (EFT) for Biodiversity Conservation and draw up new approaches to increase the impact of EFT implementation.

This was emphasised by Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad at the town hall session on the EFT implementation and presentation of the 2024 EFT Allocation Letter to state government representatives recently.

A statement issued by the ministry today stated that one of the new approaches is to implement large-scale and more impactful biodiversity and forest conservation projects through the ‘blended finance’ approach, which is the mobilisation of additional funds from the state government and strategic partners in addition to the EFT allocation.

Another approach is to strengthen the EFT distribution criteria by emphasising quality and outcome and providing additional incentives under the EFT to states that amend their respective Forestry Enactments to align with t
he National Forestry (Amendment) Act 2022.

“The minister also welcomes the suggestions and views by the state governments to improving the implementation of EFT and hopes that the cooperation between the federal and state governments can further strengthen efforts to increase the effectiveness in biodiversity and forestry conservation,” read the statement.

EFT is an additional incentive introduced in 2019 to state governments to encourage them to protect, conserve and gazette protected areas that are important for ecosystem services including water catchment areas and wildlife protection.

According to the ministry, the federal government has allocated RM550 million since then to implement EFT. This year, it involved an allocation of RM200 million.

It said the state government, through the EFT incentives, had implemented various high-impact projects including the conservation of gazetting of protected areas, restoration programmes; demarcation, survey and maintenance of boundaries; and enforcement operatio
ns.

The implementation of EFT has been successful with 350,000 hectares being gazetted as new protected areas, said the ministry, adding that the area covers almost 90,000 hectares of terrestrial protected areas and more than 250,000 hectares of marine protected areas.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency