Day: June 3, 2024

KUALA LUMPUR, Shooters Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) Petty Officer Mohd Azlan Md Salleh and Lt Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi were crowned 2023 TLDM Sportsman and Sportswoman during the TLDM Sports Excellence Appreciation Ceremony today.

TLDM said in a statement that both of them received a trophy and RM3,000 in cash from Chief of Navy Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Ayob at the event held at M Sidek Shabudin auditorium, Lumut Naval Base, Perak.

Both athletes were chosen based on their excellent achievements at the national level, along with their extraordinary determination and commitment as well as their ability to produce performances that make the service branch proud.

‘Also, football team coach Chief Petty Officer Mohd Khairil Hafiz Mohd Zanggi was awarded 2023 TLDM Best Sports Coach while the TLDM Football and Futsal Association won the 2023 TLDM Best Sports Association Award and the 2023 Unexpected Achievement Special Award,’ TLDM said.

The ceremony also was in appreciation of the excellent performance of a
thletes who managed to defend the InterService Games (ISG) title for the 14th consecutive time and to commemorate the TLDM Sports Control Authority’s (LEKAS) Golden Jubilee.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman in his speech expressed his pride in TLDM’s achievements in the ISG and the 32nd South East Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia last year and urged that all programmes organised by LEKAS be made high impact and to boost collaborations with other agencies for their mutual benefit.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PETALING JAYA, Promising defender Safwan Mazlan admits that it will not be easy to compete with the prowess of senior players in his efforts to break into Harimau Malaya’s starting line-up ahead of the remaining two matches of Group D in the second round of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers, this month.

Safwan, who was called up for the second time to participate in the training camp with Harimau Malaya, said that he will still prove his ability in the training session to win the heart of head coach Kim Pan Gon to give him the opportunity to be fielded later.

“It’s a struggle (challenging senior players) because I’m a young player, however, I need to work harder to get a place in the main squad,” he said when met at a training session here yesterday.

At the same time, the Terengganu FC player said the intensity of training with the senior team was higher than with the national Under-23 (U-23) squad before.

The 22-year-old player said that so far he has not faced any problem in adapting to the
tactical aspect of Pan Gon’s plan since it is not much different from the experience he had with the coach of the national U-23 squad, Juan Torres Garrido.

After four matches, Malaysia, who are third in Group D with six points, will face Kyrgyzstan at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, Bishkek on June 6 before meeting Taiwan in the final action at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil here on June 11.

Kyrgyzstan is currently leading the competition in Group D followed by Oman in second place with nine points each while Taiwan is at the bottom with no points.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, National professional mixed doubles shuttler Lai Pei Jing has revealed that she was the victim of a major scam that left her nearly penniless.

In a heartfelt Facebook post last night, the 31-year-old player expressed her distress and called for privacy for her family as they cope with the emotional aftermath of the incident.

Pei Jing, the world number 23 duo with Tan Kian Meng explained that she lost almost all of her savings to a fraud group, describing the experience as a “heavy blow” after decades of hard work.

“First of all, to my relatives and friends who see this post, whether you are curious or concerned, please give my family and me some private space to deal with our emotions. Please give us time to process everything, especially my mom. Thank you.

“Yes, I was scammed out almost all of my savings by a fraud group. Honestly, this has been an extremely heavy blow to me.

“My hard-earned savings from decades of hard work… I reflect on it almost every second, and whenever my mind is
idle, I naturally replay the entire scam and fall into a state of blaming myself for my foolishness and kindness,” she said.

Despite the emotional toll, the 2022 Korean Open mixed doubles champion is determined to move forward as she has been managing her emotions and working with the police.

“I’ll share more about it. I hope to prevent more victims and also force myself to accept the fact that I was scammed. So at this moment, I must grit my teeth and get through this because life still has to go on. The world won’t stop turning just because of me… It seems like being strong is my only option,” she said.

She added that: “I need some time to settle and process everything. Afterward, I’ll consider how to share the details of the scam with everyone. I hope my sharing can help others be more vigilant and prevent more victims from being deceived.”

At the Singapore Open which concluded yesterday, Pei Jing-Kian Meng were eliminated as early as the second round and they are scheduled to participate in the Indo
nesia Open in Jakarta from June 4 to 9.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

SEPANG, The national sepak takraw team will receive a special incentive amounting to RM170,000 from the National Sports Council (NSC) following their proud success at the 2024 Sepak Takraw World Cup which took place in the federal capital, recently.

Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh said NSC has approved incentives amounting to RM60,000 each of the inter-regu and doubles teams after emerging champions while the team regu which became runners-up received RM50,000 in the competition held at Titiwangsa Stadium.

“(The successes at) the 2024 Sepak Takraw World Cup mean alot to Malaysians and the players who worked hard to win the gold,” she said.

She told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 after a welcoming ceremony for the return of the para bowling squad from the 2024 World Championship in Ekurhuleni, South Africa.

On May 22, the national sepak takraw squad made history by ending Thailand’s domination after defeating them 2-0 in the finals of the inter-regu and doubles events.

The 33-year wait for the national sepak takraw squad to emerge as the champion of the team regu event continued after losing 1-2 to Thailand in the final on May 26.

In the meantime, Hannah said MSN is still discussing the reintroduction of sepak takraw as a core sport as requested by the Malaysian Sepak Takraw Association (PSM) president Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan.

Sepak takraw along with weightlifting and taekwondo were the three sports NSC dropped from the national core sports list in 2017, following poor performance and lack of improvement based on a review, including an in-depth study of the performance of the three sports since 2007.

Regarding PSM’s request regarding the construction of a special stadium for sepak takraw, Hannah instead suggested that they along with other sports associations work with higher education institutions to use their facilities including for training purposes.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The Malaysian DanceSport team delivered an outstanding performance at the Dance Sport Festival 2024 by bagging two gold medals and a bronze at Bremen, Germany, yesterday.

The Malaysia DanceSport Federation (MYDF) in a statement today said the golds were obtained through Cherry Yeo, who participated in the Adult Female Solo Latin event, and Yap Wan Xin in the Youth Female Solo Latin category, while Kimberly Chew contributed the bronze through the Junior ll Female Solo Latin event.

Cherry, who stole the spotlight last year in national news after winning three gold medals in the Mallorca Dance Festival (MDF) in Spain, is now ranked top 6th in the world under the Adult Female Solo Latin category.

Yap Wan, meanwhile, is now ranked top 3 in the world for Youth Female Solo Latin category.

The world ranking event, sanctioned by the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), from May 31 to June 2 attracted about 2500 athletes from 46 countries, including Croatia, Georgia and China.

“The success of the Mal
aysian DanceSport team would not have been possible without the dedicated support and expert guidance of their coaches, Chua Zjen Fong and Evon Chong from MY DanceSport Academy. Their commitment to nurturing these athletes’ talents has been instrumental in achieving these remarkable results.

“Additionally, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to (Youth and Sports Minister) Hannah Yeoh and The Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) Malaysia for their generous funding and unwavering support, which has played a crucial role in enabling the team to compete on the world stage and bring pride to our nation,” read the statement.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency