Day: June 26, 2024

KUALA LUMPUR, National women’s golfer Ashley Lau Jen Wen has officially earned her maiden Olympic Games spot and will tee off in the 2024 edition in Paris next month.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) announced in a Facebook post that the 24-year-old will make her debut at the Olympic Games after being ranked 50th in the Olympic Golf Ranking for the women’s category.

The Olympic ranking was concluded on Monday and officially announced by the International Golf Federation yesterday.

‘Ashley will join Gavin Kyle Green to represent Malaysia in the golf event at Paris 2024, which will start on Aug 1 for men and Aug 7 for women,’ read the post.

Ashley is the 22nd national athlete set to compete in the world’s biggest multi-sports event, joining others such as two-time Olympic medallist Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (track cycling) and 2022 men’s doubles world champion Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (badminton).

The 2024 Olympic Games will be held from July 26 until Aug 11.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia’s Chef de Mission to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin will strive to seek additional accreditation cards for the team of professional men’s singles shuttler Lee Zii Jia.

Hamidin, who visited Zii Jia during his training session yesterday, said the world number seven player requested to bring his sparring partner and physiotherapist to the prestigious global sporting event.

“Zii Jia and his coach Wong Tat Meng are confirmed. Maybe we will try to get one or two more (accreditation cards) to fulfill his wish to play with peace of mind.

“His other team members will stay outside the Olympic Village, but we also have other options like daily passes, and worst comes to worst, we will provide transportation for him to go out for rehab at certain times,” he said when met yesterday.

He added that Zii Jia has informed him of his readiness to spring a surprise in his second Olympic appearance after the 2020 edition in Tokyo.

However, Hamidin advised the 26-year-old player
that it is important to advance to the quarter-finals first before thinking about going further in Paris.

Meanwhile, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) deputy president announced that the 2024 Australian Open champion will not join the training session with players under the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in Lille, France, next month.

Instead, he said Zii Jia chose to undergo his final preparations in Singapore for a week starting this weekend.

“Zii Jia will train in Singapore with players from that country and Thailand. Then, he will return to Malaysia to train with Thai players,” he said.

In other developments, Hamidin was impressed with the high spirits of Paris-bound national athletes, including archer Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi and diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises, who expressed their determination to bring home medals even though it will be their first time stepping onto the Olympic stage.

The 2024 Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Two national swimmers, Steve Khiew Hoe Yean and Tan Rouxin, are the latest athletes set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

This development was confirmed by Malaysian Swimming Federation (MAS) secretary-general Andy Low, who informed that both swimmers will make their debut at the prestigious Games using wild card tickets granted by World Aquatics.

“Their names have been submitted to the Olympic Council of Malaysia. Hoe Yean will compete in the 400m freestyle while Tan Rouxin will participate in the 100m breaststroke,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

Before this, 22 national athletes had confirmed their participation in the Paris Olympics, with diver Bertrand Rhodict Lises being the first to qualify.

In other developments, two national divers, Ooi Tze Liang and Nur Dhabitah Sabri, still have a chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics through excess quotas not utilised by athletes from other countries.

National diving squad technical director, Bryan Nickson Lomas said that the d
ecision regarding the vacant quotas will be known by July 8.

The 2024 Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from July 26 to Aug 11.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, The new national football landmark, the National Training Centre (NTC) of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in Precinct 5, here, with an overall cost of RM69 million, is scheduled to begin operations by 2026.

FAM president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said the construction of the FAM NTC, which will be built on a 5.2-hectare site near the Putrajaya Equestrian Park, involves two phases with Phase 1 set to be completed by December 2026, and Phase 2 by December 2027.

He said that the construction of Phase 1 of the centre funded by FIFA with an amount of US$ 5.2 million (approximately RM24 million), will be done by local company RS Green Master (M) Sdn Bhd.

This phase includes facilities such as three football fields with different types of grass, namely Bermuda, hybrid and synthetic. Phase 2 will be funded with RM45 million from the government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS).

“Phase 2 is funded by KBS and will be executed by the Public Works Department with the tender expected
to open in September 2024. It involves the construction of a 1,682.8-square-metre building comprising a gymnasium, multipurpose hall, players’ changing rooms, rehabilitation space and surau, in addition to constructing a roof for the synthetic turf field built in Phase 1,” he said.

Hamidin said this at the FAM NTC groundbreaking ceremony attended by Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, Asian Football Confederation secretary-general Datuk Seri Windsor John,and FIFA Regional Director for Member Associations (Asia and Oceania) Sanjeevan C. Balasingam.

He also expressed hope that the establishment of the NTC, which was initiated by the late former FAM president from 1984-2014, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah of Pahang , would symbolise the infrastructure development of FAM planned for several years, including the project of constructing a new FAM headquarters, also located in Precinct 5.

“In addition to the late Sultan, another key figure in realising this NTC project is Tan Sri Dr Aseh Che Mat, the longest-serving i
ndividual in FAM, who is currently FAM Integrity Committee chairman.

Hamidin also thanked FIFA, especially its president Gianni Infantino, for the full support and funds provided, and the government for all assistance and allocations to FAM for building the NTC, thus meeting the demands and evolution of modern football.

He also hopes that the construction of FAM NTC will add value to all members of the national team, especially for the senior Harimau Malaya squad and the national Under-23 squad.

Previously, the FAM NTC project announced in 2019 was initially scheduled to begin construction in late 2021.

Meanwhile, Hamidin did not rule out the possibility of expanding the construction of FAM NTC to other states after the training centre here is completed.

In a related development, Hamidin expects FAM to move to the new FAM headquarters (HQ) starting mid-2027, while the original HQ in Kelana Jaya will be used for training other squads, including the national futsal team.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, National mixed doubles coach Nova Widianto is optimistic that his charges, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei will be able to win a medal for Malaysia at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Nova believes that Tang Jie-Ee Wei will be able to climb up the podium in their debut appearance at the Olympic stage this time based on the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the ninth-ranked pair during the current training session.

“In terms of preparation and game play, I am very confident (of winning a medal) because they have the feeling to win. I think these guys are the best.

“They don’t give many reasons and follow all the instructions given. Hopefully with what is planned they can give maximum effort there (Olympic Games 2024),” he said when met at the training session of the national badminton squad at the Academy of Badminton Malaysia (ABM) here, today.

Since teaming up in December 2022, the pair have performed well to reach the top 10 in the world and qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals.

Among the titles they
have won are the 2023 Taipei Open and the 2023 Orleans Masters.

In the meantime, Nova said his concern for the pair is to prepare mentally which has always been a stumbling block for them in several previous tournaments.

Therefore, he said, his focus is now on the psychological aspect of the couple in ensuring that they are mentally in the best condition ahead of the Games.

“For me, the most important thing is mental preparation. If the mental condition of both of them is good, I think there is hope in the Olympics.

“A lot of people don’t like their fast and hard game. So, I told them they need to show confidence and give their best and even consider this as the last Olympics. We are assisting from behind and now they will decide,” he said.

The 2024 Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency