Two Cyclists Sacrifice Hari Raya To Train In The US

KUALA LUMPUR Oct 29 – Budding cyclists, Mohd Sayuti Zahit and Mohd Rizal Sitin, will leave for the United States on Monday for a four-year training stint under renowned track cycling coach Mark Whitehead.

In their desire to qualify for the World Track Cycling Championship in Los Angeles, US next March, Mohd Sayuti and Mohd Rizal have decided to sacrifice the opportunity to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri with their families.

For Mohd Sayuti, 20, celebrations can take a back seat as his main aim is surpass the qualifying mark for the team event during the championship.

“For the individual event, it will depend on coach Mark Whitehead to decide after accessing my performance,” he told Bernama here Friday.

The Kelantan lad has also shelved his plans of pursuing his studies further to join Josiah Ng in Long Beach, Los Angeles under the sponsorship of the National Sports Council (NSC) in a four-year Pelumba Trek Kelas Dunia Malaysia programme.

National criterrium specialist and 2004 Olympian of the Year award winner Josiah is said to have skipped the World Track Cycling Championship series in Moscow from Nov 5-7, to receive Mohd Sayuti and Mohd Rizal.

That miss had also dashed his chances of seeking an early qualification for the Los Angeles championship.

Josiah believes he and his two new teammates will be able to make it to the championship by finishing in the top six of one of the World Cup series held in Los Angeles (Dec 10-12), Manchester (Jan 7-9) and Sydney (Feb 18-20.

“Actually we had considered joining Josiah in Moscow but since there were other pressing issues, we decided against it,” he said.

Mohd Rizal meanwhile hopes the training in Long Beach, Los Angeles would enable the country to put up a formidable sprint team in the future.

“I hope to garner as much points during the three series to qualify for the final in March. I also hope to prepare myself for the Manila 2005 SEA Games and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne (2006) as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” he said.

Last May, Rizal together with Fairuz Izni Abdul Ghani and Mohd Faizal Noh were sent to San Diego for a training stint but returned a month later after failing to adapt to the conditions there.

“This time around I will not repeat the same mistake. I have been given a second chance and I hope to make the best of it,” he said.

Apart from taking care of the rent for their stay, the NSC is also providing allowances and tickets for the stint.

Utusan Malaysia

Give Hockey Room In SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR Oct 17 – Talk about hockey and the picture that immediately comes to mind would be of a fast, dynamic game with facinating action but, sadly, this region has sidelined this pulse racing event from the SEA Games.

And the “not enough teams” reason just doesn’t fit as the main aim of the 45-year-old biennial meet was to develop athletes to become Olympics and world beaters.

If such attitude continues, the SEA Games’s new tag-line “The Southeast Asian Games will focus on a new thrust – that of producing athletes capable of winning medals in the Olympic Games and world championships” – starting with the 23rd edition in the Philippines next year, will remain a tag-line only.

“The main reason the games organisers sidelined hockey was not only due to limited number of participation but also because it is not an indigenous sport that could favour the host country in terms of medals,” said Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) Honorary Secretary T. Paramalingam, here Sunday.

Having said that, Paramalingam called for the SEA Games Federation and the hockey panels of the respective countries to rationalise a programme to help the region’s athletes reach Olympic and world levels.

Paramalingam also said the other main reason was lack of a development programme in Southeast Asian countries to promote hockey in the local scene.

“If they (countries) have development projects for hockey, then automatically teams will be formed and when they have teams I am sure they will request for participation in events like the SEA Games,” he added.

Thus far, only MHF have actively pushed for hockey to be included in the SEA Games.

“SEA Games is a good platform for the players to gain exposure and experience as different countries will have a different strategy and attack methods which can be usefull.

“By coming together, there is room to learn, grow and better our mode of play for our athletes to build their way towards the Olympics and world championships,” said Paramalingam.

Paramalingam said for a start participation of four countries can be considered the minimum number to run the tournament.

“We can start the tournament rolling with a minimum of four teams and I think Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and us (Malaysia) have good teams to give the tournament a go.

“The main objective is to start somewhere and I think slowly other countries will catch up with the rhythm and follow suit. I don’t think we should wait until we have 10 countries participating to include hockey in the SEA Games.

Utusan Malaysia

Chong Wei Ready For International Duty, Again

KUALA LUMPUR Oct 13 – Malaysian Open champion Lee Chong Wei has emerged a more accomplished player since a poor outing at the Athens Olympics in August.

“Losing in Athens was a valuable lesson for me as it exposed my weaknesses and the need to improve on various aspects of the game.

“I’m playing with more confidence now and ready to stamp my mark on the International stage yet again if given a chance,” he said after winning the Selangor Open Tuesday.

The Penang lad, 22, headed to Athens, fresh after displaying spectacular form in winning the Malaysian Open title in Kuantan, but lost his second round encounter to Chen Hong of China 15-12, 5-15, 9-15, the same player he had beaten to clinch the title in Kuantan.

Since then, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) had imposed an indefinite freeze on International tournaments for our National shuttlers.

Tuesday night he beat former All England winner Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 15-9, 13-15, 15-9 for the second time in as many months to maintain his winning streak in the Grand Prix circuit since 2002.

Chong Wei had also beaten Hafiz in the Melaka Open final last month.

The right-hander who executes jumping smashes with deadly precision, hopes to add the National Grand Prix title in Ipoh (Dec 21-24) to his credit.

“As the favourite, every player will be out to beat me but I draw my inspiration from their effort to raise my own game,” said Chong Wei who became the youngest player since Misbun Sidek (1980) to win the 2002 National Grand Prix on his debut season, beating National number one Wong Choong Hann.

Speaking of BAM’s freeze, Chong Wei said he accepts their decision but is hoping to be given an opportunity soon.

“As for me, I lost out on the rankings after missing three major tournaments but I hope there is enough time to accumulate some points and qualify for the World Championships,” he said.

He is also hoping to make up for his loss in Athens by putting up a good show in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Utusan Malaysia

Josiah, Keng Liat Are Favourites For Olympian Award 2004

KUALA LUMPUR Oct 7 – Cyclist Josiah Ng, swimmer Lim Keng Liat and young diver Bryan Nickson Lomas are the favourites to win the Olympian Award 2004 Friday night.

The trio put up a splendid performance at the 28th Olympic Games in Athens two months ago but Josiah had a better chance of winning the award after qualifying for the final round in the event he competed.

Josiah, 24, is the second national rider to have qualified for the final event at the Olympics after M. Kumaresan who did it in the individual time trial at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

The silver medallist in the sprint event at the Asian Games in Busan in 2002 missed his chance to lift the bronze in the keirin final in Athens and ended sixth.

Despite having problems with his two coaches in Athens, Josiah showed strong fighting spirit to proceed to the final in the keirin event, his favourite event after having failed in the sprint earlier.

Keng Liat, 24, is Josiah’s strongest challenger for the award which offers a RM10,000 prize.

The Sandakan-born swimmer is the first Malaysian to enter the semifinals in the men’s 100 metres backstroke but failed to make it to the final when he ended up in 15th place overall.

Besides his good showing in Athens, Keng Liat also did well at the World Championship in Barcelona last year where he became the first Malaysian to qualify for the final in the event.

Besides being the youngest athlete in the Malaysian contingent at the Olympic Games, Bryan, 14, was also listed among the three male athletes for the prestigious award when he almost qualified for the semifinals of the men’s 10m platform event.

Despite being his first experience in the Olympics, Bryan was calm and ended up in 19th placing, missing the semifinals qualifying mark by 4.17 points.

In the women’s category, it will be rather difficult for the selection panel to decide because of the lack of athletes with outstanding achievements except for diver Leong Mun Yee.

Mun Yee, 20, who won the Women’s Olympian Award 2001, improved on her performance in Sydney four years ago when she finished 21st in the women’s 10m platform event.

She also did well by finishing in 10th placing out of 43 competitors in the 10m platform event at the 14th FINA World Cup Championship in Athens this year and 15th out of 47 competitors in the 3m springboard event.

Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail is expected to give away the prizes to winners at the 12th Olympian Night to honour male and female athletes who were most outstanding thoroughout this year.

THE LIST OF OLYMPIAN AWARD WINNERS 1993-2003

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1993: M – M. Ramachandran (athletics), F – P. Jayanthi (athletics)

1994: M – Ahmad Jais Baharum, Iskandar Arshad, Adbul Malek Samsudin, Zabidi Sharif (sepaktakraw), F – Shalin Zulkifli (tenpin bowling)

1995: M – Sam Chong (snooker), F – Sharon Law (tenpin bowling)

1996: M – Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock (badminton), Anastasia Karen Raj (athletics)

1997: M – Zaki Sadri (athletics), F – Au Li Yen (gymnastics)

1998: M – G. Saravanan (athletics) and Lim Keng Liat (swimming), F – Nurul Hudda Baharin (shooting) and Nicol David (squash)

1999: M – Elvin Chia (swimming), F – Shalin Zulkifli (tenpin bowling)

2000: M – Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah (badminton), F – Yuan Yu Fang (athletics)

2001: M – Qabil Ambak (equestrian), F – Leong Mun Yee (diving)

2002: M – Ho Ro Bin (wushu), F – Siti Zalina Ahmad (lawn bowls)

2003: M – Nazmizan Muhammad (athletics), F – Nicol David (squash)

Note: M = Male, F = Female

Utusan Malaysia