NST Online: Sports

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 09:52 AM PDT

Mahalli Jasuli (left) and Taiwan captain Chen Yu Lin fight for the ball in their match at Taipeh Municipal Stadium yesterday. — Picture by Roslin Mat Tahir

TAIPEH: Call it what you will. Whether it was the away blues, the yellow jersey curse or just plain bad luck (three penalties were conceded), there was no disguising the fact that a disaster was averted.

There was no celebration at the end of a disjointed performance at the Taipeh Municipal Stadium as Malaysia advanced to the second round of the Asian World Cup qualifying only on the away goals rule after a 3-2 defeat to Taiwan levelled the aggregate score at 4-4.

The defeat left a bitter after-taste as the national team succumbed to a side ranked 165th in the world and national coach K. Rajagobal knew the performance left much to be desired.

Had it not been for Sharbinee Allawee Ramli saving the second of those penalties, Malaysia could well have suffered an embarrassing exit to a Taiwanese team inspired by 15,000 roaring fans who were given free admission..

"Taiwan started aggressively as they were going for the first goal and after we scored in the eighth minute, we should have played calmly.

"That goal should have given us the confidence to play better but we did not play our normal game. And when they scored, it was down to our own mistakes.

"More importantly, however, we are through to the second round but we must fix our mistakes and not repeat them," said Rajagobal, who made three changes to the side that won the first leg 2-1 in Bukit Jalil.

Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and Abdul Hadi Yahya started together upfront as Mahalli Jasuli came in at right-back while Taiwan handed a debut to Xavier Chen in their only change.

Whether Vietnamese referee Vo Minh Tri was justified to give away three penalties to the home team will be debated to no end.

Certainly the third spot-kick was doubtful with replays indicating Sharbinee had got his hands to the ball before Taiwan's Chen Po Liang went tumbling over.

Later, Vo denied Malaysia a legitimate penalty claim when Ahmad Fakri Saarani was sent spinning in the box.

"Never in my career have three penalties been awarded against my team. The third penalty, from where I was, I don't think should have been given. I'm not satisfied with the way we played but we did well in patches when attacking and Fakri should have had a penalty," added Rajagobal.

Aidil Zafuan Radzak and Safiq Rahim twice gave Malaysia the lead in the first half but each time Taiwan came back with some enterprising movement to rattle the visitors.

Aidil's thundering free-kick in the eighth minute, some 35 metres out which went in off the under-side of the bar, wiped out Taiwan's away goal advantage from the first leg.

Any pretension Malaysia had of coasting through the match was swept away by Taiwan's equaliser through Chang Han in the 31st minute.

Safiq, however, restored Malaysia's lead in the 40th minute when he curled a free-kick beyond the despairing dive of Lin Po Cheng.

But lessons were not learnt as Mahalli conceded possession cheaply and promptly gave away a penalty after clipping Chang Han from behind. Po Liang made it 2-2 from the spot off the hands of Sharbinee Allawee Ramli.

Hadi and Amirul had shots saved by Taiwan's replacement goalkeeper Pan Wen Chieh in the 58th minute before Fadhli Shas was adjudged to have pulled Po Liang down four minutes later.

Sharbinee rescued Malaysia by saving Po-Liang's penalty but it failed to galvanise the Malaysians as it was then the goalkeeper's turn to be penalised, harshly, as Po Liang took a tumble.

This time, Xavier stepped up to score on his debut and Malaysia rode out a few scares, not least when Lo Chih En sent a curling effort that almost found the top corner.

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Check out this Czech in future

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 08:25 AM PDT

UNKNOWN no more, Petra Kvitova is a Wimbledon champion.

The 21-year-old Czech, who has worked her way up the rankings from 34th at the end of last season to No 7 today, beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 in the women's final on Saturday. And moments after finishing the match with an ace and dropping to her knees in celebration, Kvitova giggled when she saw her name etched in gold on the winner's board inside the All England Club.

"I don't know about this still. It's still (an) unbelievable feeling," said Petra, who was playing in her first grand slam final. "Maybe I'll accept it after, I don't know, some days."

Petra is the first left-handed woman to win the Wimbledon title since Martina Navratilova in 1990. And it was the nine-time champion that was giving her two thumbs up from her seat in the Royal Box as she was accepting well-wishes from anyone that could get her attention.

"She played brave tennis and she deserved to win. She was by far the better player," said Martina, who was born and raised in Czechoslovakia. "It didn't happen overnight, but she's a champion. It's great."

Petra is only the third Czech woman to win the title at the All England Club, following Martina and Jana Novotna. Both were in the Royal Box, along with a host of other former champions. And both congratulated her after the match.

"I cried after I met them," Petra said.

Petra was playing in her first major final, but it was 2004 Wimbledon champion Sharapova that showed nerves. The 24-year-old Russian double-faulted six times, including twice to get broken to 4-2 in the first set.

Then, when the ball was in play, Kvitova used a fast-paced and well-placed forehand to keep Maria on the run, finishing with 19 winners.

"It was about the serve, for sure, and the return," said Petra, who lost in the semi-finals last year. "I know that she return very well, but I know that I can return her serve also. I knew that she make some double-fault."

When the match started, Maria was the clear favourite. Besides winning the title at the All England Club in 2004, she also won the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008 before shoulder surgery in October 2008 slowed her career.

She managed to break Petra in the opening game on Centre Court, but was broken right back in the second and then again in the sixth.

"She was just more aggressive than I was, hit deeper and harder, and got the advantage in the points," said Maria.

Maria had not lost a set heading into the final. But she struggled with her serve in the semi-finals, double-faulting 13 times before beating German wild card Sabine Lisicki.

Her serve wasn't as bad as that against Petra, but there were other problems with her game.

"Maybe I wasn't as ready after the serve as I should have been, and she just got the first good hit," Maria said. "I was always kind of late." -- AP

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Ahad, 3 Julai 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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