NST Online: Sports

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 10:54 AM PDT

Singapore's Aleksander Duric jumps for the ball in their training session at the Jalan Besar Stadium yesterday. — Picture by Fariz Iswadi Ismail

SINGAPORE: It was a tale of contrasting moods with national coach K. Rajagobal, who led his team to back-to-back regional titles over the past two years, speaking more confidently about today's second round, first leg World Cup qualifying match.

His Singaporean counterpart Raddy Avramovic, who is under pressure after his team's poor outing in last year's AFF Cup, was hardly in the mood to reveal much about his team.

Avramovic may have guided Singapore to back-to-back AFF Cups and also the third round of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers but has lost the support of fans.

Singapore's dismal showing in last year's AFF Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage in Hanoi, turned the fans against Avramovic and he badly needs a win today.

Recent records suggest that this is possible as Malaysia have not won an away match since their 4-1 victory over Sri Lanka in 2007.

Besides that, Singapore have not lost to Malaysia in their last seven meetings.

"I believe games like this will help Singapore to be better in Asia. We cannot compare the current Singapore team with those of the past as we only had a short preparation period.

"But it does not mean we are giving up. My players are capable of playing good football.

"I want to see goals as that is all we need to win this match," said Avramovic yesterday.

He has been working closely with his players behind closed doors at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

"We will try to use our quality to eliminate Malaysia's quality tomorrow (today). I am quite happy with the progress shown in training," added Avramovic.

As for Rajagobal, the former international is hoping to lead Malaysia to their first ever appearance in the third round of the qualifiers.

But he is anticipating a close encounter in today's first leg.

"It's another football game, but obviously there will be a lot of external references and historical references. But for us, it's a game against a decent outfit and we have to win to progress.

"This match has attracted a lot of attention because of past history. I also believe this encounter will bring out the best from the players of both teams. We are prepared for anything," added Rajagobal.

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Proton on to bigger dreams

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 10:29 AM PDT

2011/07/23
By Arnaz M. Khairul

HAVING totally dominated the APRC Rally of Whangerei in New Zealand last weekend, the Proton Motorsports Rally Team believe they have the momentum to make an impact even beyond motorsports.

The team have already bagged the Pacific Cup, with three victories in Queensland, Australia, the Rally of New Caledonia and their latest victory in New Zealand.

The Malaysian outfit will now look to complete the other half of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, when they head to Japan for the Rally of Hokkaido on Sept 30-Oct 2.

In New Zealand, Proton flexed their muscles with a one-two finish overall through Australian driver Chris Atkinson and Scotsman Alister McRae.

The two-wheel drive junior class was won by young Japanese driver Akira Bamba, while Malaysia's Karamjit Singh won the overall two-wheel drive class. Both these drivers were on board Proton-Cusco Rally Team cars.

"We're leading the APRC standings in all classes and this shows that our development programme has born fruit," said Proton Motorsports head Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood.

"Having initially struggled with mechanical problems, we're showing now that when we get our act together we can beat all the top cars. We're able to match even turbo-charged Group N cars with the S2000 Satria Neo."

Abdul Razak said the team's efforts on the rally scene have also resulted in Proton's export market being boosted and in tandem with the Rally of Hokkaido, the sales of Proton cars will be launched by the company's Japanese dealer.

"This shows that there is a co-relation between rallying and car sales. We've managed to penetrate the Japanese market by selling the Satria Neo as reliable rally cars," said Abdul Razak.

"We also expect at least five Japanese customers to enter the Rally of Hokkaido with their rally-prepared Satria Neos."

The Proton Motorsports Rally Team will also continue their FIA Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in the Rally of the Czech Republic on Aug 26-28, with Atkinson and Swedish drive PG Andersson to drive the S2000 Satria Neos there.

"We've selected just eight out of the twelve rounds in the IRC for this year, as we still require a lot more development before we'll be able to match the best manufacturers in the world competing there," said Abdul Razak.

"Our target was always to win the APRC title again this year, so that looks well on course. We may look to a bigger commitment in the IRC next year, but it also depends on whether we can raise the level of sponsorship required."

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Jumaat, 22 Julai 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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