NST Online: Sports
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| Nicol moves on after rare loss Posted: 30 Jul 2011 06:57 PM PDT 2011/07/31 NICOL David will take stock of her unexpected defeat at the CIMB Singapore Masters in her hometown Penang next week before launching an assault on the Australian Open which she will contest for the first time. England's Laura Massaro became the first player to defeat Nicol twice in a calendar year since Jenny Duncalf in 2009 after rallying from two games down to beat the World No 1 in a five-game semi-final battle on Friday. A number of unforced errors in the fourth and fifth games proved to be Nicol's undoing as well as Laura's deceptive shots and boasts which wrong-footed the five-time world champion a few times.
But Ireland's World No 4 Madeline Perry dashed Laura's hopes of a second Wispa Tour title this year by claiming her first with an 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 win in the final yesterday. Since becoming the world's top-ranked player in 2006, ending up on the losing side is a rarity for Nicol who vowed to return stronger when she heads to Canberra for the Aug 9-14 Australian Open.
"She played a very smart game and didn't make too many mistakes. And when she was playing well the pressure was on me.
"I am disappointed with my defeat but I will get over it. I will be going back to Penang and work on things before the Australian Open," said Nicol. It was only the third time Nicol has been beaten after winning the first two games as Laura joined Australian Rachael Grinham and Madeline, at the 2007 and 2009 British Open respectively, in achieving that rare feat. Meanwhile, Malaysia are in with a chance of finishing fifth at the Women's World Junior Team Championship in Boston after beating Wales 2-1 in the fifth-eighth placing playoff on Friday. The national juniors are assured of improving on their seventh-place finish in 2009 after Vanessa Raj and Celine Yeap won their respective matches. National junior No 1 Tan Yan Xin suffered her third defeat in four matches in the team event when she was beaten 11-4, 3-11, 11-6, 12-10 by Tesni Evans before Vanessa levelled proceedings with an 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 win over Hannah Davies. It was left to Celine, filling in for Yong Sue Ann who was suffering from blistered feet, to deliver the winning point and she did not disappoint by beating Fiona Murphy 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 Malaysia met England again in the playoff for fifth placing late yesterday having won their earlier meeting in pool play 2-1. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Disappointment off the pitch hard to bear Posted: 30 Jul 2011 06:57 PM PDT THURSDAY was, by all accounts, a massive letdown. If the national team failed on the pitch, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) did the same in the stands. Though the determination and spirit of K. Rajagobal's players could not be questioned, what has to be accepted is that Singapore deserved their place in yesterday's World Cup qualifying draw in Rio de Janeiro.
Sure, Singapore could have been beaten had it not been for their naturalised players, who between them scored all the goals in the 6-4 aggregate win. Still, all is not lost as there were some positives for Malaysia despite the failure.
The players genuinely wanted to win, which was appreciated by the fans who packed the National Stadium to the brim. But this is where FAM failed and despite saying that it will investigate whether counterfeit tickets played a part, the national body is solely to blame for the chaos in the stands.
This could have been prevented had FAM limited the number of tickets individuals could buy but what was extremely disturbing were the events in the stadium. No doubt excited by the hype, many fans -- the writer included -- decided to bring their families but what they experienced not only have left a bitter taste but also a resolve to stay away from matches until FAM improves security aspects. Counterfeit tickets or not, security was FAM's responsibility and it was obvious that it was ill-equipped for such a turnout. If the grandstand tickets were not numbered, leading to hundreds standing on the walkways, one can only imagine what the situation was at the RM30 areas. FAM placed its faith in the hands of the police but they, other than ensuring there were no fights, were largely hapless. In fact, so stressed were the police personnel that fans who took toilet breaks or visited the concession stalls during halftime were initially prevented from returning to their seats as the gates had been shut to prevent more ticket holders from crowding the terraces. One highly-stressed looking policeman even questioned the need to visit the toilet! What was even more shocking was that bottled water was allowed to be brought into the stadium, leading to quite a few landing in the lower stands and on the stadium's running track. Even Indonesia, with its infamous Senayan Stadium crowd, has banned bottled water but, obviously, FAM saw no reason for this. However, FAM has to remember that all it takes to spark a stampede is a minor incident and lives can be lost. Crowd dispersal at the end of matches also needs to be improved and if FAM doesn't believe this is a problem, all it needs to do is take to social networking websites and and see for itself what the fans thought of security on Thursday. For many, Malaysia's elimination from the World Cup was tolerable -- especially after having lost the first leg 5-3, but the lack of planning and security weren't. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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