NST Online: Sports

Football / Malaysia Cup: Perak's challenge in disarray

Posted: 11 Sep 2011 04:58 PM PDT

2011/09/12
Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

Selangor's Fadzli Saari tries to silence the fans after scoring a brace against Police on Saturday. — Picture by Osman Adnan

THE love affair between former international Fadzli Saari and the Selangor fans is fast coming to an end.

The 500-odd paying fans vented their anger at Selangor's weak performance by hurling abuse at Fadzli despite the team's 2-0 victory over Police in a Malaysia Cup Group D match at Shah Alam Stadium on Saturday.

"Baik tak payah main," (Better still don't play) was among the abuse fans hurled at the 27-year-old midfielder-cum-striker at half time. Some of it were unprintable.

However, the abuse only inspired Fadzli and he scored a brace in the second half to earn Selangor their first victory in the competition.

Selangor coach K. Devan was upset with the attitude of some of the fans.

"Our fans need to be patient. We are trying our best and this victory is a good start. We need our fans at the stadiums as their support will motivate the players," said Devan at Shah Alam Stadium.

"Fadzli scored both Selangor goals despite a facial injury. He is at least trying to play good football. I believe he will return to his best soon."

On whether Saturday's win was a sign of Selangor's Malaysia Cup resurrection, Devan said his team are not at their near best yet.

"We cannot predict much after just one victory. My players, no doubt, are showing more commitment but they are still far from their best. We need more wins to get back on track.

"We scored only two goals from 16 chances today (Saturday). Like I said before, we do not have strikers but those that I have are doing their best," he said.

Devan, however, admitted he has not found his team's winning line-up.

"The source of our problem is the strike force. I've been trying out defenders and midfielders in attack after Safee (Sali) left. It is tough but my players are beginning to show their mettle," he added.

Selangor continue their Malaysia Cup campaign against high-riding Kuala Lumpur at Selayang Stadium tomorrow.

Bowling: Back to drawing board

Posted: 11 Sep 2011 04:56 PM PDT

2011/09/12
Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

National coach Holloway Cheah will have to outline a new training programme for future world meets.

JACQUELINE Jenelee Sijore may have emerged as Asia's only gold medallist at the Women's World Championships, which ended yesterday, but the performance of the national team could have been better if they had conquered the tricky medium oiling lanes in Hong Kong.

The 19-year-old, who was promoted to the elite squad only six months ago, outbowled some of the world's best in the opening day singles on long oil to win the gold medal.

Jacqueline's promising start, however, failed to inspire her teammates as they could not adapt to the medium conditions.

Despite the failure to win more medals, Malaysia made progress in the world meet by finishing third ahead of defending champions South Korea and Singapore in the overall medal tally but their Asian rivals won more silver and bronze.

The United States were crowned overall champions with a haul of four gold and three bronze medals followed by Denmark (1-0-3), Malaysia (1-0-0), Singapore (0-3-1) and South Korea (0-1-1).

Former world champion Esther Cheah, Zandra Aziela Ibrahim Hakimi, Zatil Iman Abdul Ghani and Sharon Koh were the bowlers national coach Holloway Cheah were counting on to make an impression but all faltered.

Debutante Si Li Jane was Malaysia's worst performer as she could hardly impose herself on the world meet, which is her second straight failure following her poor showing at last December's Guangzhou Asian Games.

Li Jane, a former national champion, is unstoppable on her day but lacks the confidence in major competitions.

Holloway will need to return to the drawing board to outline a proper training programme to help his bowlers master all possible oiling patterns for future world meets.

"We won a gold medal with a mixed squad of senior and youth bowlers ... of course, we could have done better but we won a world title and that matters," said team manager Cheah Ban Cheng from Hong Kong yesterday.

"We have finally done better than the Koreans in a major competition after such a long time. I can confidently say we have progressed. Everyone in the team worked hard on their game for this event."

"Singapore, however, have emerged as our new threat. We must keep an eye on them especially with the Indonesia Sea Games around the corner," he added.

On Korea's dismal performance, Ban Cheng said they could not handle the pressure.

"The Korean cycle is probable coming to an end after dominating Asian and world-level competitions for over the past couple of years," added Ban Cheng.

Shannon Pluhoswky of the US created history by becoming the first bowler to win four gold medals in the world meet by defeating Singapore's Daphne Tan 3-1 (300-226, 219-238, 299-234, 223-191) in the Masters final yesterday.

Denmark's Mai Ginge Jensen and Germany's Nadine Geibler, both losing semi-finalists, were the bronze medallists.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Ahad, 11 September 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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