NST Online: Sports

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 05:14 PM PDT

2011/09/13
Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

The Malaysian badminton team ended their campaign in the Commonwealth Youth Championships with a haul of four gold, two silver and one bronze.

ZULFADLI Zulkiffli received a boost ahead of next month's World Junior Championships by winning the boys' singles title at the Commonwealth Youth Championships in Isle of Man on Sunday.

Zulfadli defeated India's Sameer Verma 21-16, 17-21, 21-15 in a nail biting final for his second title of the year after his triumph at the Asian Junior Championships in July.

The 18-year-old, sponsored by KLRC, hopes to continue his momentum in upcoming 'Open' tournaments before he leads the boys' squad at the world junior meet, scheduled for Oct 28-Nov 6, in Taiwan.

Malaysia added three more gold medals in the boys' and women's doubles and mixed doubles at the Isle of Man.

Nelson Heg-Teo Ee Yi overcame a tough first game before beating England's Ryan McCarthy-Tom Wolfenden 24-22, 21-16 in the boys' doubles final while Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean beat compatriots Sonia Cheah-Yang Li Lian 21-17, 21-8 for the women's doubles title.

Ee Yi and Mei Kuan then teamed up to win the mixed doubles title by edging India's Srikanth Kidambi-Maneesha Kukkpalli 18-21, 21-16, 21-8.

Malaysia failed to earn a clean sweep when Sonia went down 22-20, 21-8 to India's top seed Pusarla Sindhu in the girls' singles final while teammate Li Lian lost 21-16, 22-20 to Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in the bronze medal match.

National junior coach Yap Kim Hock was delighted with his shuttlers' performance in the competition.

"We were not expecting seven medals from badminton. I hope they will build from their performance here for next month's world junior meet," said Kim Hock.

The Malaysian contingent ended their campaign in the Commonwealth Youth Championships with a haul of four gold, two silver and one bronze.

England were the overall champions with 37-24-16 followed by Australia (29-38-17) and South Africa (8-7-15) from seven sports.

Obituary: Negri mourns the demise of two internationals

Posted: 12 Sep 2011 05:08 PM PDT

TWO double internationals from Negri Sembilan, M. Joseph, 77, and Peter van Huizen, 75, have died.

Peter died on Sunday, while Joseph died yesterday morning.

Both were a rare breed who played hockey and football for the country, something present day sportsmen can't even dream of doing.

Peter only started playing hockey when he was 20, and that too by chance as he happened to be at the Negri Sembilan Padang and was invited to play for the Negri Sembilan Ceylonese Association (NSCA).

He went on to become a pillar between the posts in hockey and was among the 18 young men who represented Malaysia at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo. Peter was voted world's Best Goalkeeper in 1956.

He also played football for Negri Sembilan Indians Association (NSIA) and Seremban Rangers, the Negri state team in 1952 and represented Malaysia at the 1959 SEAP Games in Bangkok.

Peter then started coaching Seremban Municipal Council in 1985 and among the goalkeepers he spotted and trained were Hamdan Hamzah, who played for the National Juniors in 1989, Osbert Pinto (a winger turned goalkeeper) and recent former international and goalkeepers' coach Nasihin Nubli.

And Joseph was also made of the same stuff, as he too represented the country in hockey and football.

He represented then Malaya in football from 1947 to 1953, while in hockey, he played in the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games and in the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games.

After he retired, Joseph or fondly called 'One-eyed Jo', started coaching in the early 1980s and under his coaching were G. Torairaju, Tony Chia and Zainuddin Hussein.

Joseph kept himself active by playing in the NS League for NSCA as well as the state veterans' squad.

Negri Sembilan HA secretary P. Tamilselvan said both Peter and Joseph were prides of the state.

"Both of them were pillars of society as well as sports and it is a great loss to the state," said Tamilselvan.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Isnin, 12 September 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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