Suryani best bet for Manchester

28/12/2001

NUR SURYANI Taibi of Perak, 19, shot down her first gold in the Tun Haniff
Trophy at the Subang Shooting Range yesterday.
Although her grand total of 489.1 points in the air rifle is still far
off Nurul Hudda Baharin's national record of 496.7 done in February this
year, Suryani is almost a certain bet for the Manchester Commonwealth
Games next year.
The Tun Haniff Cup is part of the selection process for the Commonwealth
Games and there will be three more local tournaments next year for Suryani
to consolidate her position in the Commonwealth Games squad.
Air rifle record holder Nurul could only manage a poor 476.7 points
yesterday and she finished eighth in the event.
At the Tun Tan Siew Sin Trophy and the SportExcel-NSC-NSAM-JSA Junior
championships at the Subang Shooting Range recently, Suryani bagged a
total of seven gold medals and a smallbore rifle three position record
with 566 points. The old mark of 565 was done by Lim I Vern of Selangor in
April this year.
Yesterday, top-notch shooter Irina Maharani from Selangor also failed to
shine as she was pipped to the sport pistol gold by Sarawak shooter
Bibiana Ng.
Bibiana fired a grand total of 671.8 points while Irina had 671.6.
However, Irina's national record of 679.5 done in April last year still
stands.
In the men's event, Mohamed Imran Zakaria of Armed Forces is slowly
getting back into form as he fired 682.4 for gold in the air rifle. But he
is still far off the national mark of 692.3 done by Abdul Mutalib Razak in
1997.
RESULTS: Men - Free Pistol Individual: 1 Baharuddin Hashim (Kel)
620.6pts, 2 Mohamed Hashim Desa (Police) 614.8, 3 Mohamed Rahimi Yassin
(Armed Forces) 609.4.
Free Pistol Team: 1 Police 1,539 points (Mohamed Hashim Desa 527, Abdul
Rahim Rajuli 506, Marzuki Man 506); 2 Kelantan 1,511 (Baharuddin Hashim
529, Wan Abdul Rahman 493, Zakaria Ishak 489); 3 Armed Forces 1,496
(Rahimi Yassin 523, Alais Neek Sulong 489, Norazhar Mat Nawi 484).
Air Rifle Individual: 1 Mohamed Emran Zakaria 682.4, 2 Mohamed Zainul
Akmal Azmi (Kel) 681.4, 3 Mohamed Hameleay Mutalib (Sel) 679.8.
Air Rifle Team: 1 Armed Forces 1,734 (Emran Zakaria 585, Azahari
Abdullah 576, Mohamed Sabiki Din 573); 2 Selangor 1,727 (Hameleay Mutalib
580, Ivan Jayavenkatesh Rao 578, Wang Wen Chuen 569); 3 Kelantan 1,707
(Mohamed Zainul Akmal Azmi 582, Khairulnizam Sidek 569, Asri Mohamed 556).
Women - Air Rifle Individual: 1 Nur Suryani Taibi (Pk) 489.1, 2 Lim I
Vern (Sel) 485.5, 3 Joanne Ng Sook ee (Sel) 483.6.
Air Rifle Team: 1 Selangor 1,141 (Lim I Vern 388, Mashita Ramli 382,
Norhidayah Ramli 371); 2 Police 1,140 (Nur Ain Chew Abdullah 384, Nurul
Hudda Baharin 378, Asmayuzie Mat Amin 378); 3 Perak 1,133 (Nur Suryani
Mohamed Taibi 388, Nur Husna Sharuddin 377, Nik Nur Amir Mat Taha 368).
Sport Pistol Individual: 1 Bibiana Ng (Sar) 671.8, 2 Irina Maharani
(sel) 671.6, 3 Kamisah Abdul Jalal (Police) 661.1.
Sport Pistol Team: 1 Kelantan 1,658 (Norshita Mohamed 567, Rohayu Yusof
549, Suzana Mohamed 542); 2 Police 1,630 (Kamisah Abdul Jalal 561,
Rohayati Mohamed 547, Norazlina Abdul Manan 522); 3 Perak 1,622 (Leong Wai
Si 542, Noor Asmah Ishak 540, Nur Fatihah Zolkefie 540).
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)

Women take the lion's share

26/12/2001

THE National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM) surpassed their four-
gold target for the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games, but that does not mean they
had a great year.
They need to do something, fast, because the men have been firing blanks
and it is their women shooters who have been doing well at the range.
Though the team had exceeded the target set by the National Sports
Council (NSC) by winning six gold medals in the Sea Games, five came from
the women shooters.
Irina Maharani, Bibiana Ng and Suefarinawaty won, among them, four gold
medals.
Malaysia's women rifle squad - Nurul Hudda Baharin, Roslina Bakar and
Nur Suryani Taibi - won the gold medal in the three position 50m event.
Hasli Izwan Amir saved the men's squad the blushes when he won the gold
medal in rapid fire pistol by setting a Games record.
Before the Sea Games, the national shooters returned from the South-East
Asian Shooting Association (SEASA) tournament in Bangkok with eight gold
medals and expectations were high.
The week-long regional tournament saw shooters, preparing for the Sea
Games in September, winning eight gold out of 17 events offered so their
performance at the KL Sea Games was nothing to shout about.
It was not a productive year for the shooters and they hope to do better
next year when they compete in the Manchester Commonwealth Games and the
Asian Games in Pusan.
NSAM have already named their training squad for the Commonwealth and
Asian Games next year.
They are Mohd Emran Zakaria, Mohd Zaki Din, Mohd Hameleay Mutalib, Hasli
Hizuan Amir, Azmi Osman and Hamdan Rahmat, Roslina Bakar, Suryani Mohd
Taibi, Nur Daliah, Nurul Hudda Baharin, Nur Suefarinawati Affendy, Irina
Maharani and Bibiana Ng.
All the shooters were in the Sea Games squad, except for Azmi and Hamdan
who were selected based on their outstanding performance at several
championships including the Langkawi Full Bore Challenge 2001 at the
Langkawi International Shooting Range (Lisram) in September.
Azmi and Hamdan are from Unit B of the Special Assault Forces Team.
The two will join six other shooters and train at Lisram for the
Commonwealth Games to be held in Manchester, England, from July 25 to Aug
4.
The shooters will also compete in the New Zealand National Shooting
Championships from Jan 4 and the World Full Bore Championships in South
Africa in April as well as the Bisley Championships in England in July.
They will continue their training in England until the Commonwealth
Games begins.
Participation in these championships would give them wide exposure and
prepare them adequately for the Manchester Games.
Hopefully, they would yield better results next year.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)

Games gold nothing to shout about

25/12/2001

CAN a Sea Games gold be considered as success for the hockey squad?
We will be the laughing stock of the world if we decide to gloat on the
Kuala Lumpur Sea Games gold because Malaysia have regularly seen action at
the World Cup and Olympics level.
So, while millions of ringgit have been pumped into hockey, for
tournaments and overseas Test and friendly matches, the year 2001 can be
considered as a big flop.
And some see it as a bad omen leading to the 2002 Kuala Lumpur World Cup
on Feb 24-Mar 9.
The most humiliating moment for the fans was when Malaysia finished
bottom of the table in the Azlan Shah Cup in August.
Malaysia were so pathetic that the fans just refused to travel to the
stadium and watch them play and although it was a star-studded tournament,
the stands remained empty.
The Azlan Shah Cup failed to draw crowds despite the presence of six of
the top seven teams in the world.
No one will argue about the quality of performance by the teams, except
for Malaysia, with big names like Sohail Abbas and Oliver Domke. Still,
hockey fans in the country preferred to stay away.
Except for the first weekend which featured the Malaysia-India and
India- Pakistan matches, the other fixtures, including the exciting final
involving Germany and South Korea, received lukewarm response.
At the recent Champions Challenge, it was the same story. Malaysia
started well by winning three matches against Japan, Belgium and India,
but lost their remaining matches against Argentina, twice, and South
Africa to finish fourth.
The fans, numbering around 200, except for the Malaysia-India match
where around 5,000 turned up, stayed away from the National Hockey Stadium
in Bukit Jalil again even though good hockey was played in the Challenge
and the tickets were only priced at RM3 and RM5.
Money does not matter when the team is doing well, but the fans have
been disappointed on so many occassions, that they simply refuse to
support the team and don't be surprised if the stands remain empty even if
the Malaysia Hockey Federation (MHF) decides to open the gates for the
Six-Nation in January involving the likes of Australia, New Zealand,
Pakistan and defending World Cup champions Holland.
Just when everyone thought that the under-18 team, hastily assembled for
the Asian Youth Hockey tournament, sank to an all-time low by losing to
Uzbekistan in the semifinals, the national juniors decided to go one-up by
playing like novices in the Junior World Cup in Hobart, Tasmania in
October.
Our future was on display at both the Asian Youth and the Junior World
Cup, and while not many expected them to do well in both the tournaments,
a bigger number did not expect them to land flat on their faces - on both
occassions.
In the under-18 Asian Youth tournament, Uzbekistan with no previous
experience playing on artificial turf, beat favourites South Korea and
held Bangladesh to a draw in their run to the final.
The squad, which is made up entirely of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Sports College students from the State of Andijon, came into the
tournament with zero expectations, and only one set of jerseys, but went
home feeling like champions.
The team is more accustomed to playing on an 18-year-old bumpy and
grassless pitch at their college but hit the ground running when unleashed
at the Azlan Shah Stadium's astroturf pitch in Ipoh.
Uzbekistan humiliated Malaysia in the semis when they won 4-2 on
penalties as the match was tied 2-2 after regulation time.
It does not matter thet Uzbekistan were hammered by India in the final,
they still celebrated like champions, and they deserve heavy praise for
putting up a spirited display while Malaysia, pampered with state-of-the-
art training facilities at their doorstep, had to bury their faces in the
sand like an ostrich.
In the Junior World Cup, yet again the future of hockey in Malaysia took
a severe beating when they finished 12th in the 16 team tournament.
Ireland, Scotland, Chile and Canada were the teams which finished below
Malaysia in the Junior World Cup while the Indian juniors notched another
milestone in their comeback into mainstream hockey by clinching the gold.
So, undoubtedly, Malaysia were the whipping boys in the year 2001 and,
many feel, that if they were not the hosts of the 2002 World Cup, Malaysia
would not have qualified for the prestigious tournament.
But all is not lost yet, they have shown that they can win three matches
in a row in the Champions Challenge, and must now show the world in
February that they are not destined to be the whipping boys in hockey for
the next 10 years because the rest of the world's juniors are miles ahead.
India's juniors, for one, had a good year because they won the under-18
Asian Cup, the Junior World Cup and ended the year by being promoted into
the elite Champions Trophy.
On Jan 18, when the Six-Nation begins, we can only keep our fingers
crossed and hope that Malaysia will make a resounding comeback.
If not, the World Cup will be another feather in Malaysia's
organisational capabilities, while the Sea Games gold will become their
performance yardstick.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)

MHF expects ticket sales to pick up soon

25/12/2001

THE countdown to the 2002 Kuala Lumpur World Cup reads 62 days, but local
ticket sales have been anything but encouraging.
There has been numerous enquiries from the local fans but hardly any
made bookings to watch 16 of the world's best battle for the coveted
trophy.
"Yes, ticket sales has been very slow but we expect sales to pick up
after the festival season ends. The World Cup came back to Malaysia after
27 years and I am sure hockey fans in the country will not want to miss
out on this golden opportunity to watch top grade hockey at their own
backyard," said Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary S. Satgunam
yesterday.
Axcess tickets, the company entrusted to sell the World Cup tickets,
were unwilling to disclose the total sales conducted after two months, but
a source in the company said the situation was bad.
"I fail to understand why the Malaysian public is still holding back
although the World Cup is only two months away.
"Normally, an event of this magnitute would have been almost sold out by
now," said the source.
He said the overseas bookings have been good with Holland and Hong Kong
making group enquiries.
"We have had more enquiries from overseas fans than Malaysians
eventhough we gave a 40 per cent discount on bookings for local fans
untill the end of December," he said.
Seven days more and the offer will no longer be valid, but still, it
looks like the Malaysian public is adopting a wait-and-see atitude before
making a commitment.
The cheapest ticket to watch one match in the KL World Cup is RM25
(behind both the goalposts) but for a family of four, it will mean RM100
to watch one match.
But the poor response to watch hockey is nothing new as even during the
Azlan Shah Cup in August, where six of the top seven teams in the world
were down in Malaysia, the stands of the National Hockey Stadium were
empty for most of the matches, including the exciting final between
Germany and South Korea.
The ticket prices for the Champions Challenge on Dec 7-15 at the
National Hockey Stadium in Kuala Lumpur were set at RM3 and RM5 to draw in
the crowd, but only a handful of fans saw most of the preliminary matches
and the final between India and South Africa saw only about 5,000 fans.
The MHF failed to make any money out of gate collections for the
Challenge so they are hiking the ticket prices for the Six-Nation on Jan
18-26 at the National Hockey Stadium to RM5 and RM10.
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and World Cup
champions Holland will play in the Six-Nation to warm-up for the World Cup
and forking out RM5 to watch the top teams play is not too much to ask
from the local fans.
But if they still choose to keep away from the stadium during the Six-
Nation, the prospect of having capacity crowds during the World Cup is
surely a doomed one.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)

Nadri sets Megalanes on fire

24/12/2001

MOHAMED Nadri of Selangor was yesterday crowned as the Boys' Open champion
in the Grand Finals of the SportExcel-Milo-NSC Junior bowling at the
Megalanes in Sunway Pyramid.
Nadri challenged round robbin leader Aaron Kong of Penang and walked
away with the crown after rolling down 258 pins in the step ladder sudden
death.
In the Girl's Open, Denise Hee of Penang upset round robbin leader Voon
Kim Ling, also of Penang, when she knocked down 196 pins in sudden-death.
Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) secretary Sidney Tung said he
is quite happy with the performance of the juniors.
"We had tremendous response in the six legs leading into the Grand
Finals and we actually had to turn away some young bowlers because they
were not up to the mark.
"We started the SportExcel circuit in 1994 and it has been steadily
growing in number and quality over the years. At some of the legs, there
were about 270 bowlers and their standard was very encouraging," said
Tung.
To overcome the problem of overcrowding, MTBC will hold a qualifying
round next year to trim down the number of bowlers.
"Since the response has been overwhelming, we might have to hold an
elimination round before the actual tournament next year to make things
logistically more realistic because some of the bowling centres in the
country cannot accommodate too large a number," said Tung.
And to make sure the winners of the Grand Finals keep themselves active
in bowling, SportExcel will hand out personal grants.
"We have been supporting bowling over the years and their circuit has
shown tremendous success because all the present national bowlers had
grown up with SportExcel.
"Nadri, the winner of the Boys Open, can expect our support to make him
a better bowler in the future," said SportExcel executive director Teng
Mui Ngee after the prize presentation ceremony.
Nadri, 16, will take one step at a time and his next target is to make
the Selangor Malaysia Games squad.
"I still have a long way to go before I can dream of making the national
squad. My next target is the Malaysia Games gold," said Nadri.
Nadri, who won the Penang, Selangor and Johor legs of the SportExcel
circuit, might also be enrolled into a special MTBC-National Sports
Council project.
"We do not wan't to lose budding talent like Nadri, so we will propose
to the NSC to have an elite junior squad for bowlers like him. The elite
squad will be a feeder for the national juniors and in that way, we will
always have a steady stream of young bolwers for the future," said Tung.
RESULTS - Boys' Open Round Robbin: 1 Aaron Kong (Pg) 4,252 pinfalls, 2
Hafizul Hafiz (PK) 4,158, 3 Poh Yee Min (Pg) 4,117, 4 Mohamed Nadri (Sel)
4,039.
Step Ladder Grand Finals Champion: Mohamed Nadri bt Aaron Kong (258-
202).
Graded Round Robbin: 1 Hazri Hazali (KL) 3,923, 2 Mohamed Khairul (Kel)
3,860, 3 Mohamed Hafiz (Ked) 3,844, 4 Johan Jamaluddin (Sel) 3,840.
Step Ladder Grand Champion: Hazri Hazali bt Johan Jamaluddin (194-140).
Girls' Open Round Robbin: 1 Voon Kim Ling (Pg) 3,985, 2 Zandra Aziela
(Sel) 3,888, 3 Denise Hee (Pg) 3,874, 4 Esther Cheah (Sel) 3,784.
Step Ladder Grand Champion: Denise Hee bt Voon Kim Ling (196-160).
Graded Round Robbin: 1 Sharon Koh (Sel) 3,768, 2 Tay Li Neo (KL) 3,576,
3 Vivien Kelly (Sab) 3,557, 4 Farah Asilah (Joh) 3,555.
Step Ladder Grand Champion: Sharon Koh bt Farah Asilah (188-182).
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)