Euro pros grab the lion's share

11/01/1999

THE US$750,000 (RM2.85 million) Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open at the
Saujana Golf and Country Club on Feb 4-7 is expected to be an explosive
affair with 65 players from the European PGA Tour teeing off.
So what does that hold for the local boys?
Not much, judging by the 10 entries the Malaysian Professional Golfers
Association (MPGA) will submit based on the 1998 MPGA Order of Merit.
"We would be happy if more than six locals make the cut and if possible,
some of them finish in the top 20," said MPGA general manager Brig Jen (R)
Ron S. Mahendran.
"Even this might be asking too much but since the Open is being held at
the familiar Saujana greens, the Europeans should card good scores."
The Malaysian Open which began in 1962, broke new ground when it became
the fourth leg of the lucrative European Tour.
Until last year, the Open had been part of the Asian Tour.
When the Open was with the Asian Tour, 20 locals enjoyed the benefit of
taking part but with its merger with the European Tour, only 10 will be
allowed.
Ali Kadir, who topped the 1998 MPGA Order Of Merit with wins at the PFP
Classic in Johor Baru and the Hitachi Penang Masters for a total of 1,597
points, is the likely candidate to lead the Malaysian challenge.
But Ali has had some bad luck at the Open and did not make the cut last
year.
P. Gunasegaran, Danny Chia and veteran M. Ramayah are some of the other
notable locals who will vie for the Open glory based on the Order of
Merit.
"To prepare for the Malaysian Open, they have been playing regularly at
Saujana and on Jan 21-24, there will be a pre-qualifying round at Tanjung
Puteri Golf Club in Johor," said Mahendran.
"Only Ali will be absent because of Hari Raya."
After Tanjung Puteri, Gunasegaran, Ramayah and Chia will take part in
the Andersen Consulting Championship in Singapore and on Jan 28-31 most of
the locals will head for Myanmar to take part in an APGA Tour leg.
Organisers of the Open have received favourable replies from some of the
top European Tour players and are still hopeful of securing No 1 Colin
Montgomerie.
Of the "big three" from Europe, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke are sure
bets.
Westwood, winner of the Malaysian Open in 1997, and voted European Tour
Golfer of the Year last year for an excellent seven titles worldwide, and
Clarke, winner of the Benson and Hedges International Open, were the first
to confirm their entries.
India's Jeev Milka Singh has replied favourably while the other likely
names to grace the tournament are Scotland's Sam Torrance and Andrew
Coltart, Ireland's Paul McGinley, Stuart Cage of England and Alexander
Cejka of Germany.
Frankie Minoza will lead Asia's challenge.
(END)

No room for Hadi and Paidiya

09/01/1999

SEVEN first timers will don the national colours in the three-match
playing tour of the United Arab Emirates next week.
Yesterday, national coach Abdul Rahman Ibrahim dropped goalkeeper Abdul
Hadi Tahir and striker Paidiya Rao from the 22 in centralised training.
Sarawak utility player Nazri Yunus, however, pulled out for personal
reasons.
The seven newcomers in the squad are Zuraimi Hassan, Mohamed Noor Derus,
Moey Kok Hong, Shamsul Amri, Ahmad Shahrul, Ahmad Shahruddin Rosdi and G.
Shanmugam.
"We selected 20 players for the UAE friendlies but Nazri approached me
last night (Thursday) and said his kneecap is still bothering him. He
would like to be excused until after the Dunhill Cup in Vietnam on Jan
29," said Rahman.
"I told him to take a rest but assured him he may be recalled when we
make another selection."
Team manager Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Omar said in Ipoh those picked
were expected to give their best in the three friendlies.
The squad, who will arrive in Dubai in the UAE today, will play their
first match on Monday, the second on Tuesday and the third on Friday
before leaving for home on Saturday.
Raja Ahmad said the third phase of centralised training will start after
Hari Raya, on Jan 21, with new trainees to be included.
"The Dunhill Cup in Vietnam will give us the opportunity to gauge the
players" abilities," he said.
Rahman said although Hadi is a more experienced goalkeeper compared to
Zuraimi, he failed to shine during centralised training.
"So I had to drop him," he said.
"I am looking for players who can show 100 per cent commitment during
training to form the national team and will not hesitate to drop
experienced players who take it easy."
Hadi played for Selangor and is an experienced hand while Zuraimi, who
played for Pahang, warmed the bench as a reserve for much of last season.
The UAE tour will be tough for him.
"This is still a training squad and new faces will be selected before
the Dunhill Cup (where Malaysia are grouped together with South Korea,
Russia and Singapore)."
The players, including nine officials, left for Dubai yesterday.
Rahman said he is not interested in wins but rather team spirit.
"This is an opportunity to assess their capabilities and skills. I'll
not appoint a team captain yet but rotate the job and wait for the best
man to claim it."
The squad: Azmin Azram, Zuraimi Hassan (goalkeepers), P. Saravanan,
Khairul Anuar, Anuar Jusoh, Mohamed Noor Derus, A. Ganeson, Moey Kok Hong,
Shamsul Amri, Faizal Zainal, Abdul Ghani Malek, B. Rajnikandh, Ahmad
Shahrul, K. Sanbagamaran, Chee Wan Hoe, Yusri Che Lah, Ahmad Shahruddin
Rosdi, Zami Mohamed Nor, G. Shanmugam.
(END)

Brunei will be good hunting

03/01/1999

THE Brunei Sea Games on Aug 7-15 is expected to produce a golden harvest
for Malaysian athletes who are preparing to top the overall standings at
the 2001 Sea Games in Kuala Lumpur.
"The Brunei Sea Games will showcase 21 sports and Malaysia are strong
gold contenders in almost all, so we can safely say it would be a fruitful
outing," said Olympic Council of Malaysia secretary Sieh Kok Chi.
At the 1997 Jakarta Sea Games, Malaysia won 55 gold, 68 silver and 75
bronze medals to finish third overall behind champions Indonesia and
Thailand.
From that haul, 16 sweet golds were delivered by athletics, crowning
Malaysia the overall track and field champions.
Brunei are expected to be an equally good hunting ground for the track
and field team.
"Squash, bowling, lawn bowls, athletics, gymnastics and hockey (men and
women) golds should belong to Malaysia if there are no upsets, so we are
looking at a very good overall finish in Brunei," said Sieh.
Although the Malaysian tally was way short of Indonesia's 194-gold haul,
the medals will be distributed more evenly in Brunei because of the
limited number of sports being played.
But there was a setback to Malaysia's hopes where shooting and
basketball are concerned because Brunei will only host the men's event in
basketball while skeet events will only be held in shooting.
It is understood some of the events were scrapped as Brunei does have
the facilities to host them. Furthermore, the 21 sports marked for Brunei
are final and the Sea Games Federation will not entertain any appeal for
more inclusions.
"Our women cagers contributed one gold in Jakarta while the shooters
delivered a handful of medals but in Brunei, the events will not be hosted
"However, it is only a minor dent to our hopes," said Sieh.
Taekwondo, karate, swimming and some of the minor sports are also
expected to fare better but cycling and soccer are not expected to shine.
Cycling told everyone how good they were before they left for Jakarta
but did not live up to expectations. In fact, they had to bank on veteran
Rosman Alwi to salvage some pride. At 37, Rosman has probably competed in
his last Sea Games.
If cycling disappointed, soccer was a disaster.
Confirmed sports: Athletics, badminton, basketball (men), billiards and
snooker, lawn bowls, boxing, cycling, soccer, golf, hockey (men and
women), karate, silat; sepak takraw (men) shooting, squash, swimming,
table-tennis, taekwondo, tennis, tenpin bowling, traditional boat race.
(END)

Cagers back to square one

02/01/1999

THE Malaysian women's basketball team, already facing a dearth of capable
substitutes, will not have the services of three key players for the third
South-East Asian Basketball (SEABA) championship in Bangkok in March.
The trio, who played a pivotal role in bringing home the 1997 Sea Games
gold from Jakarta after a lapse of 12 years, have decided to retire from
the sport.
"Chong Siew Kian and Wong Sow Foong quit the national team soon after
the Malaysian Basketball League (MBL) while Chew Kun Nee left for the
United States in August to further her education," said national coach Tan
See Wah yesterday.
The Malaysian women defeated the Philippines in the final of the Sea
Games to give the women's game a much needed boost, but it looks like the
national team are back to square one for now.
Tan, however, begs to differ.
"Although the three players would have made a great difference to the
team, we still have a handful of juniors who can fill the vacuum.
"Their absence does not mean we won't have a fighting chance of winning
the SEABA title."
In the last championship, also in Bangkok, Malaysia finished third
behind champions Philippines and Thailand.
"Since we beat the Philippines at the Sea Games, they will surely go all
out to avenge that defeat. The women will have to dig deeper into their
reserves to become the South-East Asian champions," said Tan.
The Malaysian Amateur Basketball Association (MABA) will use the SEABA
championship to prepare for the Brunei Sea Games although there might be a
snag there, too.
"We are still not sure whether Brunei will include women's basketball as
one of the Sea Games events. We have yet to receive confirmation from
them.
"But we will continue training and competing at international events to
be on the safe side."
As part of the Sea Games preparations, the women cagers will take part
in the 18th Asian championship in Japan on May 2-9.
(END)

German coach Lissek agrees to remain as consultant

01/01/1999

PAUL Lissek has agreed to continue as consultant to chart the future of
Malaysian hockey.
"Although his contract ended after the Commonwealth Games, the NSC feel
that hockey is one of the sports which requires the assistance of a
foreign coach, so we re-hired him," said National Sports Council director-
general Datuk Mazlan Ahmad yesterday.
With the German coach still in the picture, Stephen van Huizen is
expected to revert to a stand-in role.
Van Huizen, who was promoted to coach the Asian Games team in Bangkok
last month, had played second fiddle to foreign coaches since Terry
Walsh's days in 1988.
When Walsh left in 1992, van Huizen was the stand-in coach for a few
months before Volker Knapp took over. Van Huizen was again relegated to
assistant coach.
After Knapp's contract ended last May, van Huizen assisted Lissek in
preparing the team for the Commonwealth Games, where Malaysia reached the
final.
Mazlan said he has not made any decision on van Huizen's problem with
his employers, the Bank of Commerce.
"But NSC are keen to have van Huizen around as he is the most capable
coach to carry out Lissek's blueprint," said Mazlan.
Prior to the Asian Games, Mazlan said he had promised van Huizen a two-
year contract regardless of the outcome.
"It's only fair to give the coach some time before judging his
performance. After all, we gave Knapp four years to prove himself and when
we were not satisfied with his performance, we did not renew his contract.
"Similarly, we will have to give Stephen some time ... at least two
years."
Lissek was to have returned to prepare Malaysia for the Asian Games but
after Germany's poor showing at the Champions' Trophy in Lahore, the
German Hockey Federation told Lissek to spend more time with the team.
Germany finished last Lahore.
"We consider ourselves lucky because Lissek has agreed to spend some
time with our boys although he has a tight schedule with the German side."
When Lissek is around, the players seem to give their best. S. Kuhan
found out the hard way that the German coach does not believe in history.
As part of his preparation for the World Cup, Kuhan was told to execute
at least 100 penalty corner flicks a day after national training session.
He scored six goals, and all came from penalty corners in the World Cup
qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur last March.
An when he could not maintain 100 flicks a day for the Commonwealth
Games training, Kuhan was told to step aside by Lissek.
(END)