Yani aims to go seven-up

Paula Creamer (in pink) watches as a boy makes a shot during the coaching clinic at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club yesterday.

WORLD No 1 Yani Tseng will look to extend her dominance of women’s golf when she chases her seventh tournament win of the year against a star-studded field at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
The Taiwanese player, 22, is full of confidence after already winning six tournaments this year, including last week’s LPGA Hana Bank Championship in South Korea.
She is the top draw at the US$1.9 million (RM6 million) event, which tees off in Kuala Lumpur today, but will need to contend with a top-flight field that includes nine of the world’s top 10 golfers.
“Obviously, I’m feeling confident, especially after winning in South Korea last week,” she said.
Yani, who is the youngest golfer — man or woman — to win five majors, is the undisputed No 1 on the Rolex Rankings. She attributed her form to her enjoyment of the game.
“People say I have had a good year, but I just enjoy the game and I think that’s why I’ve been doing well,” said Yani, who won this year’s LPGA Championship and the Women’s British Open.
“Every day, every hole, I just focus and try my best.
“For me, I can easily get over not playing well one week and focus on the next tournament.”
The Malaysian event, now in its second year, will also feature top 10 players Suzann Petterson, Cristie Kerr, Na Yeon Choi, Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Ai Miyazato, and Paula Creamer.
Michelle Wie, ranked No 14 in the world, and defending champion Jimin Kang also have entered the four-day stroke play event, which has no cut and is being played at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (KLGCC).
Cristie, the American World No 3,who finished 35th in South Korea, admitted she has yet to fully recover from a tendonitis injury to her right wrist that is causing her severe pain.
"It is still not 100 per cent right but I’m managing the pain,” said the former World No 1.
“I’ve played through a broken rib, I’ve played through knee issues, neck issues, but this is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced but I’m managing it.”
Meanwhile, Yani, the Sultanah of Kedah Haminah Hamidun and her teammates, Datuk Aishah Ahmad and Puan Sri Lee Hong Jegathesan took second place in the Pro-Am competition yesterday.
The foursome shot a best net score of 49 but lost out on the top spot on countback to the team of Park Hee Young, Joe Carlos, Ho Kay Tat and Tan Thiam Hock.
In third place was Laura Davies and Tunku Puteri Intan Syafinaz, Ida Farhany and Ezani Bakar.
Former TV3 sports editor Abu Bakar Atan scored a hole-in-one on the Par 3 17th. — AFP

Top lady golfers chip in

(Left to right) Jean Chua, Paula Creamer, Jennifer Song, Cristie Kerr and Natalie Gulbis showing their support for the fight against breast cancer.

FOUR lady golfers have secured a string of birdies even before the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia tees off at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club (KLGCC) on Thursday, when they pledged a portion of their tournament winning towards research on breast cancer.
And yesterday the LPGA stars Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and Jennifer Song (all from the United States), visited the Sime Darby Medical Centre in Subang Jaya to officially launch the new Breast Care Centre.
The generous contribution from the Tour players, will be a warm welcome to the tournament charity, which will be running a study called More than A Mammo Programme together with Sime Darby Medical Centre Subang Jaya’s Breast Care Centre.
Last year’s inaugural Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia raised a total of around RM500,000 via the tournament’s ticket sales and the annual prestigious Gala Dinner.
The 2010 tournament donations were used to develop the Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (CARIF) Patient Nav igation Program, a decision aid to be an educational tool to essentially support patients.
On her thoughts about the visit, World No 8 on the Rolex Rankings, Creamer said: ““It has truly been wonderful visiting the Sime Darby Medical Centre, learning more about CARIF and what it does to contribute to breast cancer research and to improve survival for breast cancer patients in Malaysia.
“We have started the sponsorship process here via the ‘Pink Swing’ and I pledge to continue to do my part to spread the message, especially this week during the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.”
Kerr, who currently stands at World No 3, led the ribbon- cutting ceremony at the Centre.
Kerr, who turns 34 years old on Wednesday, founded “Birdies for Breast Cancer” in the US in 2003, a foundation which raises money through donations and an annual charity event. Kerr and Gulbis joined Michelle Wie in last year’s inaugural visit to the tournament charity’s main site.
Fellow American, Gulbis said: “Last year’s visit was a real eye-opener for me and I would like to thank everyone involved in allowing me to be part of this year’s opening of the new Breast Care Centre by the hospital. “
For more information on the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia 2011, please visit the event website - http://simedarbylpga malaysia.com/

Genda Singh calls it a day

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor with former national athletes (from right) Genda Singh, Moe Chin Kiat, Dattaya Muthiah, Safarrudin Mohd Zain, Mary Soo and Datuk M. Rajamani at the 1Malaysia Athletes Festive Celebration in Bukit Jalil yesterday. — Picture by Rosdan Wahid


FORMER national hammer thrower Genda Singh passed away at the Universiti Medical Center on Sunday night after a short illness. He was 89 years old.
He started competing for Malaya in 1960 and continued to be an active member of the national athletics team until he retired in 1977.
He was 55 years old then and he went on to win a bronze medal while nursing an injury during the SEAP Games held in Kuala Lumpur that year.
Genda is among those rare athletes of an era where sporting glory was the ultimate quest for the national stars.

UniKL-Maybank: Explosive encounter

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) will cruise into the semi-finals, that is a fact, but the other three last-eight matches of the TNB-Malaysia Hockey League are expected to go to the wire.
KLHC,who romped away with the Charity Shield and League title, are expected to maul Division One champions SSTMI-Thunderbolt to the tune of double digits in the two leg quarters which start tomorrow.
However, Maybank and UniKL are expected to be the closest as they drew 2-2 in the League, while Tenaga Nasional beat Yayasan Negri Sembilan 3-0.
The last quarters is between Sapura and Nur Insafi, and the League score of 7-1 in favour of Sapura should not be taken into account.
The Maybank-UniKL clash will be the most exciting, as both teams have some youthful talent on their side.
Maybank can also rely on experienced hands in Hairul Nizam and Zulhairi Hashim -- who have proven to be a deadly penalty corner battery.
“It will be close, so every chance that comes our way must not be wasted. I expect UniKL to play their usual fast attacking hockey, which might only allow us to rely on counter attacks for goals,” said Maybank coach Wallace Tan.
The fact that the University side used their speed effectively to rob two points off Maybank has not been forgotten by Wallace: “They did that (playing at a high tempo) with devastating effect in the League and my players now know that we can’t take them for granted as they have some talented youngsters who can’t be allowed to roam freely.”
UniKL, dogged by a doping scandal, hope to ride on their surprise fifth finish in the highly competitive League.
“We have had some issues, but that is all behind us as we prepare for the knock-our stage. Reaching the last four is our target now and to achieve it, we need to seal it in the first leg itself,” said UniKL team manager Amir Azhar.
“We are quite comfortable with playing Maybank, and our guide to upsetting them will be learning how they sidestepped Tenaga Nasional (Maybank won 2-1) and plug ging the loopholes in their strategy,” said Amir.
However, the winner of the Maybank-UniKL match will face a torrid semi-finals as they will surely meet KLHC.
The other half of the draw is much kinder to teams who advance to the semis.
WEDNESDAY -- Quarter-finals (first leg): KL Hockey Club v SSTMI-Thunderbolt (KLHA Stadium, 6pm), UniKL v May bank (National Stadium Pitch II, 4pm), Sapura v Nur Insafi (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Tenaga Nasional v Yayasan NS (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm)
FRIDAY (second leg): SSTMI-Thunderbolt v KL Hockey Club (KLHA Stadium, 6pm).
SATURDAY (second leg): Nur Insafi v Sapura (National Stadium Pitch 1, 6pm), Yayasan NS v Tenaga Nasional (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Maybank v UniKL (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm).

KLHC simply the best..

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) beat Sapura 5-1 to lift the TNB-Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division title at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil last night.
The unbeaten champions received RM60,000, while Sapura pocketed RM40,000 and third-placed Tenaga Nasional received RM30,000.
And double champions KLHC will have two 'rest days' in the Quarter-finals as they will play Division One champions SSTMI-Thunderbolt and the score should reach double-digit.
Sapura and will play seventh-place Nur Insafi.
"We have achieved two of our targets (Charity Shield and League title) and going into the Overall battle, my players will keep the same tempo and there will be no mercy against the Division One champions.
"We are dead serious about the knock-out stages, and will field our best even when playing against weaker sides," warned KLHC team manager George Koshy.
Yesterday, KLHC got their goals off Fitri Saari (27th), Razie Rahim (41st), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (45th), Ismail Abu (61st)and Amerullah Aziz (65th).
Sapura's consolation was scored by skipper S. Kuhan in the 57th minute.
Maybank ended fourth in the League when they beat Nur Insafi 7-4 in a highly entertaining match.
The Tigers were 3-0 up in the first 10 minutes off Zulhairi Hashim (second), Azrul Effendy (eighth) and Amirullah Zainol (ninth).
Nur Insafi pulled a goal back through Damandeep Singh in the 14th minute but Maybank restored their three goal advantage when Mohammad Syafiq Zain scored in the 24th minute.
Nur Insafi managed to score two more goals before the halftime break off Nur Hrsikesa (27th) and Damandeep (33rd) for a halftime score of 4-3 in favour of the bankers.
But the Tigers woke up from their slumber and a penalty corner conversion by Zulhairi in the 39th minute extended their lead to 5-3 before Hairul Nizam (45th) and Hafifihafiz Hanafi (46th) handed the win to Maybank.
Nur Insafi scored in the 54th minute through Damandeep to make the final score 7-4.


FINAL STANDINGS

PREMIER DIVISION

P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 8 8 0 0 45 12 24
Sapura 8 6 0 2 25 14 18
TNB 8 5 1 2 26 8 16
Maybank 8 4 1 3 23 16 13
UniKL 8 2 4 2 19 22 10
YNS 8 3 1 4 12 21 10
Nur Insafi 8 2 1 5 18 33 7
UiTM 8 0 3 5 7 27 3
Airod 8 0 1 7 11 33 1

Division One

P W D L F A Pts
T’bolt 8 4 4 0 22 17 16
Uniten 8 3 3 2 16 16 12
Ipoh CH 8 3 3 2 16 19 12
BJSS 8 2 3 3 19 13 9
UNIMAP 8 1 1 6 13 21 4

RESULTS: Premier Division: YNS 0 UiTM 0, Maybank 7 Nur Insafi 4, UniKL 4 Armed Forces Airod 2, KL Hockey Club 5 Sapura 1.
Division One: Ipoh City Hall 2 UniTen 3, UNIMAP 2 BJSS 5.

WEDNESDAY -- Quarter-finals (first leg): KL Hockey Club v SSTMI-Thunderbolt (KLHA Stadium, 6pm), UniKL v Maybank (National Stadium Pitch II, 4pm), Sapura v Nur Insafi (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Tenaga Nasional v Yayasan NS (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm)
FRIDAY (second leg): SSTMI-Thunderbolt v KL Hockey Club (KLHA Stadium, 6pm).
SATURDAY (second leg): Nur Insafi v Sapura (National Stadium Pitch 1, 6pm), Yayasan NS v Tenaga Nasional (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Maybank v UniKL (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm).