03/03/2025

MONDAY | MAR 3, 2025

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SPORTS

Orleans Masters in limbo for duo AARON CHIA and Soh Wooi Yik are not certain of playing in the Orleans Masters from March 4-9 because Aaron’s old wrist injury resurfaced during a recent training session. which begins on March 11. The Orleans Masters in France is a key warm-up event for the All England. Aaron-Wooi Yik were runners-up at the All England in 2019 and last year. Malaysia will be represented by seven men’s doubles pairs at the All England this year.

RESULTS & STANDINGS

Muhammad Azeem does it again NATIONAL sprint sensation Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi once again broke the national indoor 60m record to clinch the bronze medal at the 2025 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The 2024 Asian Games bronze medallist, representing Auburn University, clocked 6.56 seconds (s) in the 60m final held in Bryan-College Station, Texas on Saturday. The 20-year-old athlete improved his own national record of 6.60s in the event, set at the Tiger Paw Invitational in California last month. The 60m gold medal was won by Jordan Antony of the US, representing the University of Arkansas, who completed the race in 6.54s, while Muhammad Azeem’s teammate, Israel Okon of Nigeria, settled for second place, trailing by just 0.01s. BUNDESLIGA: Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Bayer Leverkusen 4, RB Leipzig 1 Mainz 2, Heidenheim 0 Borussia Moenchengladbach 3, Werder Bremen 1 Wolfsburg 2, Bochum 0 Hoffenheim 1, St Pauli 0 Borussia Dortmund 2. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts B. Munich 24 19 4 1 72 20 61 B. Leverkusen 24 15 8 1 55 28 53 E. Frankfurt 24 12 6 6 50 37 42 Mainz 24 12 5 7 39 25 41 Freiburg 23 12 3 8 34 36 39 RB Leipzig 24 10 8 6 39 33 38 FRENCH LIGUE 1: Saint-Etienne 1 Nice 3, Lens 3 Le Havre 4, Paris Saint-Germain 4 Lille 1. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Paris SG 24 19 5 0 66 23 62 Marseille 23 14 4 5 50 29 46 Nice 24 13 7 4 49 28 46 Monaco 24 13 4 7 48 31 43 Lille 24 11 8 5 39 27 41 Lyon 23 10 6 7 42 30 36 BRIEFS ENGLISH FA CUP (5th round) : Bournemouth 1 (Evanilson 30) Wolves 1 (Cunha 60) – Bourne mouth win 5-4 on pen , Crystal Palace 3 (Tanganga 33-og, Munoz 40, Nketiah 81) Mill wall 1 (Harding 45+3) , Manchester City 3 (O’Reilly 45+1, 76, De Bruyne 90) Plymouth 1 (Taloverov 38) , Preston 3 (Brady 31, Osmajic 44, Keane 73) Burnley 0. ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP: Blackburn 1 Norwich 1, Leeds 1 West Brom 1, Luton 1 Ports mouth 0, Middlesbrough 1 Derby 0, Oxford 2 Coventry 3, QPR 1 Sheffield United 2, Stoke 0 Watford 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Leeds 35 22 10 3 72 22 76 Sheff Utd 35 23 6 6 50 27 73 Burnley 34 18 14 2 43 9 68 Sunderland 35 18 11 6 52 32 65 Coventry 35 15 8 12 49 44 53 West Brom 35 12 16 7 45 32 52 LA LIGA: Girona 2 (Tsygankov 21, Herrera 68) Celta Vigo 2 (Losada 36, Alonso 51-pen) , Rayo Vallecano 1 (Ratiu 55) Sevilla 1 (Lukebakio 81) , Real Betis 2 (Cardoso 34, Isco 54-pen) Real Madrid 1 (Diaz 10) , Atletico Madrid 1 (Alvarez 66) Athletic Bilbao 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts A. Madrid 26 16 8 2 43 16 56 Barcelona 25 17 3 5 67 25 54 Real Madrid 26 16 6 4 55 25 54 A. Bilbao 26 13 9 4 44 23 48 Villarreal 25 12 8 5 48 35 44 Real Betis 26 9 8 9 34 33 38 SERIE A: Atalanta 0 Venezia 0, Napoli 1 (Bill ing 87) Inter Milan 1 (Dimarco 22) , Udinese 1 (Thauvin 38-pen) Parma 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 27 17 7 3 60 25 58 Napoli 27 17 6 4 43 22 57 Atalanta 27 16 7 4 59 26 55 Juventus 26 12 13 1 43 21 49 Lazio 26 14 5 7 47 34 47 Fiorentina 27 13 6 8 42 28 45

According to Pearly, physical conditioning is crucial for her, especially since she and her partner, M. Thinaah, did not compete in any tournaments last month. “(In February), I trained more on endurance. Hopefully, we can perform well in these two tournaments. During training sessions, we also tried different strategies, and hopefully, they can be applied in these tournaments,” she told reporters recently. Asked about their targets for the two competitions, Pearly said she and Thinaah have set their own goals but prefer to keep them private. “Of course, we have specific targets, but we’ll keep them to ourselves and just do our best. “As players, everyone wants to win, so we will give our best performance to avoid any regrets later on,” she added. – Bernama

“I can’t give an answer on that yet. We need to assess Aaron’s condition there. If there’s an opportunity for them to play at the Orleans Masters, why not?” said national men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi. Herry said the All England remains the main target for Aaron-Wooi Yik. “But whether they achieve it (All England target) depends on their condition in England. Last year, they reached the final. “If Aaron’s condition holds up, at the very least, they should be able to make it to the semifinals or even the final again,” he said recently. He said the right wrist issue would not derail their participation in the All England,

Four pairs are from the Badminton Association of Malaysia – Aaron-Wooi Yik, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Wan Arif Wan Junaidi Yap Roy King and Chong Hon Jian Muhammad Haikal Nazri – while three are professionals, namely world No. 2 Goh Sze Fei Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi and Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub-Tan Wee Kiong. On the women side, national women’s doubles player Pearly Tan is focusing on physical training to build up her stamina for both tournaments

Jumping for joy National waterskier Aaliyah grabs three golds at University World Championship

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02/03/2025

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N ATIONAL waterskier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah kicked off the 2025 season in style by clinching three gold medals at the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) University World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand. In the championship held from Feb 26 until yesterday, the 21-year-old secured gold in the women’s jump event with a 44.7-metre leap in the final, beating favourite Lili Steiner of Austria, who managed 43.5m, while New Zealand’s Lily Meade took bronze with a 41.5m jump. Aaliyah continued her stellar

total score of 2,863.64 points. Steiner won silver in the overall category, while Lily Meade took bronze. “That first gold in jump felt awesome. I knew a world championship win would come one day since 13 years ago when I won the 2011 SEA Games gold in women’s tricks at eight,” she said in a statement yesterday. Meanwhile, national head coach Hanifah Yoong expressed surprise at the results, as the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard

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8045 1592 7679 3663 1924

4110 2043 2048 2332 4071

9622 0624 5981 7129 2773

RM17,019,319.07

Federation (MWWF) had initially set a best-case target of a gold in the overall category and a podium finish in jump and tricks. “We are very happy for Aaliyah as these results took away the huge pressure she had placed on herself in the past year and a half since winning third in jump at the U 21 World Championship in Mexico in 2023,” he added. – Bernama

0578 + 6848 6848 + 0578 2497 + 0578

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performance by winning her second gold in the women’s tricks event with an impressive score of 7,970 points, defeating another strong contender, Canada’s Hannah Stopnicki (5,760 points), and Australia’s Layne Moroney, who took bronze (5,050 points). In the slalom final, Aaliyah finished in sixth place with a score of 2.00/55kph/12.00m. With two gold medals in jump and tricks, along with her sixth-place finish in slalom, Aaliyah secured her third gold medal in the o v e r a l l category with a

RM244,503.11

6 9 101315252936

Aaliyah. – BERNAMAPIC

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Norza seeks re-election TAN SRI Mohamad Norza Zakaria has announced his intention to defend his position as Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president for the 2025-2029 term in the council’s 44th annual general meeting (AGM) election, set to take place on April 19. “Yes, I will defend my position as president,”he said briefly at a press conference after a signing ceremony between OCM and the Malaysian Stadium Corporation (PSM) at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. He was asked whether he was prepared to retain the top position for his third term, especially with the upcoming construction of the council’s new headquarters in Bukit Jalil. Current OCM deputy president Tan Sri Hamidin Mohamad Amin, however, declined to comment on whether he would run for re-election. Five vice-president posts, along with the secretary, two assistant secretaries and several other key positions, will be available for contest.

Olympic House to cost RM100m THE construction of the new Olympic House Malaysia in Bukit Jalil is expected to cost RM103 million, Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said. From the total, RM93m was for the construction of the building, while RM10m is the land lease for the building, he added. “For the land lease, we (OCM) have to pay RM5m beforehand and the remaining RM5m in a period of 10 years. This building will have new facilities, a museum and a banquet hall to generate additional income, a media conference room, meeting rooms and several offices for sports associations that can’t afford to have a big office,” he said at the signing of an agreement between OCM and Malaysian Stadium Corporation on Saturday. He expressed hope that the construction can be completed by the 2027 South East Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia. The new building will be built next to the National Hockey Stadium.

RM11,970,822.18

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