05/03/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | MAR 5, 2025

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No warm-up tournament, no problem for Jun Hao

ENGLISH FA CUP (5th round) : Nottingham Forest 1 (Yates 68) Ipswich 1 (Hirst 53) aet – Forest win 5-4 on pen . Serie A: Juventus 2 (Thuram 72, Koop meiners 90) Verona 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 27 13 13 1 45 21 52 Lazio 27 15 5 7 49 35 50 Bologna 27 12 11 4 42 33 47 RESULTS & STANDINGS

NATIONAL men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao said he has no difficulties preparing for his debut at the All England from March 11-16 in Birmingham, despite not participating in any warm-up tournaments. Jun Hao said the decision to skip competitions ahead of the All England had been discussed with his coach, Kenneth Jonassen and both parties agreed on the plan. “This is what we planned together on not entering any tournaments

before my debut at the All England. “Maybe this is a different strategy and technique used by the coach,” he said when met after a training session at Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM). Jun Hao was the only shuttler from ABM who did not compete in the Orléans Masters this week as part of the preparation for the All England. Meanwhile, asking about his preparation for the prestigious tournament, the world No. 26 said

the interval while Duran tormented the Esteghlal defence, hitting the post from a tight angle having evaded Hosseini with little over 20 minutes remaining. Esteghlal’s Kyrgyzstan international striker Joel Kojo nodded narrowly wide in the dying moments to leave the tie in the balance ahead of the return in Riyadh next Monday. – Reuters BAM in no hurry to find Rosobin’s replacement: Kenneth THE Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is in no rush to find a replacement for women’s singles coach Jeffer Rosobin, who left the governing body last Friday. National singles head coach, Kenneth Jonassen, said that although it is necessary to find Jeffers’s replacement, he will ensure that the process goes according to plan and does not affect the women’s singles department. “When losing a colleague, we will look at the setup and how we’re going to find the right candidate that can fit in what we need going forward. “We’re not going to rush into things because when one door closes, another one is open. It gives us an opportunity to look at how we want to go about doing it,” he told the media after the national badminton team training session at Academy Badminton Malaysia yesterday. Last Friday, BAM announced Jeffer ‘s departure stating that the Indonesian had made the difficult decision to step down from his role due to family commitments. Meanwhile, Jonassen said that he will involve the women’s singles players to seek their advice on who should be their next coach in the future. “I would like to hear what they need to say in some of the sessions going on. “If we are going to develop them into world beaters, we need a lot of strong, independent girls that have a voice of their own,” he said. Jonassen also added that Misbun Ramdan Misbun will run the sessions for the women’s singles department for now until he returns from the European tour tournament. – Bernama everything was going well as planned by the coach. He said Kenneth helped him a lot, especially with his style of play, which has become more varied than before. “Everything is good now (preparation ahead All England). We are working together and have more one by one session. “For me he didn’t change my style of play but gave me more options on how to play, which has a wider range of tactics,” he said. – Bernama

Leong Jun Hao.

No holding back Nurul Izzah pledges to excel in Turkiye’s Nations Cup despite fasting month D ESPITE fasting, national track cycling queen Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri is bent on giving her best she remains energetic throughout the day and while training during this holy month for Muslims.

“There is a change in training time to the evening, we will train when it’s close to breaking the fast, if it’s in the morning early in the morning, I’m used to training like this, so far it’s going well. In terms of nutrition, I prefer to take carbohydrates. “I drink enough water during sahur, I drink a lot during iftar, to avoid dehydration, we also take protein drink before going to bed and during sahur,” she said. Recently, the native of Sungai Petani, Kedah shone when she won two gold medals in the keirin and 1 kilometre (km) women’s time trial events as well as a bronze in the individual sprint, in addition to helping Malaysia win the silver in the team sprint. What is even sweeter is that the 22-year-old athlete also broke the Asian record for the 1km time trial twice with a time of 1:06.229 seconds (s) in addition to renewing the national record (48.458s) in the team sprint with Anis Amira Rosidi and Nur Alyssa Farid. – Bernama

performance at the UCI Track Nations Cup tournament to be held in Konya, Turkiye from March 14-16. The athlete, nicknamed “The Pocket Rocketwomen,” admitted that it would be a big challenge for her, but she still aims to get on the podium and improve last year’s achievement at the world-class tournament. “My target is to do better than the previous edition, I want to gain new experiences by competing with world-class riders. Last year I reached the final of the keirin event. “This year, I am aiming for the podium if given the chance even though the tournament is held during the fasting month which is also a challenge for me,” she said when contacted by Bernama yesterday. Meanwhile, Nurul Izzah said her training schedule has now changed to late afternoon in the month of Ramadan. She said she has also changed her eating schedule in an effort to ensure

Nurul Izzah showed off the two gold medals she won recently at the National Velodrome in Nilai. – BERNAMAPIC

SHORTS

Meanwhile, condolences for Harun Rasheed’s family poured in on MAF’s Facebook . They paid tribute to the former athlete and coach for having contributed greatly to the country’s sports arena. Nor Sarah aims to recover before Ramadan ends IN THE critical phase of recovery from her right ankle injury in Ramadan, national pole vaulter Nor Sarah Adi continues her battle at the National Sports Institute (NSI) to ensure her dream of going to the 2025 Thailand SEA Games becomes a reality. This is because the 24-year-old 2021 SEA Games gold medallist said doctors expect her to be able to return to training by the end of the month and compete as early as May if her recovery process goes smoothly without any obstacles.

“I have been recuperating for three months after surgery on my right ankle in December last year. I still have rehabilitation sessions in the morning and evening. I had previously been injured in the same area and the pain did not go away and even grew spurs. “… and to top it all off, the doctor also repaired the ligaments in my leg. Alhamdulillah, so far the progress has been very good, only the recovery period has been extended a little so that I can return to the track in the best condition,” she said when contacted by Bernama . Nor Sarah promised to follow every recovery procedure with full discipline because she does not want her injury history to repeat when she returns to action, and she can’t wait to train again using her ‘beloved pole’ which has been waiting for a long time on the training track. – Bernama

Ex-national athletics coach Harun Rasheed dies

THE Malaysian sports scene has lost a respected figure with the passing of former national athletics coach Harun Rasheed Othman yesterday. He was 71. His passing was confirmed by Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) general manager Nurhayati Karim, when contacted by Bernama . She said his remains would be buried in Kajang today. “Allahyarham (the deceased) was actively involved in coaching. I myself had been in contact with him regarding the Selangor athletes under his guidance in the relay and sprint events,” she said.

Al-Sadd draw, Ronaldo-less Al-Nassr held

ABDULLAH Al-Yazidi earned Qatar’s Al-Sadd a 1-1 draw with Al-Wasl in Dubai in the first leg of their Asian Champions League Elite last 16 clash yesterday as Al-Nassr, missing Cristiano Ronaldo, were held to a 0-0 draw by Iran’s Esteghlal in Tehran. The side from the United Arab Emirates took the lead when the Al Sadd defence failed to clear a third minute corner that was delivered deep

positive start as Marcelo Brozovic shot narrowly wide after barely five minutes. Jhon Duran went closer 14 minutes later when the Colombian striker’s attempt was blocked by goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini and Ayman Yahya’s follow-up was headed off the line by central defender Rouzbeh Chesmi. Ramin Rezaeian’s header was just off target for the home side following

the substitute steering his header past Khaled A-Senaani from Akram Afif’s inviting in-swinging cross on the left. Fabio Lima headed against the Al Sadd cross bar with 16 minutes remaining to leave the tie evenly poised ahead of next week’s second leg. Ronaldo, meanwhile, did not travel to the Azadi Stadium with Al-Nassr but his Saudi Pro League side made a

into the penalty area by Nicolas Gimenez and captain Ali Saleh struck beyond Meshaal Barsham. Ali should have doubled his side’s advantage, only to shoot high over the bar from four yards out, and Rafa Mujica’s strike into the turf at the other end bounced up to thump the crossbar in first-half injury time. The visitors managed to pull level through Al-Yazidi in the 68th minute,