12/03/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | MAR 12, 2025

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Soon Huat-Shevon clear first hurdle World No. 3 beat Thai duo in the opening round at All England M ALAYSIAN mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Jemie Lai made a winning start Thai pair in the Malaysia Open semifinals in January. With this win, the world No 3 pair have beaten the Thai pair twice in four encounters so far. “Although we are in our 30s, we always push ourselves in training to keep up with younger opponents on the tour,” said Shevon. With the first hurdle cleared, Soon Huat-Shevon now have a promising path to the quarterfinals as they take on Scotland’s Alexander Dunn-Julie Macpherson next.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: West Ham 0 Newcastle 1 (Guimaraes 63) . P W D L F A Pts Liverpool 29 21 7 1 69 27 70 Arsenal 28 15 10 3 52 24 55 Nottm Forest 28 15 6 7 45 33 51 Chelsea 28 14 7 7 53 36 49 Man City 28 14 5 9 53 38 47 Newcastle 28 14 5 9 47 38 47 Brighton 28 12 10 6 46 40 46 Aston Villa 29 12 9 8 41 45 45 Bournemouth 28 12 8 8 47 34 44 Fulham 28 11 9 8 41 38 42 Crystal Palace 28 10 9 9 36 33 39 Brentford 28 11 5 12 48 44 38 Tottenham 28 10 4 14 55 41 34 Man Utd 28 9 7 12 34 40 34 Everton 28 7 12 9 31 35 33 West Ham 28 9 6 13 32 48 33 Wolves 28 6 5 17 38 57 23 Ipswich 28 3 8 17 26 58 17 Leicester 28 4 5 19 25 62 17 Southampton 28 2 3 23 20 68 9 LA LIGA: Espanyol 1 (Jofre 49) Girona 1 (Stuani 86-pen) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 26 18 3 5 71 25 57 Real Madrid 27 17 6 4 57 26 57 A. Madrid 27 16 8 3 44 18 56 A. Bilbao 27 13 10 4 45 24 49 Villarreal 26 12 8 6 48 36 44 Real Betis 27 11 8 8 35 33 41 SERIE A: Lazio 1 (Romagnoli 32) Udinese 1 (Thauvin 22) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 28 18 7 3 63 27 61 Napoli 28 18 6 4 45 23 60 Atalanta 28 17 7 4 63 26 58 Juventus 28 13 13 2 45 25 52 Lazio 28 15 6 7 50 36 51 Bologna 28 13 11 4 44 34 50 RESULTS & STANDINGS TOUCHLINES CHELSEA are preparing to step up their pursuit of Man United’s England mid fielder Kobbie Mainoo, 19, as doubts grow over the long-term fitness of the Blues’ Belgium midfielder Romeo Lavia, 21. AC MILAN are considering a summer move for Crystal Palace’s England leftback Tyrick Mitchell, 25, as they prepare for the departure of France leftback Theo Hernandez, 27. MANCHESTER CITY’S former England midfielder Kalvin Phillips, 29, could return to Leeds this summer after spending this term on loan at Ipswich. MAN CITY are actively monitoring Real Madrid’s France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, 22. ARSENAL are plotting a potential move for Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, 27, from Newcastle. MAN UNITED are considering a summer move for Porto’s 20-year-old Spain for ward Samu Aghehowa, who has a release clause of about £84m (RM479m). ADEMOLA LOOKMAN is expected to leave Atalanta this summer and the Nigeria forward, 27, is open to a Premier League return amid links with Chelsea and Arsenal. LIVERPOOL are contemplating whether to make a move for Brighton’s Netherlands defender Jan Paul van Hecke, 24. AL-RIYADH, FC Dallas and Wolves are among the clubs showing an interest in 32-year-old England centreback Michael Keane, whose Everton contract expires this summer.

edging past Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran at the prestigious All England badminton championship. National mixed doubles duo Soon Huat-Shevon were made to work, battling through three hard fought sets before sealing a 22-20, 9-21, 21-19 win to advance to the second round. The victory also served as sweet revenge for their defeat to the same

“Reaching world No. 3 proves that it’s still possible to be in the top five at our age. “Our next goal is to achieve another milestone at the All England next month by improving on our results and aiming for the final.” Soon Huat and Shevon’s best performance at the prestigious All England tournament came in 2019 when they reached the semifinals.

The husband-and-wife duo reached a career-high world No. 3 ranking in February and could rise to the top if they sustain their current momentum. Soon Huat, who turns 35 later this year, and Shevon, who will be 32, have shown no signs of slowing down and are currently enjoying one of the best spells of their careers.

Meanwhile, men’s doubles pair Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King, who were unseeded, crashed out in the first round. They lost to the Chinese pair, Huang Di-Yang Liu in three sets. Despite putting up a strong fight, the national duo struggled to match the world No. 37 pair’s dominance and eventually fell 18-21, 21-16, 17-21. – Agencies

Duran, Ronaldo fire Al-Nassr into ACL quarters

AL-NASSR’S Jhon Duran scored twice and Cristiano Ronaldo netted a penalty as the Saudi Pro League side booked a place in the Asian Champions League Elite last eight on Monday with a 3-0 win over Iran’s Esteghlal while Qatar’s Al-Sadd beat Al-Wasl. Akram Afif was instrumental in Al-Sadd’s 3-1 victory in Doha and got on the scoresheet as he led Felix Sanchez’s side to a 4-2 aggregate win over the side from the United Arab Emirates. Al-Nassr’s win in Riyadh came after a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Tehran last week and takes Stefano Pioli’s team into the quarterfinals, which will be played in Jeddah as part of a centralised tournament from April 25 to May 3. Duran put Al-Nassr in front after nine minutes, with the Colombian lifting the ball over Seyed Hossein Hosseini after the Esteghlal goalkeeper gifted possession to the striker 25 metres from goal. The Saudis doubled their lead from the penalty spot, Cristiano Ronaldo stepping up in the 27th minute to convert with typical confidence following Mohammad Niknafs’ mistimed challenge on Sadio Mane. Esteghlal’s task was made almost impossible when Mehran Ahmadi was sent off for a second bookable offence late in the first half as he caught Mohammed Al Fatil in the face with a flailing arm. Duran claimed his second goal of the game six minutes from time when he whipped a low strike into the bottom corner having earlier hit the post as Al-Nassr eased through. “I think we played well,”said Mane.“We created many chances and we scored three goals. I think we got our reward. “We pressed well together, we pushed them and they made mistakes and from that we scored three goals. We have a clean sheet and we cannot expect more than this.” – Reuters Nani Sahirah eyes Thai SEA Games gold NATIONAL women’s shot put athlete Nani Sahirah Maryata hopes to upgrade her medal to gold at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand after falling short in the previous edition. “My target for 2025 is to clinch gold,” she said in a video shared by the Malaysia Athletics Federation yesterday. The 24-year-old Kuantan-born athlete won a bronze medal in her debut at the Cambodia SEA Games two years ago. With just nine months to go, the Universiti Putra Malaysia student is on the right track to achieving her goal, having set a new national record of 15.70m at the Varsity Track & Field Grand Final last year. She surpassed her own previous record of 15.39m. She said that like many other athletes, her training schedule has been adjusted to accommodate sahur and breaking of fast during Ramadan. – Bernama

Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Sadio Mane in action during the Asian Champions League last-16 second leg match against Esteghlal. – REUTERSPIC

Sepak takraw academy to open in June AFTER a long wait, the Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia (PSM) can finally breathe a sigh of relief as they prepare to open their new facility, the Malaysian Sepak Takraw Academy Centre at Stadium Jalan Raja Muda in Kampung Baru.

and PSM representatives on Monday. He expressed deep appreciation for the commitment of Hannah and her ministry, along with NSC and the National Sports Institute (ISN) in fulfilling PSM’s aspiration to establish its academy. Previously, Mohd Sumali said that PSM had planned to have its own stadium and had identified several possible locations in the Klang Valley. However, last October he reportedly considered establishing a sports academy instead of owning a stadium. He added that PSM had secured a nine year lease to manage the ISN-owned stadium until 2034. Mohd Sumali also said the National Sepak Takraw Development Programme (NSTDP) will be launched next month. He added that the NSTDP marks a significant milestone for traditional sports, particularly in nurturing young talents at the grassroots level. – Bernama

PSM president Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan said that renovations are needed at the venue, which is expected to be fully operational by June. The stadium still needs many upgrades, including air conditioning installation. It may take two to three months to open the academy there. “We have used the stadium for small programmes in the past. We will work to enhance it further to ensure it functions effectively as an academy,” he told Bernama . He shared the good news following a meeting with Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, which was also attended by the National Sports Council (NSC) deputy director general (sports development) Jefri Ngadirin