20/05/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 20, 2025

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Mentality of champions

NATIONAL men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia Soh Wooi Yik showed the mentality of champions by skipping rest and returning to training just hours after their Thailand Open 2025 triumph, as they gear up for the Malaysia Masters 2025. Aaron said they landed in Kuala Lumpur at midnight on Sunday and went to the Axiata Arena to test the court early yesterday morning at around 7.30am ahead of the six-day Super 500 tournament which begins today. “We didn’t get enough sleep as we just returned home but we will rest later this evening. Tomorrow, we also have a day’s rest because we only play on Wednesday. So, there is still time (to rest),” he told reporters at the Axiata Arena yesterday. The 2022 world champions staged a strong comeback to win their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open, defeating Denmark’s William Kryger Boe-Christian Faust Kjaer 20-22, 21-17, 21-12 in Sunday’s final.

RESULTS & STANDINGS

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Everton 2 (Ndiaye 6, 45+2) Southampton 0, West Ham 1 (Bowen 86) Nottingham Forest 2 (Gibbs-White 11, Milenkovic 61), Brentford 2 (Mbeumo 22, Wissa 43) Fulham 3 (Jimenez 16, Cairney 68, Wilson 70), Leicester 2 (Vardy 28, McAteer 69) Ipswich 0, Arsenal 1 (Rice 55) Newcastle 0. P W D L F A Pts Liverpool 36 25 8 3 83 37 83 Arsenal 37 19 14 4 67 33 71 Newcastle 37 20 6 11 68 46 66 Chelsea 37 19 9 9 63 43 66 Aston Villa 37 19 9 9 58 49 66 Man City 36 19 8 9 67 43 65 Nottm Forest 37 19 8 10 58 45 65 Brentford 37 16 7 14 65 56 55 Brighton 36 14 13 9 59 56 55 Fulham 37 15 9 13 54 52 54 Bournemouth 36 14 11 11 55 43 53 Crystal Palace 36 12 13 11 46 48 49 Everton 37 10 15 12 41 44 45 Wolves 36 12 5 19 51 64 41 West Ham 37 10 10 17 43 61 40 Man Utd 37 10 9 18 42 54 39 Tottenham 37 11 5 21 63 61 38 Leicester 37 6 7 24 33 78 25 Ipswich 37 4 10 23 35 79 22 Southampton 37 2 6 29 25 84 12 LA LIGA: Atletico Madrid 4 (Alvarez 10, 75, Le Normand 45+3, Correa 90+6) Real Betis 1 (Fornals 67), Barcelona 2 (Yamal 38, Lopez 45+5) Villarreal 3 (Perez 4, Comesana 51, Buchanan 80), Celta Vigo 1 (Alonso 10-pen) Rayo Vallecano 2 (Palazon 17, De Frutos 45+2), Las Palmas 0 Leganes 1 (Raba 6) , Mallorca 1 (Larin 90+3) Getafe 2 (Arambarri 56, Uche 65), Osasuna 2 (Budimir 17, Garcia 90+1) Espanyol 0, Real Sociedad 3 (Marin 5, Oyarzabal 20-pen, Mariezkurrena 90+1) Girona 2 (Stuani 10, Portu 77) , Sevilla 0 Real Madrid 2 (Mbappe 75, 87), Valencia 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Berenguer 72) , Valladolid 0 Alaves 1 (Garcia 18-pen). P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 37 27 4 6 99 39 85 Real Madrid 37 25 6 6 76 38 81 Atletico 37 21 10 6 64 30 73 A. Bilbao 37 19 13 5 54 26 70 Villarreal 37 19 10 8 67 49 67 Real Betis 37 16 11 10 56 49 59 Celta Vigo 37 15 7 15 57 56 52 Rayo Vallecano37 13 12 12 41 45 51 Osasuna 37 12 15 10 47 51 51 Mallorca 37 13 8 16 35 44 47 Real Sociedad 37 13 7 17 35 44 46 Valencia 37 11 12 14 43 53 45 Getafe 37 11 9 17 33 37 42 Alaves 37 10 11 16 37 47 41 Girona 37 11 8 18 44 56 41 Sevilla 37 10 11 16 40 51 41 Espanyol 37 10 9 18 38 51 39 Leganes 37 8 13 16 36 56 37 Las Palmas 37 8 8 21 40 59 32 Real Valladolid 37 4 4 29 26 87 16 SERIE A: Cagliari 3 Venezia 0, Fiorentina 3 Bolo gna 2, Verona 1 Como 1 , Inter Milan 2 Lazio 2 , Juventus 2 Udinese 0, Lecce 1 Torino 0, Monza 1 Empoli 3 , Parma 0 Napoli 0, Roma 3 AC Milan 1 . P W D L F A Pts Napoli 37 23 10 4 57 27 79 Inter Milan 37 23 9 5 77 35 78 Atalanta 37 22 8 7 76 34 74 Juventus 37 17 16 4 55 33 67 Roma 37 19 9 9 54 35 66 Lazio 37 18 11 8 61 48 65 Fiorentina 37 18 8 11 57 39 62 Bologna 37 16 14 7 56 44 62 AC Milan 37 17 9 11 59 43 60 Como 37 13 10 14 49 50 49 Torino 37 10 14 13 39 43 44 Udinese 37 12 8 17 39 53 44 Genoa 37 9 13 15 34 48 40 Cagliari 37 9 9 19 40 54 36 Verona 37 9 7 21 32 65 34 Parma 37 6 15 16 41 56 33 Lecce 37 7 10 20 26 58 31 Empoli 37 6 13 18 32 57 31 Venezia 37 5 14 18 30 53 29 Monza 37 3 9 25 28 67 18 CHAMPIONS RELEGATED

The world No. 5 will open their Malaysia Masters 2025 campaign against Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-Lin. Aware of the high expectations from local fans following their second title this season, Aaron said they are bent on giving their best in front of the home crowd. The 28-year-old also credited their recent upturn in performance to national men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi, who managed to improve their gameplay and guided them to two titles this season, including the Badminton Asia Championships 2025 in Ningbo, China, in April. He also credited Herry for providing invaluable advice during the finals in Bangkok, which boosted their confidence to deliver strong performances in the second and final

sets. “Although we are still adapting to coach Herry’s game plan and programme, his advice made a big difference on court,“ Aaron said. Meanwhile, Wooi Yik said that their early visit to the venue was crucial to familiarise themselves with the court conditions ahead of the tournament. “We just came here to get some court feeling and draught conditions because today will be the last day to do so as the tournament starts tomorrow. “It (test court session) feels great and, hopefully, we can give a great performance on Wednesday,” he said. Wooi Yik also expects the vociferous home support to boost them to perform much better in the Malaysia Masters 2025. – Bernama

No contract talk Pearly-Thinaah fully focused on Malaysia Masters T HE national top women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are keep ing mum on their future with the Badminton Association of Malaysia Thailand Open champions have yet to sign and accept a new contract with the association. Meanwhile, BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said the association will address Pearly-Thinaah’s contract situation at the most appropriate time possible, after their previous contract expired last December. “Let’s be patient. We will try to resolve it as soon as possible,” he said.

Pearly-Thinaah clinched their first title of the season when they downed South Korean duo Jeong Na Eun-Lee Yeon Woo, 21-16, 21 17, to be crowned champions in Bangkok on Sunday. Asked whether this could be the time for them to claim back-to-back titles, Pearly said they do not want to put too much pressure on their shoulder and hope to play their best to delight the home crowd. “We are really motivated and excited to play on the home ground, but as usual, we don’t want to put too much pressure. “The championship (Thailand Open 2025) is already in the past. Now, we just want to take one step at a time and look forward (to Malaysia Masters 2025),” she said.

(BAM). Thinaah said they instead choose not to let the off-court issue distract their focus on the Malaysia Masters 2025, which runs from today until May 25 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur. “We just want to focus on this week’s tournament. We’re just going to play our best for each and every match,” she told reporters after the court testing session, yesterday. On May 10, BAM Deputy President 1 Datuk V. Subramaniam said the future of the world No. 4 pair will be decided after their return from the Thailand Open 2025, which was held from May 13 to 18. Subramaniam said the newly-crowned

Pearly-Thinaah are the first Malaysians to win the women’s doubles title at the Thailand Open since its introduction in 1984. The title adds to their previous triumphs at the Swiss Open (2021), the French Open (2022), and last year’s Hong Kong Open. “This title means a lot to us, and it’s a big confidence booster. The Koreans were really strong, and it was hard to execute decisive shots against them,” Pearly said. “We kept reminding each other to stay patient and trust in ourselves, and that helped us win the game in straight sets.” – Bernama

Malaysia in action during the final of the 2025 Asian Cup Sepak Takraw Championship. – BERNAMAPIC

Regu team still not up to the mark, says coach Ahmad Jais THE country’s 34-year wait for the national sepak takraw squad to emerge as champions in the team regu event continued after a 0-2 defeat to traditional arch-rivals Thailand in the final of the 2025 Asian Cup Sepak Takraw Championship at Stadium Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night. “Personally, I see that our team is still not quite good enough. I feel our team needs to double their efforts to contain Thailand’s attacks.

to work even harder to improve the quality of play in the future,” he said. In the match played in front of over 1,000 supporters who filled every corner of the championship venue, the squad for the first regu – Amirul Zazwan Amir (feeder), Mohammad Syahir Mohd Rosdi (tekong), and Mohamad Azlan Alias (killer) – lost 15-17. While high hopes were placed on the nation’s second regu of Farhan Adam, Muhammad Haziq Hairul Nizam, and Muhammad Noraizat Mohd Nordin to stage a comeback, they managed to record a 15-13 victory in the first set but lost 13-15 in the second and 4-15 in the deciding game. – Bernama

“If we look at Thailand’s performance, they played with more precision in both attack and defence. That, I think, is what sets us apart from the Thai team,” he said when met by the media after the final at Titiwangsa Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Ahmad Jais said although he was disappointed not to clinch victory, he expressed gratitude to his players who gave their best in the final. “The players gave their all and we must accept this result with an open heart. We need

The result witnessed on home soil meant the national squad had to concede the title again, thus only managing to secure two trophies in the quadrant and regu events respectively in this inaugural edition of the championship. Team head coach Ahmad Jais Baharun said he accepted the defeat but will conduct a thorough evaluation to ensure the national team can overcome their arch rivals in future tournaments.