21062025

SPORTS SATURDAY | JUNE 21, 2025

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If not, why not? Aaron-Wooi Yik should target world No. 1 ranking, says Herry

RESULTS & STANDINGS

SRI PAHANG FC have confirmed that they will not participate in the Malaysia League (M League) this season despite being granted a National License by the First Instance Body (FIB). The Malaysian Football League (MFL) announced in a statement that the “Elephants”, which received the 2025/26 national license, has decided not to compete in the M-League by submitting a confirmation letter dated June 16. The decision will see 13 teams participating in the new season which will begin on Aug 8. “All clubs have been granted the 2025 2026 National License by the independent First Instance Body (FIB) with the club from Brunei, DPMM FC, being granted approval from the International Football Association Board (Fifa) and the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to compete in the 2025-2026 Malaysia League. “However, Sri Pahang FC, which also received the 2025-2026 National License, have decided not to compete in the Malaysia League this season by submitting a confirmation letter dated JUne 16 2025,“ said MFL in a statement issued on its Facebook page yesterday. According to MFL, the clubs competing in the championship this time are Johor Darul Ta’zim FC (JDT), Selangor FC, Penang FC, Kuching City FC, Sabah FC, Terengganu FC, Negeri Sembilan FC, Kelantan Darul Naim FC, Kuala Lumpur City FC, PDRM FC and DPMM FC and two clubs from AFL A1, namely Melaka FC and Imigresen FC. Commenting further, MFL announced that this season’s Malaysian League calendar will begin with a clash between JDT, the Super League champion and Selangor, the Super League runners-up in the Charity Shield match on Aug 8, which is also the league’s opening match at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Johor. Meanwhile, the FA Cup tournament will begin in mid-August, the Malaysia Cup and MFL Challenge Cup in January 2026. MFL also announced that this season’s Malaysian League calendar will run for 10 months, after last season’s adjustment which lasted 14 months to align the schedule with international leagues. “MFL will release the 2025-2026 Malaysian League schedule soon as MFL is facing constraints in completing the full schedule for the season since the AFC will only hold its draw for the ACL Elite and ACL 2 competitions involving JDT and Selangor FC on Aug 15. “Meanwhile, MFL is still waiting for the detailed date of the Asean Club Championship from AFF which also involves the participation of JDT and Selangor FC,” according to the MFL. – Bernama CLUB WORLD CUP Group A: Palmeiras 2 (Abou Ali 49-og, Lopez 59) Al Ahly 0, Inter Miami 2 (Segovia 47, Messi 54) Porto 1 (Aghehowa 8-pen) . P W D L F A Pts Palmeiras 2 1 1 0 2 0 4 Inter Miami 2 1 1 0 2 1 4 Porto 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 Al Ahly 2 0 1 1 0 2 1 Group B: Seattle Sounders 1 (Rusnak 50) Atletico Madrid 3 (Barrios 11, 55, Witsel 47), Paris Saint-Germain 0 Botafogo 1 (Igor Jesus 36) . P W D L F A Pts Botafogo 2 2 0 0 3 1 6 Paris SG 2 1 0 1 4 1 3 Atletico 2 1 0 1 3 5 3 Seattle 2 0 0 2 2 5 0 CONCACAF GOLD CUP: Trinidad and Tobago 1 Haiti 1, Saudi Arabia 0 United States 1. Lucky 13 for M-League

A strong showing at the Japan and China Opens next month could lift national men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to the world No. 1 ranking and boost their seeding

Meanwhile, Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who became world No. 1 last month, have struggled for consistency this year. The pair captured the Indian Open in January but failed to reach the semifinals in all their outings since their triumph. Sze Fei-Izzuddin also face a fight to hold on to their top spot as they won both the Japan and China Opens last year and need to do well this year too to protect their ranking points. Aaron-Wooi Yik, on the other hand, missed both the tourneys last year due to the latter’s toe injury and do not have to worry about defending any points.

Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Aaron-Wooi Yik are ranked second with 89,870 points, just 1,220 points behind their compatriots and professional pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani.

prospects at the world champion ships, said head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi. He said clinching the world’s top ranking could help the Olympic bronze medallists secure a better seeding at the world championships in Paris this August. “Aaron and Wooi Yik are already ranked second in the world, which I think is good enough to help with their seeding at the world championships. “But if they can become world No. 1 before then, why not? Of course, that would be even better,” he told reporters after a national team training session at

Based on their hot form since April under Herry’s guidance, Aaron-Wooi Yik have a good opportunity to overtake Sze Fei-Izzuddin. They captured the Asian Championships, Thailand Open and Singapore Open titles and

However, Herry said the world No. 1 ranking is not the top priority for Aaron-Wooi Yik, as it is more important to be well prepared for all tournaments. Aaron-Wooi Yik are the first and only Malaysians to have won a world badminton title, achieving the feat in 2022 in Tokyo after defeating Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. – Bernama

f i n i s h e d runners-up to

world No. 7 teammates Man Wei Chong Tee Kai Wun in the Malaysian Masters.

Aaron Chia (right) and Soh Wooi Yik. – BERNAMAPIC

BRIEFS

athletes. Overall, I think their performance at this tournament was okay, but I believe they could have done better,” he told Bernama yesterday. Tigress eye first win NATIONAL WOMEN’S hockey team head coach Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim is confident that his charges can recover from their group losses to win the classification match against Italy in the 2024–25 FIH Nations Cup 2 in Poland today. Mohd Nasihin urged the squad, dubbed the Malaysian Tigress, not to give up hope when they play in the 5th-8th placing classification match. “I’m satisfied with the players’ performance. We saw improvement from the first match to the second, and in yesterday’s game, they played very well and gave their all. I’m impressed with the fighting spirit shown by the squad. There is still room to improve in terms of controlling the game’s tempo. We don’t need to follow the opponents’ rhythm too much, and we must be more disciplined,” he said in a video message shared by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) yesterday. The Malaysian Tigress continued to face disappointment after falling 4–2 to Uruguay in their third and final Group A match yesterday. The result left Malaysia at the bottom of the group table without a single point, while Uruguay topped the group with seven points, followed by Poland (seven points) and South Africa (three points). Malaysia began their campaign in the inaugural edition of the FIH Nations Cup 2 on the wrong footing, losing 0–2 to Poland, followed by a 1–3 defeat to South Africa on Tuesday.

Sai, Tejal Salve and Tanishka Nilkumar. However, the Malaysian trio rose to the occasion, delivering an impressive performance to tie India 232-232 after four rounds, forcing the match into a shoot-off. In the shoot-off, all three Malaysian archers maintained their momentum to score 29 points, while India managed only 26. The bronze medal went to Kazakhstan, who beat Bangladesh 234-230. Fatin Nurfatehah’s hopes of securing a second medal were dashed after losing in the bronze medal match of the individual compound event to Indonesia’s Yurike Nina Bonita Pereira. The Malaysian lost narrowly 8-10 in the shoot-off after both archers were tied at 146-146. The gold medal was won by India’s Tejal, who edged teammate Shanmukhi 146-144. Karate squad bags four golds THE national karate squad did well by winning four gold medals at the 12th Southeast Asian Karate Championships in Bandar Seri Begawan, which concluded on Thursday. The gold medals came from C. Shamalarani in the women’s senior kumite under 50kg, K.S. Thevendran Kaliana Sundram (men’s senior kumite under 55kg), Sureeya Shankar Hari Shankar (men’s senior kumite under 60kg) and the men’s senior team kumite event. Malaysia also secured three bronze medals through Lovelle Anne in the women’s senior kata, Mcroyce Donavan Dagol (men’s senior kumite under 75kg) and the men’s senior team kata. Acting national karate head coach R. Shamendran said he was satisfied with the athletes’ performance. “We didn’t set any targets for this tournament as we didn’t want to put pressure on the

Archery trio strike target THE national women’s compound archery trio of Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh (pic) , Saritha Cham Nong and Ng Sui Kim won the women’s team gold at the second leg of the 2025 Asia Cup in Bukit Gombak, Singapore, yesterday. The third-seeded Malaysians faced a tough challenge in the final against top seeds India, represented by Shanmukhi Naga