05/07/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | JULY 5, 2025

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Keep the fire burning Rexy challenges shuttlers to maintain momentum in pursuit of glory

Rexy Mainaky. – BERNAMAPIC

N ATIONAL doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky wants his pack to maintain the encouraging run displayed throughout the first six months of this year in the pursuit to win at the 2025 World Championship in Paris from Aug 25-31. Rexy reminded all the national players not to be easily satisfied with the achievements made so far and to keep their hunger for success in moving forward.

while Wei Chong-Kai Wun won the 2025 Indonesian Masters and 2025 Malaysian Masters. Pearly-Thinaah, who are also the country’s No. 1 women’s doubles pair, also won one title this year, the 2025 Thailand Open, in addition to coming in second twice at the 2025 Indonesian Masters and the 2025 Indonesian Open. However, the mixed doubles camp suffered a different fate when no pair managed to win any tournament they participated in this season. Meanwhile, Rexy said that the country’s top pairs were also deemed to be fresh after a break from tournaments since last month and are ready to return to court at the 2025 Japan Open and 2025 China Open this month. The 2025 Japan Open, which has Super 750 status, is scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 15-20 and the 2025 China Open (Super 1000) will be held in Changzhou from July 22-27. – Bernama August 3). Since being paired together in 2023, they have only won one title, winning the 2023 Malaysia International Challenge in Ipoh, Perak. Meanwhile, Nova said Pang Ron-Su Yin are still struggling to live up to the high expectations placed on them after successfully breaking into the top 15 pairs in the world at the moment. “Now they have entered the top 15 and the expectations are high, sometimes if they are not mentally strong they seem to feel stressed. “The quality of their game is already there but to become champions does not depend on quality

Championship) but we hope there will be more successes after this, whether from the men’s doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik or Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (women’s doubles) or mixed doubles (Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei), we don’t know. “Don’t just win once, we want it to continue,” he said after a training session in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Aaron-Wooi Yik made history by becoming the first national pair to present Malaysia with their inaugural World Championship title in the 2022 edition by defeating former three-time world champions Mohamad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia 21-19, 21-14 in Tokyo, Japan. The current world No. 2 pair also excelled in lifting three titles this year by becoming champions of the 2025 Asian Badminton Championship in Ningbo, China, followed by the 2025 Thailand Open and the 2025 Singapore Open

“To become a champion is easy but to maintain it is very difficult… I want every player to have the hunger (for success). “Don’t lose momentum because based on training, the momentum is still there. “We have already won (the World

Su Yin ready to fight for elusive title

Harimau Malaya, Iran in same group for Cafa 2025 MALAYSIA have been drawn in Group B alongside world ranked 18th Iran for the Central Asian Football Association (Cafa) Nations Cup 2025 which will be held in August. The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in a statement announced that apart from Iran, Harimau Malaya under coach Peter Cklamovski, who are ranked 131st in the world, will also face hosts Tajikistan (ranked 104th in the world) and Afghanistan (160th). According to the schedule, Malaysia will open the campaign against Tajikistan on Aug 29, followed by Iran on Sept 1 and Afghanistan on Sept 4 with all three matches taking place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. “Meanwhile, Group A will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan featuring four other teams, namely hosts, Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Oman,” according to the statement. Only the winner of each group will qualify for the final scheduled to be held in Tashkent on Sept 8 while the runners-up of the group will play for third place in Dushanbe on the same date. Cklamovski described the draw as an important step in the Malaysian national squad’s journey towards building a more competitive team. “The Nations Cup is an exciting tournament and it’s an important step in our journey as a national team,” he said in an audio shared by FAM on Thursday night. “We have been waiting for the draw for some time and we’ve obviously had Plan A or Plan B.” He also described the match against Iran as a great opportunity to assess the true level of the national team. Cklamovski also hopes that all Malaysians will give their full support to the national squad in this tournament. “They’re going to a World Cup. It’s a massive challenge for us, a massive opportunity for us. “We’ll use it as a way to benchmark ourselves against the best. A test of our football against them, we will take our football to them as hard as we can,” he said. – Bernama

NATIONAL mixed doubles player Cheng Su Yin is ready to take up the challenge of head coach Nova Widianto to win at least one title this year. She said that she and her partner Hoo Pang Ron are training hard to realise their dream after a rather lacklustre season so far. “If we can win a title, it will definitely be worth it, we are really trying and still training hard,” she told reporters after a training session in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Recently, Nova wants to see his team win at least one championship title before the 2025 World Championships in Paris from Aug 25 to 31. Su Yin also admitted that disappointing performances and injuries suffered previously have haunted her, often resulting in early eliminations

Ron-Su Yin have struggled to maintain their momentum, having only reached the quarterfinals twice out of nine tournaments they have participated in this year. In March, Su Yin

suffered an ankle injury when she slipped on the stairs after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2025 Orleans Masters in France. The world No. 13

pair is expected to return to the court for the 2025 Japan Open (July 15-20) followed by the 2025 China Open (July 22-27) and the 2025 Macau Open (July 2 9 -

alone because they also have to be mentally strong and that is what

from tournaments she has participated in throughout the year. After emerging as runners-up at the 2024 China Masters last November, Pang

they need to improve on,” he said. – Bernama

Cheng Su Yin (left) and Hoo Pang Ronn. – BERNAMAPIC

Heritage athletes get thumbs up from KBS

THE Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) supports the efforts of any sports association including football, aquatics and swimming to bring in heritage athletes, as long as they comply with the set international regulations. Its Minister, Hannah Yeoh said each sport has its own international regulations whether relating to heritage or naturalised players and her ministry does not have any problem regarding the matter. “We follow international regulations, if Fifa allows it, we are okay and if ‘World Aquatics’ allows heritage athletes, we are also okay because it is according to the regulations approved by their respective sports bodies,” she told reporters after officiating the Asean Youth Robotics 2025 (Asean Y RoboC’ 25), in Kota Bharu on Thursday.

“As of today, we have not received any letter from AFC and Fifa. We follow all laws. We deny all such statements (referring to news reports),” he said briefly when contacted by Bernama, today. Earlier, an Indonesian news portal, Disway ID claimed that if it is true that Malaysia is using heritage players illegally, FAM could be subject to strict action by Fifa including suspension from all tournaments organised by the world governing body, including the Asean Cup. The report also mentioned that the results of matches involving Malaysian heritage players such as the 4-0 win over Vietnam in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers last month could be overturned into a 0-3 defeat for Malaysia. – Bernama

guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN),“ she said. In related news. the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said it has not received any official letter from Fifa or the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regarding the request to resubmit the documents of the country’s heritage players. This was confirmed by FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman who denied all “naughty”allegations from several parties, besides stressing that all player registration procedures have been fully complied with according to existing guidelines.

“We give priority to local talent but every team that comes out to compete must want to win… as long as they want to win and follow the rules, we will support them.” However, Yeoh reminded all sports associations not to make the step of taking naturalised or heritage athletes an easy step to find victory because KBS has channelled an allocation of RM1 million through the National Sports Council (MSN) for the purpose of developing grassroots athletes, especially for the Olympic Games since 2023. “In fact, efforts to bring in heritage or naturalised players also need to follow the