28/07/2025

SPORTS MONDAY | JULY 28, 2025

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Muhammad Azeem leads quartet in 4x400m final THE national men’s 4x100m quartet fulfilled their promise when they checked into the final at the 2025 Rhine-Ruhr World University Games in Bochum, Germany, yesterday. In the first-round action, the quartet of Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, Pengiran Aidil Auf Hajam, Mohammad Thaqif Mohammad Hisham and Aliff Iman Mohd Fahimi completed the first heat in third place in 39.83s behind South Africa (38.85s) and India (39.12s). The 39.83s is also the national quartet’s season’s best, while the national record of 39.09s was set in 2022. Apart from South Africa, India and Malaysia, the other men’s 4x100m finalists are Germany, Poland, Turkiye and Thailand. National women’s triple jumper Nurul Ashikin Abas also made the final after chalking her season’s best of 12.98m in the Group B qualifying round. Not wanting to be left out, the national women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Mandy Goh Li, Nurul Aliah Maisarah Nor Azmi, Chelsea Cassiopea Evali Bopulas and Hizillawanty Jamain also stormed their way into the final when they came in fourth in the second heat with a season’s best time of 3 minutes 55.21s. However, there was no such luck for national men’s 800m runner Wan Muhammad Fazri Wan Zahari, who could only clock 1:49.87s to finish sixth in the first semifinals, and national woman hammer thrower Grace Wong Xiu Mei, who failed to get past the qualifying round. – Bernama Aaron-Wooi Yik go down tamely in China MEN’S doubles shuttlers Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik’s hopes of winning their first World Tour Super 1000 title were dashed after they were beaten by Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri in the China Open final yesterday. Aaron-Wooi Yik could not raise their game and lost 15-21, 14-21 to the pumped up Indonesian duo at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou. The world No 2 pair’s hopes of hitting a career high were dashed by the unranked giant-killers, going down tamely in just 34 minutes. The Indonesians played aggressively, giving Aaron-Wooi Yik little chance to come back after taking huge leads. Fajar-Shohibul were only competing in their second tournament after the Japan Open last week, but played brilliantly to come away with the commanding win in just 35 minutes. Aaron-Wooi made it to the final after beating Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty on Saturday. The Malaysians hardly broke a sweat as they swept the Indians aside 21-13, 21-17 in only 42 minutes, raking up their 11th win out of 14 meetings. But yesterday’s final was a disappointment for Aaron-Wooi Yik, who also finished runners-up in the 2023 China Open after losing to home favourites Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang. The Malaysian pair will take home US$70,000 (RM230,000) as runners-up while the champions win US$148,000 (RM624,000). This was Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik’s sixth appearance in the final of a World Tour Super 1000 tournament. – Bernama

Malaysian divers

not in sync

Malaysia’s Elvis Priestly Clement (right) and Yiat Qing Lee in action. – REUTERSPIC

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27/07/2025

M ALAYSIA’S national divers Elvis Priestly Clement and Lee Yiat Qing had to settle for 11th place in the mixed 10m synchronised event final at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore yesterday. The pair, who made their world championships debut in the mixed 3m and 10m team event yesterday, delivered a commendable effort across five dives but managed to finish ahead of only one team in a competitive 12-team field, scoring a total of 247.86 points. The gold medal went to China’s Zhu Yongxin and Xie Peiling with 323.04 points, while silver was claimed by North Korea’s Choe Wi Hyon and Jo Jin Mi (322.98 points). Aleksandr Bondar and Anna Konanykhina of Russia, who are competing as Neutral Athletes B (NAB), finished third with 311.88 points. Meanwhile, another two Malaysian world championships debutants Nurqayyum Nazmi Mohamad Nazim and Yong Rui Jie failed to advance to the men’s 1m springboard final, after finishing outside the top 12 in the preliminaries. Rui Jie finished 41st, while Nazmi – who won bronze at the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships – placed 44th out of 59 divers. Earlier, national swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean failed to advance to the final of the men’s 400m freestyle event after finishing THE International Sepaktakraw Federation (Istaf) has set up a special technical committee to review the proposed amendment to allow the tekong (server) to lift his non-kicking foot when executing the service. Istaf secretary-general Datuk Abdul Halim Kader said the decision was made at the Istaf Council meeting in Hatyai, Thailand, yesterday, following various suggestions and feedback received from member countries in connection with Clause 11.1.4 of the Istaf Sepaktakraw Rules. This committee will be chaired by Taufiq Halim (Istaf deputy secretary-general) and Prof Chalerm Chaiwatcharaporn (Istaf treasurer). “The decision to set up this committee was made after considering the insightful views from Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia (PSM) president Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan and Istaf assistant secretary-general from India Yogender Singh Dahiya. “All findings by this committee will be referred to the Istaf Referee Committee before being Special committee to review rule change

28th overall in the heats at the World Aquatics Championships Arena. The two-time SEA Games gold medallist clocked 3 minutes 51.11s to finish ninth in Heat Three. He will next compete in the men’s 100m, 200m, and 800m freestyle events in the coming days. Andrew Goh Zheng Yen did not start in the men’s 100m breaststroke event due to illness. Malaysia’s national head coach Eric Anderson, when contacted by Bernama, said Andrew is currently recovering at the hotel and hopes to be ready for the men’s 50m breaststroke heats scheduled for tomorrow. Anderson added that another national swimmer, Bryan Leong Xin Ren, had to skip the tournament due to work commitments in the United Kingdom. He was originally scheduled to compete in the men’s 50m and 100m butterfly events. The 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, running from July July 11 to Aug 3, features water polo, diving, high diving, swimming, artistic swimming and open water swimming. – Bernama Duo deliver commendable effort but finish 11th in 12 team field submitted to the executive committee for endorsement and final approval of any amendments to be enforced,” he said in a statement today. Under Clause 11.1.4 of the Istaf Sepaktakraw Rules, a service is disqualified if the non-kicking foot steps outside the circle. The proposed amendment aims to redefine the circle as a reference zone instead of a rigid boundary, allowing players greater flexibility. Meanwhile, Abdul Halim has given a firm assurance that Istaf will never abolish the centre court circle, measuring 13.4m by 6.1m, which has been part of the game’s identity since the 1965 Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in Kuala Lumpur. In another development, he also hinted that 16 countries are set to be invited to compete in the 2026 Istaf World Cup (men’s and women’s categories), which is slated to be held at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur next May. – Bernama

1644 2720 4054

0746 5192 8500 2260 8549

8567 4740 7345 5477 2569

5117 2185 2008 9691 9286

8383 8818 9467 8405 7056

RM13,900,795.27

1644 + 4054 2720 + 4054 4054 + 2720

1644 + 2720 2720 + 1644 4054 + 1644

RM206,445.42

1 4 7 1323242528

10 26

RM9,674,889.51

RM197,836.47

4 4 2 0 5 4 44205

42054

4420

2054

442

054

44

54

20

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