18/08/2025

SPORTS MONDAY | AUG 18, 2025

31

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

Pearly-Thinaah can bring home World C’ship medal: Khe Wei FORMER national women’s doubles player Woon Khe Wei is confident that the Pearly Tan-M Thinaah pair will be able to create great success by bringing home a medal from the 2025 World Badminton Championships to be held in Paris, France from Aug 25-31. performances in every tournament they participated in this year. “This year their performance is really good and quite consistent. Their style of playing is impressive and convincing.

RESULTS

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Aston Villa 0 Newcastle 0, Brighton 1 (O'Riley 55-pen) Fulham 1 (Muniz 90+6), Sunderland 3 (Mayenda 61, Ballard 73, Isidor 90+2) West Ham 0, Tottenham 3 (Richarlison 10, 60, John son 66) Burnley 0, Wolves 0 Manchester City 4 (Haaland 34, 61, Reijnders 37, Cherki 81) . CHAMPIONSHIP: Derby County 3 Coventry City 5, Portsmouth 1 Norwich City 2, Wrexham 2 West Bromwich Albion 3, Blackburn Rovers 1 Birming ham City 2, Bristol City 0 Charlton Athletic 0, Millwall 0 Middlesbrough 3, Preston North End 2 Leicester City 1, Sheffield Wednesday 0 Stoke City 3, Swansea City 1 Sheffield United 0, Watford 2 Queens Park Rangers 1. LA LIGA: Mallorca 0 Barcelona 3 (Raphinha 7, Ferran Torres 23, Yamal 90+4) , Alaves 2 (T. Martinez 36, Tenaglia 92) Levante (Toljan 68) 1, Valencia 1 (Lopez 57) Real Sociedad 1 (Kubo 60), Girona 1 (Roca 57) Rayo Vallecano 3 (De Frutos 18, Garcia 20, Palazon 45-pen), Villarreal 2 (Eyong 29, Gueye 36) Real Oviedo 0. GERMAN CUP: BFC Dynamo 1 Bochum 3, Pirmasens 1 Hamburger SV 2, Eintracht Norderstedt 0 St. Pauli 0 (St. Pauli win 3-2 on penalties) , Bahlinger SC 0 Heidenheim 5, Hansa Rostock 0 Hoffen heim 4, Illertissen 3 Nurnberg 3 (Illertis sen win 9-8 on penalties), Sandhausen 2 RB Leipzig 4, Hemelingen 0 Wolfsburg 9. FRENCH LIGUE 1: Lens 0 Lyon 1, Monaco 3 Le Havre 1, Nice 0 Toulouse 1, Rennes 1 Marseille 0. TOUCHLINES MANCHESTER UNITED are ready to accept Roma’s offer of a loan with obligation to buy for England winger Jadon Sancho, but are waiting for the 25-year-old to make a final decision. EVERTON are actively looking at alternatives to Tyler Dibling, 19, after having three bids – the last of which was about £37m (RM211m) – rejected by Southampton for the England U-21s winger. GALATASARAY have made an open ing bid of about £8.6m (RM49m) for Manchester City and Brazil goal keeper Ederson, 31.

Meanwhile, Khe Wei also reminded the national pair not to be overconfident with the opponents they will face after receiving an easy draw at the world championships. However, she believed the national pair was prepared both mentally and physically to bring home a medal for Malaysia. Earlier at the draw ceremony held on Wednesday, Pearly-Thinaah received an easy draw when they faced no problems advancing to the semifinals. The second seeds received a bye in the first round and are expected to face the world’s 14th ranked pair from Indonesia, Lanny Tria Mayasari Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the quarterfinals with a record of meetings in favour of the national pair. – Bernama

“So hopefully they can get Malaysia’s first medal in the women’s doubles event,” she said after opening her badminton academy yesterday.

According to Khe Wei, this confidence comes after the pair, currently ranked second in the world, managed to display consistent

Chong Wei can

elevate Boon Heong says former world No. 1 can help drive national badminton towards greater heights

BAM

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F ORMER national men’s doubles player Tan Boon Heong has welcomed the appointment of Malaysian badminton legend Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei (pic) as a new council member of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). He said the three-time Olympic silver medallist has the right qualities to continue driving the progress of national badminton, while hoping BAM will give Chong Wei the space and freedom to carry out his duties effectively. “If Datuk Seri Chong Wei joins BAM, I really feel he can help BAM. “But if he is there just to attend meetings, to me that would be a waste. “We need to give him the freedom and power to do what he wants because I believe he knows what needs to be done,” Boon Heong told reporters yesterday. Prior to this, BAM president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz had announced Chong Wei’s appointment as one of BAM’s new council members, marking his return to the national badminton scene in line with BAM’s vision of making Malaysia a badminton powerhouse.

In addition to Chong Wei, Zafrul said BAM has also agreed to appoint three prominent corporate figures as BAM council members, namely Employees Provident Fund (EPF) director Tan Sri Gooi Hoe Soon (Finance); former NTV7 chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly (Branding and Media Strategy); and lawyer Datuk Sunil Abraham (Legal). On Saturday, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh congratulated Chong Wei on his appointment as BAM council member. She added that his presence in the council was a moment she has looked forward to since she began her term as minister in 2022. “I believe Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei has much to contribute to the development of badminton in Malaysia and he shouldn’t just be at the fringes of BAM. “His presence has helped us in the National Sports Council and the Road to Gold (RTG) programme, which I deeply appreciate, but I’m optimistic that when a former athlete leads in a national sports association, it will spur excitement, instil confidence and accuracy in decisions and policies of the association,” she posted on Facebook on Saturday. – Bernama Meanwhile, Selangor FC are now one step closer to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup after defeating Malaysian University (MUFT) 3-1 at the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium on Saturday. The Red Giants took just four minutes to open the scoring through Muhammad Faisal Abdul Halim. Alvin Fortes doubled the lead in the 24th minute before Faisal once again registered his name on the scoreboard at the end of the first half. In Brunei, newcomers DPMM FC also started their FA Cup campaign on the right foot, with a narrow 3-2 victory over Kuching City FC. DPMM’s goals were scored by Azwan Ali Rahman in the sixth minute, Miguel Oliveira (48th), and Jordan Murray (79th), while Kuching City’s goals came from Ronald Ngah and James Okwuosa in the 43rd and 47th minutes, respectively. – Bernama

RM2,818,302.13

3632 + 4649 4649 + 3632 3710 + 3632

3632 + 3710 4649 + 3710 3710 + 4649

RM148,782.21

1 3 5 9 24283234

6 19

Munoz wants more from team JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM (JDT) head coach Xisco Munoz admitted that his team only found their rhythm after scoring the opening goal in their 5-0 victory over UM Damansara FC in the FA Cup first-round at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium on Saturday night. Asked whether he was satisfied with the team’s overall performance after three competitive matches this season, the coach stressed that improvements were still necessary, particularly in home games.

RM9,943,751.82

RM100,000.00

“Of course not. One of the most important things is that at home we must perform better. The players are still adapting, especially the new ones, to the intensity here. Step by step we need to find the right balance. At the moment, we are creating many chances, including penalties, but in attack we must use our capacity more effectively,” he explained. UM-Damansara FC Coach Ridzuan Abu Shah said he was satisfied with his team’s performance despite losing 5-0 to JDT. He said his team played brilliantly at the start of the match before facing a second yellow card incident which resulted in Hariz Mansor being shown the red card.

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He said the early stages were difficult as the players struggled to control the tempo, but the breakthrough changed the momentum of the game. “The first goal was very important for us. Before that, we couldn’t find the rhythm we wanted, but after scoring, the team played with more confidence and intensity. From there, we pressed harder and created more opportunities. “It is never easy to score the first goal, but once we did, the game became more open and we had more chances,” he told reporters after the match.

24910

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4910

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