12/12/2025

SPORTS FRIDAY | DEC 12, 2025

31

Golden promise falls flat BAM orders immediate post-mortem after men’s SEA Games debacle T HE Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) have instructed the two national coaching directors – Kenneth Jonassen (singles) and Rexy Mainaky (doubles) – to Although disappointed with the result, Goh hopes the shuttlers will shift their attention to the individual events, which run from today until Sunday.

SEA GAMES

despite leading quite comfortably in the second set, but the world No. 28’s eagerness took a toll on him, allowing Alwi Farhan to stage a comeback and seal the first point for Indonesia. He said that men’s second singles Justin Hoh made too many mistakes and was unable to recover after the world No. 38 got trapped in Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah’s play. Jun Hao went down to Alwi 12-21, 19-21, while Justin lost 12-21, 14-21 to Moh. Zaki. In the meantime, national men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi was clearly gutted to see the 2022 men’s doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik being outperformed 12 21, 12-21 by world No. 8 Sabar Karyaman Gutama Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani. Herry said Aaron-Wooi Yik, as the world No. 2 duo, should play much better against the lower ranked opponent. With the defeat, Malaysia failed to end a two decade gold medal search in the aforementioned event, which was last won in the 2005 edition in the Philippines. The SEA Games Thailand 2025 is taking place from Dec 9 to 20 across two provinces – Bangkok and Chonburi. – Bernama ‘Sabah ready to lay everything on the line’ SABAH FC head coach Jean-Paul de Marigny says his squad will give “everything they’ve got” as the Rhinos prepare to take on Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in the historic FA Cup final, marking the team’s first appearance on the grand stage in nearly three decades. De Marigny said confidence remains high in the camp despite the formidable challenge posed by JDT, noting that the final will be a true test of Sabah’s progress under his leadership. “Yeah, I mean, we’re always confident to win a football match, it’s going to be a big occasion, a good challenge for us, and we’ll embrace the atmosphere and the occasion,” he told Bernama after a training session at the Likas Stadium. He said the team is eager to measure themselves against the Super League giants, adding that the opportunity itself reflects how far Sabah FC has progressed. “We’re looking forward, matching ourselves against the best. That will show us the level of where we are. We’re all very excited – excited for everyone in Sabah. They’ve waited a long time for this, 30 years. So, we have created this piece of history for them,” he said. Asked whether guiding Sabah to the final felt like a personal milestone, the Australian-born coach said he was immensely proud of the players and staff. “Yeah, for sure. I’m so proud of the players and the staff. We’ve been able to achieve this in less than eight weeks, and the players have really bought into it and are working extremely hard,” he said. Jean-Paul acknowledged the strength of their opponents but stressed that his side would arrive with a clear tactical plan. He added that team morale is at its peak following their semifinal triumph, particularly after scoring what he described as a world-class goal. “We’ve got a game plan that we’ll look at, and we’ll work on that over the next two days. Every team has strengths and weaknesses. “It’s a proud moment, and it’s a great occasion to be part of. It doesn’t come too often, so you have to maximise your opportunity to be part of history. We’ll make you proud, and mark my words, we’ll be doing everything we can,” he said. Sabah will face reigning champions JDT In the final on Sunday. – Bernama

MEDAL TALLY G S B

National singles coaching director Jonassen believes Malaysia’s strong desire to win may have worked against them. He said the players struggled to strike the right balance between passion and composure, allowing emotions to affect their tacti cal clarity and decision-making. “I just have to digest today’s defeat; it hurts quite a lot. I think their desire (to win gold) is also why we may not have played our best today … So, this is the desire we need to be able to handle,” he told report ers after the final on Wednesday night. “Of course, you go into a final wanting to win, but you cannot allow your emotions to take control and cloud the clarity of how you are supposed to play the game,” he added. In some sense, the 50-year-old Jonassen said he got a clear answer that there was a lot to be done if they intend to challenge next year’s Thomas Cup, to be held in Horsens, Denmark, from April 23 to May 3. On men’s first singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao’s performance, Jonassen felt Jun Hao was too rushed

conduct an immediate post-mortem to identify the cause of the national shuttlers’ failure to bag the men’s team gold medal at the SEA Games Thailand 2025 yesterday. Malaysia were thrashed 3-0 by traditional rivals Indonesia in the final at Gymnasium 4 of Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus. Malaysia last won the men’s team gold in the 2005 edition in the Philippines. BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh said an investigation needs to be conducted soonest possible, as the team will be competing in the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) 2026 in Qingdao, China, from Feb 3-8. “Firstly, a disappointing result and we must defi nitely do something drastic, so, I believe that after this, both coaching directors must review and con duct a post-mortem to find out what exactly hap pened to ensure such things do not recur, especially since we are also in the midst of preparing for the BATC 2026 next February,” he told reporters in Bangkok yesterday.

COUNTRY

1. Thailand 2. Indonesia 3. Singapore 4. Vietnam 5. Myanmar 6. Malaysia 7. Philippines

19

13

9 7 5

41 21 14 24

5 5 4 2 2 2 1 0 0

9 4 4 4 2 2 1 1 0

16

1

7

10

14 13

9 6 1 1

8. Laos

8 2 1

9. Brunei

10. Timor-Leste

RESULTS & STANDINGS

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Villarreal 2 (Comesana 47, Oluwaseyi 56) Copenha gen 3 (Elyounoussi 2, Achouri 48, Cornelius 90) , Qarabag 2 (Duran 10, Silva 47) Ajax 4 (Dolberg 39, Gloukh 79, 90, Gaaei 83) , Borussia Dortmund 2 (Brandt 18, 51) Bodo/Glimt 2 (Aleesami 42, Hauge 75) , Bayer Leverkusen 2 (Guimaraes 13-og, Grimaldi 88) Newcastle 2 (Gordon 51-pen, Miley 74) , Benfica 2 (Rios 20, Barreiro 49) Napoli 0, Juventus 2 (McKennie 67, David 73) Pafos 0, Club Brugge 0 Arse nal 3 (Madueke 25, 47, Martinelli 56) , Athletic Bilbao 0 Paris Saint-Germain 0, Real Madrid 1 (Rodrygo 28) Manches ter City 2 (O'Reilly 35, Haaland 43-pen) . TOP 16 P W D L F A PTS Arsenal 6 6 0 0 17 1 18 B. Munich 6 5 0 1 18 7 15 Paris SG 6 4 1 1 19 8 13 Man City 6 4 1 1 12 6 13 Atalanta 6 4 1 1 8 6 13 Inter 6 4 0 2 12 4 12 Real Madrid 6 4 0 2 13 7 12 Atletico 6 4 0 2 15 12 12 Liverpool 6 4 0 2 11 8 12 Dortmund 6 3 2 1 19 13 11 Tottenham 6 3 2 1 13 7 11 Newcastle 6 3 1 2 13 6 10 Chelsea 6 3 1 2 13 8 10 Sporting 6 3 1 2 12 8 10 Barcelona 6 3 1 2 14 11 10 Marseille 6 3 0 3 11 8 9 CHAMPIONSHIP: Bristol City 2 Leicester 2, Derby County 1 Millwall 1, Ipswich 1 Stoke 0, Hull City 2 Wrexham 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A PTS Coventry 20 13 5 2 51 22 44 Mid’boro 20 11 6 3 30 21 39 Millwall 20 10 5 5 24 26 35 Ipswich 20 9 7 4 34 19 34 Preston 20 8 8 4 27 21 32 Hull 20 9 4 7 33 34 31

Jinq En on cloud nine after shared bronze

FROM LEFT: Thailand’s Jenjira Srisa-ard (Silver), Singapore’s Letitia Sim (Gold), Thailand’s Saovanee Boonamphai and Malaysia’s Phee Jinq En (Bronze) celebrate with their medals after the women’s 50m breaststroke final in Bangkok on Wednesday. – AFPPIC

threatened again shortly after, but both efforts were well handled by the Sailors’ defence. Lion City nearly struck first in the 25th minute through Maxime Lestienne, whose curling left footed free kick crashed against the crossbar, keeping the hosts temporarily in the contest. Selangor’s attempts to chase an equaliser late in the match proved fruitless. Morales saw one of the team’s best opportunities in injury time blocked, while Anderson Lopes was denied at the other end in the 84th minute by Kamalullah and defender Harith Haiqal. Wednesday’s defeat compounded Selangor’s struggles in the regional competition, coming NATIONAL swimmer Phee Jinq En described it as a“crazy”moment after clinching a shared bronze medal in the women’s 50m breast stroke, delivering the first medal for Malaysia’s swimming squad at the SEA Games Thailand 2025, on Wednesday. Jinq En clocked 31.71 seconds (s) to finish joint third with home swimmer Soovanee Boonamphai at the Swimming Pool, Sports Authority of Thailand. Jinq En admitted she initially thought she had narrowly missed the podium before real ising the result was a tie. “I was just aiming to squeeze onto the podium because the Singaporean and Thai swimmers are really fast. When the results came out, I thought I was fourth, then I dou ble-checked and realised it was a tie. It was just crazy,” she told reporters.

after their earlier 3-2 loss to Persib Bandung on Nov 6 that confirmed their early exit. The Red Giants finished bottom of Group G, their best result being a 1-1 draw away to Bangkok United on Nov 26. Head coach Christophe Gamel had targeted a morale-boosting final win, but the Red Giants ultimately concluded the group stage without a single victory. “Our #ACLTwo journey this season comes to an end. Thank you for all your support through out the whole campaign,” Selangor FC posted on their official social media platform yesterday. – Bernama Singapore’s Letitia Sim claimed gold in 31.03s, while Thailand’s Jenjira Srisa-Ard took silver with 31.52s. Meanwhile, fellow Malaysian swimmer Isabelle Chiyi Buckley finished eighth in the same event in 33.81s. In the men’s 200m individual medley, Tan Khai Xin narrowly missed the podium after finishing fourth in 2:05.38. Vietnam’s Tran Hung Nguyen won gold with 2:02.11, fol lowed by the Philippines’ Gian Santos (2:03.88) and Vietnam’s Nguyen Quang Thuan (2:04.19). National swimmers Arvin Singh and Lim Yin Chuen finished sixth in the men’s 100m freestyle, both clocking 50.40s. Singapore dominated the event through Mikkel Lee (48.65s) and Quah Zheng Wen (49.45s), while Vietnam’s Tran Van Nguyen Quoc completed the podium with bronze. – Bernama

Red Giants close ACL 2 campaign in defeat

SELANGOR FC closed their Asian Champions League 2 (ACL2) 2025/26 campaign without a win after falling 1-0 to Singapore’s Lion City Sailors in their final Group G match at the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium (MBPJ) on Wednesday night. The visitors secured the decisive goal five minutes into the second half when Tsiy Ndenge finished calmly from a well-weighted pass by Song Ui-Young, leaving goalkeeper Kamalullah Al-Hafiz with no chance. Selangor had earlier shown promising signs in the first half, with captain Faisal Halim coming close in the 15th minute before Chrigor Morales