26/01/2026

SPORTS MONDAY | JAN 26, 2026

31

Hattrick in Jakarta Tang Jie-Ee Wei create history, Pearly-Thinaah given a free win and Sze Fei-Izzuddin complete Malaysia’s dominance at Indonesia Masters

RESULTS & STANDINGS

Liek Hou settles for silver NATIONAL para badminton ace Cheah Liek Hou settled for silver after losing to Indonesia’s Dheva Anrimusthi in the SU5 men’s singles final at the APG 2025 yesterday. In the 47 minute match, Liek Hou was unable to sustain his momentum and went down in straight sets, 19-21, 15-21. Liek Hou said the defeat was largely due to slow physical recovery throughout the tournament as a result of the tightly packed competition schedule. “My body was very sore and recovery was slow. In badminton, we compete over five to six ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: West Ham 3 (Summerville 14, Bowen 28-pen, Fernan des 43) Sunderland 1 (Brobbey 66) , Burnley 2 (Tuanzebe 45, Foster 76) Tottenham 2 (Van de Ven 38, Romero 90) , Fulham 2 (Chukwueze 72, Wilson 90+2) Brighton 1 (Ayari 28) , Man City 2 (Marmoush 6, Semenyo 45+2) Wolves 0, Bournemouth 3 (Evanilson 26, Jimenez 33, Adli 90+5) Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 45, Szoboszlai 80) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Arsenal 22 15 5 2 40 14 50 Man City 23 14 4 5 47 21 46 Aston Villa 22 13 4 5 33 25 43 Liverpool 23 10 6 7 35 32 36 Man Utd 22 9 8 5 38 32 35 Chelsea 22 9 7 6 36 24 34 CHAMPIONSHIP: Middlesbrough 4 Preston North End 0, Millwall 4 Charlton Athletic 0, Birmingham City 1 Stoke City 1, Blackburn Rovers 1 Watford 1, Bristol City 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0, Hull City 2 Swansea City 1, Leicester City 1 Oxford United 2, Queens Park Rangers 2 Wrex ham 3, Sheffield United 3 Ipswich Town 1. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Coventry 28 17 7 4 61 31 58 Mid’boro 29 16 7 6 46 29 55 Ipswich 27 14 8 5 47 24 50 Millwall 29 14 7 8 36 35 49 Hull 27 14 5 8 45 39 47 Preston 29 11 10 8 36 33 43 LA LIGA: Rayo Vallecano 1 (Ciss 59) Osasuna 3 (Budimir 29, Victor Munoz 90+1, Osambela 90+4) , Valencia 3 (Duro 16, Comert 59, Ramazani 90+4-pen) Espanyol 2 (Terrats 54, Copete 79-og) , Sevilla 2 (Peque 42, Adams 56-pen) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Navarro 40) , Villarreal 0 Real Madrid 2 (Mbappe 47, 90+4-pen) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Real Madrid 21 16 3 2 45 17 51 Barcelona 20 16 1 3 54 22 49 Atleti 20 12 5 3 35 17 41 Villarreal 20 13 2 5 37 21 41 Espanyol 21 10 4 7 25 25 34 Real Betis 20 8 8 4 33 25 32 SERIE A: Como 6 (Douvikas 8, 66, Baturina 16, Da Cunha 59-pen, Kuehn 70, Caqueret 76) Torino 0, Fiorentina 1 (Brescianini 74) Cagliari 2 (Kilicsoy 31, Palestra 47) , Lecce 0 Lazio 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 22 17 1 4 50 19 52 AC Milan 21 13 7 1 34 16 46 Napoli 21 13 4 4 31 17 43 Roma 21 14 0 7 26 12 42 Como 22 11 7 4 37 16 40 Juventus 21 11 6 4 32 17 39 BUNDESLIGA: Union Berlin 0 Borussia Dortmund 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Hoffenheim 3, Mainz 3 Wolfsburg 1, Bayer Leverkusen 1 Werder Bremen 0, Bayern Munich 1 Augsburg 2, Heiden heim 0 RB Leipzig 3. FRENCH LIGUE 1: Rennes 0 Lorient 2, Le Havre 0 Monaco 0, Marseille 3 Lens 1. BRIEFS

R EIGNING world champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei etched their names in his tory after becoming the first Malaysian mixed doubles pair to capture the Indonesia Masters title during the 2026 edition final in Jakarta yesterday. The pair staged a superb comeback to defeat Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje in 57 minutes at the final showdown at Istora Senayan. The triumph, however, did not come easy for the third seeds, who struggled to find their rhythm early on and failed to keep up with the unseeded Danish pair, going down 15-21 in the opening

game. The world No. 4 had to dig deep after trailing 10-12 in the second set, reeling off six consecutive points to surge ahead 16-12 before maintaining their momentum to clinch the game 21-17 and force a decider. With confidence fully restored, Tang Jie-Ee Wei took complete control of the rubber set, dominat ing proceedings before Boje’s return into the net on Tang Jie’s shot sealed a 21-11 victory and a fifth World Tour title for the Malaysians. Meanwhile, national women’s doubles top pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah were awarded the title as their opponents from Japan, Arisa Igarashi-Miyu Takahashi, conceded a walkover in the final.

The development was confirmed by Badminton Association of Malaysia through a social media post even before both pairs stepped onto the court. The result meant the top seed and world No. 2 Pearly-Thinaah became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to secure the title in the tour nament in 15 years, since Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei last won it in 2011. In the men’s doubles final, Goh Sze Fei–Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani ended their title drought since winning the India Open in January last year after clinching the Indonesia Masters 2026 title in Jakarta yesterday. The world No. 9 pair produced a solid perform ance to defeat home favourites Raymond Indra– Nikolaus Joaquin 21-19, 21-13 in 37 minutes in the final held at Istora Senayan. The victory completed a hattrick of titles for Malaysia at the tournament. It was also the first title of the year for Sze Fei– Nur Izzuddin after early exits in the second round of the Malaysia Open and India Open earlier this month. – Bernama

MEDAL TALLY G S B

COUNTRY

Ttl

317/26

25/01/2026

1. Thailand 2. Indonesia 3. Malaysia 4. Philippines 5. Vietnam 6. Myanmar 7. Singapore 8. Timor-Leste

170 129

152 132

149 109

471 370 194 121 133

0879 2068 2149

62 40 34 20 13

63 32 46 17

69 49 53 19

56 28

7 1 5 3

8 1 8 2

5667 7663 6640 8648 1347

2050 2876 8827 6246 7938

8623 3756 8148 1789 2823

6777 8766 8800 7146 8999

3 2 1

5

9. Laos

15

10. Brunei

6

Eighteen, fearless & undaunted TUARAN-BORN sprint sensation Ivan Jovic Suan (pic) announced his arrival on the regional stage in emphatic fashion by winning three gold med als on his debut at the Asean Para Games (APG) Thailand 2025, including two victories over his Malaysian Paralympic-medallist idol. school and train again. Sometimes I only got five hours of sleep a day. “And to be able to win against my own idol, Eddy – I was really confused because I had lost to him every single time since we first met at Para Sukma in 2022,” he said.

RM8,075,426.35

0879 + 2149 2068 + 2149 2149 + 2068

0879 + 2068 2068 + 0879 2149 + 0879

RM535,710.80

the final to top an all-Malaysian podium, ahead of Ahmad Zuaiman Shamsuddin, who cleared 6.35m, and Muhammad Nazri Hazmi Mohan with 6.31m.“This is a very special moment. I am really happy to give Malaysia this 55th gold. It’s a significant number and it feels great to have achieved our target. It’s been a long journey with lots of training. This is my first competition of the year, and I am pleased with the result,”he told reporters yesterday. The milestone gold also held personal significance for Kar Gee, who endured a challenging outing at the Cambodia 2023 edition, where he was forced to compete in a different category due to a classification issue and finished second despite carrying injuries. Despite the growing attention and rising expectations surrounding his rapid ascent, Ivan remains calm and focused, already setting his sights on a much bigger target: breaking the world record in the 100m, which he considers the next step in his journey. – Bernama Ivan said the exchange after the race was just as meaningful as the victory itself, reflecting the mutual respect between the two Sabah-born athletes. “He told me, ‘ Masih boleh lagi ni, jauh lagi per jalanan ’ (You still have a long journey ahead),” Ivan said, describing the words as both encour agement and motivation for the challenges to come.

consecutive days, so when sleep is insufficient and recovery is not at its best, it will inevitably affect performance in crucial matches,” he said. However, Liek Hou described the result as part and parcel of competitive sport and said he is now fully focused on the upcoming 2026 Para Badminton World Championships in Bahrain from Feb 7 to 14. Kar Gee delivers for Malaysia MALAYSIA’S Wong Kar Gee soared to victory in the Men’s Long Jump T12 in Thailand, clinching the nation’s 55th gold medal in style while also setting a new Games record. Kar Gee delivered a superb leap of 6.83 metres (m) in Ivan stunned the field with victories over fel low Malaysian and Paris Paralympics medallist Eddy Bernard in both the 100m T44 and 200m T44 events, a feat few had anticipated given his past struggles against the experienced sprinter, and went on to claim the 400m T44/T63 title. The highlight of his campaign came in the 200m T44 final, where Ivan delivered a sensa tional run to shatter the Games record with a time of 24.25 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark of 26.40s set by Indonesia’s Ryan Arda Diarta at the Cambodia 2023 edition. “I never expected to win three gold medals. Training last year while studying was really hard. I had to wake up at 4am, jog two kilometres, go to

6 12161719262833

11 27

RM12,261,292.03

RM170,469.39

7 9 6 8 4 9 79684

96849

7968

6849

796

849

79

49

68

08

All jackpot amounts stated above are for this Draw. Subject to T&Cs of the Scheme. Please visit to www.magnum4d.my for more info. THE BIGGER PLAY IS TO PLAY RESPONSIBLY