09/02/2026

SPORTS MONDAY | FEB 9, 2026

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B ANGKOK witnessed a landmark moment for tower running on Saturday as Samyan Mitrtown hosted the city’s inaugural Bangkok Vertical Run. Serving as the first event in a newly launched vertical race series, com petitors were tasked with conquering 32 floors and 976 steps, with organisers setting an ambitious benchmark of finishing under five minutes. From a field of approximately 500 runners, Malaysia’s Soh Wai Ching immediately stamped his authority on the race. Starting in the opening wave of six to eight athletes, the flag-off took place just outside the building, roughly 30 metres from the stairwell entrance. Wai Ching surged into the stairs ahead of the pack, attacking the opening eight floors before set tling into a controlled rhythm. The uninterrupted stair climb transitioned from two flights per floor to a four-flight rectangular con figuration, and the shorter step height allowed him to maximise efficiency with triple-step strides – an

Wai Ching sets new course record Malaysia’s World No. 1 towerrunner successfully claims maiden title in Bangkok

RESULTS & STANDINGS

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal 3 (Zubimendi 42, Gyokeres 66, 90+3) Sunderland 0, Bournemouth 1 (Rayan 55) Aston Villa 1 (Rogers 22) , Burnley 0 West Ham 2 (Summerville 13, Castellanos 26) , Fulham 1 (Mykolenko 18-og) E verton 2 (Dewsbury-Hall 75, Leno 83-og) , Manchester United 2 (Mbeumo 38, Fernandes 81) Tottenham 0, Newcastle 2 (Botman 24, Guimaraes 79-pen) Brent ford 3 (Janelt 37, Thiago 45+2-pen, Ouat tara 85) , Wolves 1 (Arokodare 54) Chelsea 3 (Palmer 13-pen, 35-pen, 38) . P W D L F A Pts Arsenal 25 17 5 3 49 17 56 Man City 24 14 5 5 49 23 47 Aston Villa 25 14 5 6 36 27 47 Man Utd 25 12 8 5 46 36 44 Chelsea 25 12 7 6 45 28 43 Liverpool 24 11 6 7 39 33 39 Brentford 25 12 3 10 39 34 39 Everton 25 10 7 8 28 28 37 Sunderland 25 9 9 7 27 29 36 Fulham 25 10 4 11 35 37 34 Bournemouth 25 8 10 7 41 44 34 Newcastle 25 9 6 10 35 36 33 Brighton 24 7 10 7 34 32 31 Tottenham 25 7 8 10 35 35 29 Crystal Palace 24 7 8 9 25 29 29 Leeds 25 7 8 10 34 43 29 Nottm Forest 25 7 5 13 25 38 26 West Ham 25 6 5 14 31 48 23 Burnley 25 3 6 16 25 49 15 Wolves 25 1 5 19 16 48 8 CHAMPIONSHIP: Derby County 1 Ipswich Town 2, Norwich City 2 Black burn Rovers 0, Southampton 1 Watford 0, Birmingham City 2 Leicester City 1, Coventry City 0 Oxford United 0, Hull City 2 Bristol City 3, Preston North End 1 Portsmouth 0, West Brom 0 Stoke City 0, Wrexham 0 Millwall. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Coventry 31 17 8 6 63 35 59 Mid’boro 30 17 7 6 47 29 58 Ipswich 30 15 9 6 51 29 54 Hull 31 16 6 9 50 43 54 Millwall 31 15 8 8 39 36 53 Wrexham 31 12 11 8 44 39 47 LA LIGA: Barcelona 3 (Lewandowski 29, Yamal 61, Bernal 83) Mallorca 0, Real Sociedad 3 (Sucic 24, Oyarzabal 37, Oskarsson 89) Elche 1 (Silva 42) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 23 19 1 3 63 23 58 Real Madrid 22 17 3 2 47 18 54 Atletico 22 13 6 3 38 17 45 Villarreal 21 13 3 5 39 23 42 Real Betis 22 9 8 5 36 28 35 Espanyol 22 10 4 8 26 27 34 SERIE A: Genoa 2 (Malinovskyi 3-pen, Colombo 57) Napoli 3 (Hojlund 20, 90+5 pen, McTominay 22) , Fiorentina 2 (Solo mon 51, Keane 57) Torino 2 (Casadei 26, Maripan 90+4) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 23 18 1 4 52 19 55 AC Milan 23 14 8 1 38 17 50 Napoli 24 15 4 5 36 23 49 Juventus 23 13 6 4 39 18 45 Roma 23 14 1 8 27 14 43 Como 23 11 8 4 37 16 41 BUNDESLIGA: St Pauli 2 Stuttgart 1, Wolfsburg 1 Borussia Dortmund 2, Mainz 2 Augsburg 0, Heidenheim 0 Hamburg 2, Freiburg 1 Werder Bremen 0, Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 Bayer Leverkusen 1. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts B. Munich 20 16 3 1 74 18 51 Dortmund 21 14 6 1 43 20 48 Hoffenheim 20 13 3 4 43 23 42 Stuttgart 21 12 3 6 38 28 39 Leverkusen 20 11 3 6 39 27 36 RB Leipzig 20 11 3 6 38 27 36 FRENCH LIGUE 1: Lens 3 Rennes 1, Brest 2 Lorient 0, Nantes 0 Lyon 1. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Lens 21 16 1 4 37 17 49 Paris SG 20 15 3 2 43 16 48 Lyon 21 13 3 5 34 20 42 Marseille 20 12 3 5 46 22 39 Lille 21 10 3 8 34 30 33 Rennes 21 8 7 6 31 34 31

advantage he used to full effect. Wai Ching powered through the final floors to stop the clock at an outstanding 4 minutes 21.7 sec onds, comfortably surpassing the organisers’ target and establishing a new course record. Thailand’s Thavisup Thanitapirom claimed second place in

5:48.3, while fellow Thai runner Tanarat Kraiwong secured third with a time of 6:05.3. The win capped a strong opening to Wai Ching’s 2026 campaign, reinforcing his reputation as one of the world’s top towerrunners. His commanding performance in Bangkok sets the tone as the series continues at Sathorn Square Building on Feb 21, followed by One Bangkok Tower 4 on March 7. Adding to the occasion, Wai Ching expressed appreciation to representatives from the Malaysian Embassy in Bangkok, who were present to show their support. The successful debut of the Bangkok Vertical Run not only delivered a thrilling display of elite stair racing but also signalled the growing appeal of vertical running in Southeast Asia. Organisers hope the event will encourage greater participation and inspire both corporate and community-driven towerrunning competitions across Thailand in the years ahead.

BRIEFS

324/26

08/02/2026

6230 1700 0683

Ducati Lenovo Team Rider Marc Márquez rides around Jalan Ampang and Jalan P. Ramlee during the 2026 MotoGP season launch at Petronas Twin Towers on Saturday night. – BERNAMAPIC

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1830 7630 7478 4875 3697

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State Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship Committee chairman Mohd Najwan Halimi said that athletics and swimming are two of the sports from which they hope to rake in the gold medals. “Our preparations are coming along fine, and we are not only gearing up our Sukma ath letes but also those involved in Para Sukma. “We will try to ensure that the training and performance levels of the Para Sukma athletes will be on par with that of our able-bodied ath letes, because we want to ensure they (the para athletes) are not sidelined,” he said after the launch of the Selangor Sukam & Para Sukma 2026 Volunteer programme yesterday. Also present was Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari. At the 2024 Sukma in Sarawak, Selangor fin IN a historic first, the 2026 MotoGP season was staged in Kuala Lumpur, positioning Malaysia as a global motorcycling hub ahead of the champion ship opener scheduled for late February. Despite a light shower, spectators were treated to a dem onstration that included motorcycle “stoppies” and the official unveiling of the 2026 rider line ups and team liveries. The 2026 MotoGP season is set to officially begin with the Thailand Grand Prix (GP) at the Chang International Circuit from Feb 27 to March 1. Following the conclusion of the Sepang winter test last Thursday, teams will now head to Buriram, Thailand, for the final pre-sea son test scheduled for Feb 21-22. The champion ship will return to Malaysia for the Malaysian GP at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) from Oct MotoGP launches 2026 season in Kuala Lumpur

30 to Nov 1. Hoe Yean secures third gold

RM14,171,625.93

NATIONAL swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean clinched his third gold medal of the meet after winning the men’s 200-metre freestyle title at the Malaysia Invitational Age Group (MIAG) Championships on Saturday. The 23-year-old clocked one minute 49.94 seconds to take first place. Reflecting on his performance, Hoe Yean said that despite facing a demanding schedule at the championships, he was pleased with his timing. “I think it’s pretty good. I had a few races before this, so it’s been a pretty tiring day. We only resumed training about a month ago after taking a three-week break post SEA Games, starting around Jan 4. For just one month of training, I think it shows some really good signs of where we need to improve,” he said.

6230 + 1700 1700 + 6230 0683 + 6230

6230 + 0683 1700 + 0683 0683 + 1700

RM457,767.74

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6 11

S’gor aims high for Sukma 2026 SELANGOR is targeting 80 gold medals at the 2026 Malaysia Games (Sukma) that the state will be hosting in August. ished third in the overall standings with a haul of 181 medals – 56 golds, 64 silver and 61 bronzes.

RM11,871,729.44

Najwan also said that preparations for host ing the Games have reached 80% progress, with all venue upgrading processes having been completed ahead of schedule. “We are now awaiting work to be completed for the upgrading of the Darul Ehsan Aquatics Centre in Section 13 and the Subang Shooting Range, which are the two biggest facilities that we are upgrading,” he said. The 2026 Sukma will be held from Aug 15 24, with the official opening ceremony set to be held at the Sepang International Circuit. The Selangor Para Sukma will be from Sept 5-10. A total of 474 events in 27 sports will be con tested in nine districts, involving 52 competition venues. As for Para Sukma, there will be 316 events from 10 sports contested in the districts of Petaling and Klang. – Bernama

RM140,685.12

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