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THURSDAY | MAR 5, 2026

Malaysian Paper

Jun Hao only bright spot for Malaysia in Birmingham

IT WAS a disappointing opening day for Malaysian shuttlers at the 2026 All England tournament in Birmingham, with only national men’s singles player Leong Jun Hao checking into the sec ond round yesterday. In the first-round action at the Utilita Arena Birmingham on Tuesday, Jun Hao battled for 121 min utes to see off Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-17, 13-21, 21-18 and book his place in the next round. The world No. 26 will next face another Japanese player, Koki Watanabe, who stunned third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-8, 21-12. Meanwhile, reigning mixed doubles world champions Chen Tang Jie Toh Ee Wei endured another misery at the world’s oldest badminton tournament, suffering their fourth consecutive early exits.

The fourth seeds fell to Denmark’s unseeded pair, Rasmus Espersen-Amalie Cecilie Kudsk. Despite taking the opening game 21-18, the national top pair failed to maintain their momentum and went down 12 21, 23-25 in a 62-minute encoun ter. Malaysia’s other mixed dou bles pairs also bowed out of the Super 1000 tournament. Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin succumbed to Dhruv Kapila Tanisha Crasto of India 17-21, 19 21, while professional duo Jimmy Wong-Lai Pei Jing were shown the exit by Taiwan’s Ye Hong Wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan, 17-21, 18-21. The same fate befell national men’s doubles pair Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal Nazri, who fell 13-21, 17-21 to Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. Professional duo Ong Yew Sin Teo Ee Yi also suffered defeat, losing 9-21, 17-21 to Indonesia’s fifth seeds Fajar Alfian Muhammad Shohibul Fikri. The All England 2026 tourna ment is scheduled to run until this Sunday (Mar 8). – Bernama

No fear for England Story

on page 28

A RNE SLOT admitted Liverpool must solve their habit of conceding late goals to save their troubled season after yester day’s embarrassing 2-1 defeat at bottom of the table Wolves. Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike with 12 minutes left at Molineux before Mohamed Salah’s equaliser looked to have rescued a point for the Reds. Liverpool’s Achilles heel of surrendering goals in the final seconds came back to haunt them once again as Andre’s shot deflected over wrong-footed keeper Alisson Becker. Liverpool have lost five games thanks to 90th minute goals in the Premier League this season, the most of any side in a single campaign in the competition’s history. Slot urged his players to solve their late-game meltdowns in time to salvage one of the most dis appointing campaigns in Liverpool’s illustrious history. He said: “Same old story. Recently we are pick ing up points because we scored many times from set-pieces. But end result, we score one and they scored two and another in (added) time so it sums up our season again. “What I mean by it sums up our season that we have far more ball possession than the other team and we’ve created most open play chances, but in open play we’ve struggled to score. “My expectations have changed throughout the season because I expected more from us and what we are fighting for now. But it’s another set back and we didn’t help ourselves with this result, not at all. “But there are still nine games to play so we are BAM open to pro partners Story

on page 31

‘Same old story’ Slot frustrated after Liverpool suffer late heartbreak again in Wolves stunner

“We didn’t concede chances but if you perform like that then a result like this can be a result of that and that’s a fact. It was disappointing.” Wolves’ upturn in form continues and they are still fighting for their lives despite the games run ning out. They sit 11 points off safety with eight games remaining and Edwards admits it has taken a while but they are now starting to see positive results. Edwards, who said he felt his groin “falling apart” as he ran down the touchline in celebra tion, said: “Certainly could get used to it, it’s a good feeling. “It’s taken a while to realise how hard you’ve got to work to take something from a game, espe cially at this level. “There is a stark difference from when we came in to now, the level of fight and work the lads are showing. “We’ve got a tight group that are fighting for each other and working hard. Showing that we’re not as bad as people thought. “We’re showing characteristics what I want my teams to have but we are finding a way. That’s where I want it to be.” – AFP/The Independent

It is the latest chastening loss in a turbulent season for Liverpool, who sit in fifth place after a dismal defence of the title they won last term. The Anfield outfit are far from certain to qualify for next season’s Champions League and ques tions are mounting about Slot’s future. The Dutchman, the toast of Anfield less than a year ago, has presided over a long run of lacklustre performances with little of the flair and excitement the club’s fans expect. Liverpool have a chance for immediate revenge over Wolves when they return to the west midlands for an FA Cup fifth round tie on Friday. “Yeah, which is a good thing and a nice thing because we have something to prove on Friday,” Slot said. One of many Reds stars well below their best, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk conceded his team had only themselves to blame. Van Dijk was caught out during the build-up to Wolves’ opener and missed a golden opportunity to put Liverpool 2-1 up before Andre’s winner. “I think it’s down to ourselves. It was slow, we were predictable, sloppy in possession and wrong decision-making,” he said.

coming closer to the end and dropping points in the game when it’s absolutely not necessary when you look at the run of play. “If we play this game in this fashion 10 times, I don’t think we lose 10 times but I’m far from sure we win every time – therefore we are not good enough.” Liverpool missed the chance to extend their winning run to four matches and could drop to sixth if Chelsea beat Villa overnight. Slot handed full credit to Wolves for their vic tory. He added: “Well done by Wolves, they made it really hard for us and compact. “If you want to go faster you have to dominate situations on the side, and we struggled to domi nate on the sides today. “If we don’t want to rely on a deflected shot, we need to do better and play better. “But we’ve had enough chances to win the game but credit to Wolves, they fought from the first second to the end and got a little bit of luck they deserved.” Liverpool are the first reigning champions to lose to the Premier League’s bottom club since Chelsea were beaten by Crystal Palace in 2017.

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