10/03/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | MAR 10, 2026

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A bridge too far

RESULTS & STANDINGS

Aaron-Wooi Yik title charge fizzles out after fast start

FA CUP (5th round) : Fulham 0 South ampton 1 (Stewart 90+1-pen) , Leeds 3 (Longstaff 32, Gudmundsson 43, Piroe 85) Norwich 0, Port Vale 1 (Waine 28) Sunderland 0. CHAMPIONSHIP: Queens Park Rangers 0 Middlesbrough 4. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Coventry 36 22 8 6 74 38 74 Mid’boro 36 20 9 7 58 35 69 Millwall 36 19 8 9 50 41 65 Ipswich 35 18 10 7 61 35 64 Hull 36 18 6 12 57 52 60 Wrexham 35 15 12 8 54 45 57 La Liga Villarreal 2 (Buchanan 31, Mourino 41) Elche 1 (Silva 83), Getafe 2 (Femenia 28, Satriano 45+2) Real Betis 0, Sevilla 1 (Adams 13) Rayo Vallecano 1 (Espino 50), Valencia 3 (Guerra 47, Comert 90, Duro 90+9-pen) Alaves 2 (Boye 3-pen, 71). TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 27 22 1 4 72 26 67 Real Madrid 27 20 3 4 56 23 63 Atletico 27 16 6 5 46 25 54 Villarreal 27 17 3 7 50 32 54 Real Betis 27 11 10 6 42 34 43 Celta Vigo 27 10 10 7 37 30 40 SERIE A: Lecce 2 (Pierotti 22, Stulic 38 pen) Cremonese 1 (Bonazzoli 47) , Bolo gna 1 (Rowe 49) Verona 2 (Frese 53, Bowie 57) , Fiorentina 0 Parma 0, Genoa 2 (Messias 52-pen, Vitinha 80) Roma 1 (Ndicka 55) , AC Milan 1 (Estupinan 35) Inter Milan 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 28 22 1 5 64 22 67 AC Milan 28 17 9 2 44 20 60 Napoli 28 17 5 6 43 29 56 Como 28 14 9 5 46 21 51 Roma 28 16 3 9 38 21 51 Juventus 28 14 8 6 50 28 50 BUNDESLIGA: Union Berlin 1 Werder Bremen 4, St Pauli 0 Eintracht Frankfurt 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts B. Munich 25 21 3 1 92 24 66 Dortmund 25 16 7 2 53 26 55 Hoffenheim 25 15 4 6 53 33 49 Stuttgart 25 14 5 6 50 34 47 RB Leipzig 25 14 5 6 48 34 47 Leverkusen 25 13 5 7 48 32 44 FRENCH LIGUE 1: Lyon 1 Paris FC 1, Lens 3 Metz 0, Brest 2 Le Havre 0, Lille 1 Lori ent 1, Nice 0 Rennes 4. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Paris SG 25 18 3 4 54 22 57 Lens 25 18 2 5 48 21 56 Marseille 25 14 4 7 52 33 46 Lyon 25 14 4 7 40 27 46 Rennes 25 12 7 6 42 35 43 Lille 25 12 5 8 38 32 41

T HIRD TIME’S not the charm for Aaron Chia Soh Wooi Yik, after all. The Malaysian pair crumbled when it mattered most to lose 21-18, 12-21, 19-21 to South Korea’s Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae in the men’s doubles final of the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham yesterday. And the defeat, after a 63 minute titanic struggle, also denied Malaysia the chance to end the country’s 19-year wait for the men’s doubles crown in the world’s oldest badminton tournament. But the night at the Utilita Arena Birmingham began promisingly for Malaysia as Aaron-Wooi Yik started brightly, showing superb athleticism to take the first game in 19 minutes, sealing the winning point with a flurry of smashes. The second game, however, was the South Koreans all the way as they led from start to finish to seal a 21-12 win in 18 minutes and force the decider. The rubber game again saw the Malaysians starting strongly, never relinquishing the lead until both pairs were level at 16-all. However, once the Koreans went 17-16 ahead, they never let up and it was the Malaysians who had to play catch-up.

20-17, the Malaysians gave their fans a glimmer of hope when they made it 19-20. But it proved to be a false dawn as the Koreans sealed the winning point to clinch the All England title for a second successive year. As for Aaron-Wooi Yik, it’s the third time they have ended up being All England runners-up, having suffered a similar fate in the 2019 and 2024 editions. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi congratulated the pair for finishing runners-up and said their spirited performance throughout the tournament was truly impressive. “Although luck was not on Malaysia’s side this time, the fighting spirit you showed has made all Malaysians proud. “Keep it up, boys! Stay focused, never give up, and carry this fighting spirit into the next match,” he said in a Facebook post yesterday. For the record, Koo Kien Keat Tan Boon Heong were the last Malaysians to win the men’s doubles title at the Super 1000 tournament in 2007, when they pulled off a major upset by defeating then world No. 1 Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China. Meanwhile, as champions, Won Ho-Seung Jae pocketed US$107,300 (RM424,000), while Aaron-Wooi Yik took home US$50,750 (about RM200,000). – Bernama also congratulated the national men’s hockey team for qualifying for the World Cup. “Well done and congratulations. We will continue to provide encour agement, support and cooperation to further develop sports in our country. “Congratulations also to the national badminton doubles players as well as ‘The Pocket Rocketman’, Datuk Azizulhasni Awang. “This is an extraordinary achieve ment during the month of Ramadan. All the athletes have worked hard, and it is not an easy feat,” he said. – Bernama

Malaysia’s Aaron Chia (front) and Soh Wooi Yik react during the All England men’s doubles final in Birmingham yesterday. – AFPPIC

With the South Koreans leading

‘Learn from heritage player issue’

YOUTH and Sports Minister Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari has advised all parties concerned to take lessons from the issue of heritage players and ensure that national football develop ment will proceed as planned. He said the issue involving the use of falsified documents had already gone through the legal process, and the ministry accepts the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). “The legal process has taken place, and we accept the decision that has been made. We will examine the fol low-up steps that need to be taken.

work closely with strategic partners, including the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), to ensure efforts to develop football remain on track. “The spirit in football must con tinue. Programmes such as the NFDP (National Football Development Programme) will be continued, and we will work closely with our strategic partner FAM. “The National Sports Council will also take responsibility to ensure that the NFDP continues to produce more athletes at the grassroots level for the development of our football,” he said. Meanwhile, Mohammed Taufiq

“We will also look into the next steps at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) level. What is certain is that the national football develop ment programme at the grassroots level must not come to a halt,” he told reporters on Sunday night. He was commenting on CAS’s deci sion to uphold the penalty imposed by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) on seven national heritage players over the use of falsified documents during the reg istration process to play for the coun try. Mohammed Taufiq said KBS will

MGF targets 12 golds at 2027 SEA Games THE Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) is aiming to win 12 gold medals at the 2027 SEA Games in Malaysia to complete 100 gold med als throughout Malaysia’s participation in the biennial sports event. made to hold a training camp centered in either Japan or China in preparation for the Aichi Nagoya Asian Games, Japan 2026 and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. “For the camp, we are focusing on intensive training, either China or Japan and we will also add Japanese coach Natsumi Hanashima as a coach and choreographer to help us techni cally,” he said.

BRIEFS

39 points but the Red Giants ahead on goal dif ference. Selangor’s next match will be against KL City, with both teams squaring off at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium on Sunday. Pocket Rocketman wins bronze NATIONAL track cyclist Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang managed to win the bronze medal in the men’s individual sprint event at the 2026 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Perth, Australia on Sunday. He secured the bronze after beating Mikhail Yakovlev 2-0 in the third fourth place decider at the Speed Dome, his second medal at this year’s World Cup after winning the gold medal in the men’s keirin event on Saturday. The 38-year-old Malaysian had previously lost to Matthew Richardson of Great Britain 2-0 in the semifinal previously. Richardson went on to win the individual sprint event by beating Australian Leigh Hoffman 2-0 in the final.

Red Giants reclaim 2nd spot SELANGOR FC reclaimed the second spot in the Super League standings with an easy 4-0 win over Immigration FC at the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) Stadium on Sunday night. The Red Giants shot ahead in the 28th minute when Chrigor Moraes headed home a cross from Faisal Halim, before Ahmad Zikri Mohd Khalili put the home team 2-0 ahead towards the end of half-time. Selangor came back after the break with the same intensity and made it 3-0 in the 79th minute, as Moraes bagged his second of the night when he slammed home a cross from Alvin Fortes. Victor Pernambuco then completed the rout when he netted his first goal of the campaign towards the end of the match. The victory sees Selangor leapfrog Kuala Lumpur City FC to reclaim second place in the Super League standings, with both teams on

Its president Kau Git Kaur said that so far Malaysia has won 88 gold medals, hence the federation’s mission is to complete the coun try’s 100th gold medal at the SEA Games next year. “This is our target for the next SEA Games, to achieve the 100th gold,“ he told reporters after the 2026 Working Committee (JKK) meeting at the National Sports Council in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. For the record, the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in 2017 saw the national gymnastics squad win 13 gold medals for artistic and gymnastics. Meanwhile, MGF technical director (artistic) Mohd Faiz Mohd Ameer said plans are being

Meanwhile, another MGF technical director (gymnastics) Petrina Low said the national squad will be provided with the services of imported coaches from Italy in addition to undergoing training based in Russia or Bulgaria. “We will start choreography training in July this year, most of the choreographers will be from Italy. We will also be competing in the Asian Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan this May,” she said. – Bernama