16/03/2026

SPORTS MONDAY | MAR 16, 2026

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T HE success of collecting three full points and jumping to the second place in the Malaysia Super League has been a boost for Kuching City FC (KCFC) to continue maintaining their win ning momentum, especially ahead of the Malaysia Cup semifinal against Selangor FC on April 5. Head coach Aidil Sharin Ishak, who was relieved by the result, described the 1-0 vic tory as very meaningful, especially when his team had to face stiff opposition from Penang FC throughout the match. “I credit the players for the three points tonight. “We know it’s not going to be easy because we know what Penang are capable of. “They kept playing high balls but we exe cuted our plan very well,” he said after the

KCFC grab vital win Aidil Sharin relieved Kuching collect full points in Penang

RESULTS & STANDINGS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Sunder land 0 Brighton 1 (Minteh 58) , Burnley 0 Bournemouth 0, Chelsea 0 Newcastle 1 (Gordon 18) , Arsenal 2 (Gyokeres 89, Dowman 90+7) Everton 0, West Ham 1 (Mavropanos 35) Manchester City 1 (Silva 31) . P W D L F A Pts Arsenal 31 21 7 3 61 22 70 Man City 30 18 7 5 60 28 61 Man Utd 29 14 9 6 51 40 51 Aston Villa 29 15 6 8 39 34 51 Chelsea 30 13 9 8 53 35 48 Liverpool 29 14 6 9 48 39 48 Brentford 29 13 5 11 44 40 44 Everton 30 12 7 11 34 35 43 Newcastle 30 12 6 12 43 43 42 Bournemouth 30 9 14 7 44 46 41 Brighton 30 10 10 10 39 36 40 Fulham 29 12 4 13 40 43 40 Sunderland 30 10 10 10 30 35 40 Crystal Palace 29 10 8 11 33 35 38 Leeds 29 7 10 12 37 48 31 Tottenham 29 7 8 14 39 46 29 West Ham 30 7 8 15 36 55 29 Nottm Forest 29 7 7 15 28 43 28 Burnley 30 4 8 18 32 58 20 Wolves 30 3 7 20 22 52 16 CHAMPIONSHIP: Coventry City 1 Southampton 2, Middlesbrough 1 Bris tol City 1, Oxford United 1 Charlton Athletic 1, Birmingham City 1 Sheffield United 1, Leicester City 1 QPR 3, Mill wall 1 Blackburn Rovers 2, Norwich City 2 Preston North End 0, Sheffield Wednesday 0 Ipswich Town 2, Stoke City 3 Watford 1, West Brom 3 Hull City 0. TOP 5 P W D L F A Pts Coventry 38 23 8 7 78 40 77 Mid’boro 38 20 10 8 59 37 70 Ipswich 37 19 11 7 66 38 68 Millwall 38 20 8 10 52 43 68 Hull 38 19 6 13 59 56 63 LA LIGA: Girona 3 (Rincon 4, Ounahi 77, Echeverri 90+2) Athletic Bilbao 0, Atletico Madrid 1 (Molina 8) Getafe 0, Real Oviedo 1 (Costas 30) Valencia 0, Real Madrid 4 (Rudiger 39, Valverde 45, Huijsen 66, Guler 89) Elche 1 (Manuel Angel 85) . TOP 5 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 27 22 1 4 72 26 67 Real Madrid 28 21 3 4 60 24 66 Atletico 28 17 6 5 47 25 57 Villarreal 28 17 4 7 51 33 55 Real Betis 27 11 10 6 42 34 43 SERIE A: Inter Milan 1 (Esposito 26) Atalanta 1 (Krstovic 82) , Napoli 2 (Hojlund 46, Politano 67) Lecce 1 (Siebert 3), Udinese 0 Juventus 1 (Boga 38) . TOP 5 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 29 23 2 5 65 23 68 AC Milan 28 17 9 2 44 20 60 Napoli 29 18 5 6 45 30 59 Juventus 29 15 8 6 51 28 53 Como 28 14 9 5 46 21 51 BUNDESLIGA: Hamburg 1 Cologne 1, Borussia Dortmund 2 Augsburg 0, Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Heidenheim 0, Bayer Leverkusen 1 Bayern Munich 1, Hoffenheim 1 Wolfsburg 1. TOP 5 P W D L F A Pts B. Munich 26 21 4 1 93 25 67 Dortmund 26 17 7 2 55 26 58 Hoffenheim 26 15 5 6 54 34 50 Stuttgart 25 14 5 6 50 34 47 RB Leipzig 25 14 5 6 48 34 47 FRENCH LIGUE 1: Lorient 2 Lens 1, Angers 0 Nice 2, Monaco 2 Brest 0. TOP 5 P W D L F A Pts Paris SG 25 18 3 4 54 22 57 Lens 26 18 2 6 49 23 56 Marseille 26 15 4 7 53 33 49 Lyon 25 14 4 7 40 27 46 Monaco 26 13 4 9 45 37 43

match at Bandaraya Stadium on Saturday night. The 49-year-old manager also singled out several players including Wanja Ronald Ngah who worked hard throughout the match despite not scoring a goal, as well as striker Gabriel Nistelrooy Tamin who took advantage of the opportunity to give The Cats the victory. However, he reminded his men not to be complacent with the victory, but to continue working hard because bigger challenges await

after the long Aidilfitri holiday. “Definitely we will try to improve ourselves. That’s football – when you play away it’s not easy, but we will go back to training and do our best to improve,” he said. Meanwhile, Penang FC head coach Wan Rohaimi Wan Ismail was disappointed with his team’s defeat despite successfully creating sev eral chances throughout the match. He said the players’ failure to finish off oppor tunities apart from simple mistakes that led to the opponent’s goals were the main cause of the defeat. “The goal we gave was a schoolboy mistake. But this is a high-level football, the players need to be sharper in front of goal and calmer in front of our goal. These mistakes caused us to lose today,” he said. Kuching City move up to second place with 40 points, ahead of Selangor FC and Kuala Lumpur City FC who shared 38 points, after occupying third and fourth place respectively. Penang FC remained in ninth position with 19 points. – Bernama

Kuching’s Gabriel Nistelrooy (2nd from left) in action during the Super League match against Penang at City Stadium yesterday. – BERNAMAPIC

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15/03/2026

Sadat targets new personal best

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NATIONAL hammer thrower Sadat Marzuqi Ajisan is aiming to better his personal best with a throw exceeding 65 metres (m), with the 2026 Asean University Games (AUG) as the main platform to realise that target. The 2025 SEA Games silver medallist said he began this season with a new training programme after starting to work with local coach Tan Song Hwa, who introduced a different approach in terms of technique and strength training. He said the programme started from the basics to help him adapt to the new technique, which he believes can improve his performance. “This year I started again from scratch because my coach wants me to follow a new programme after we began working together. I believe this approach can help increase my throwing distance, and my target is to reach 65m and above. “ Insya-Allah , maybe by the middle or end of the year, but the most important target is the AUG at the end of this year at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Maybe I can break my record there,” he told reporters recently. When asked about his ambition to represent the country at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya this

gent to a proud result at the 2026 Games. However, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) vice-president acknowledged that he requires support from all stakeholders, especially former CDMs, to provide guidance and facilitate meeting the set targets. “The Asian Games are significantly more chal lenging than the SEA Games, and I hope we can cooperate closely with all sports associations and the athletes involved. “At the same time, Insya-Allah , I will constantly monitor the progress and performance of all ath letes set to compete in the 2026 Asian Games,” he said. Malaysia returned with six gold, eight silver, and 18 bronze medals from the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. The nation’s best-ever achievement at the Asian Games was recorded during the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China, where Malaysia bagged nine gold, 18 silver, and 14 bronze medals. – Bernama year, he said he must first meet the qualifying dis tances. “Of course, I hope to qualify for those games, but I have to surpass certain distances. For the Asian Games, I need to throw more than 65m, while for the Commonwealth Games it may be around 68m to 70m,” he said. Sadat Marzuqi, whose personal best of 60.63m was set at the 2022 Sukma in Kuala Lumpur, said he plans to train overseas to improve his performance, with Algeria among the destinations being consid ered due to its training facilities as well as the good relationship between his coach and coaches in the country. Meanwhile, national men’s discus thrower Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin and women’s ham mer thrower Grace Wong Xiu Mei will be the back bone of Malaysian Athletics (MA) in Japan. MA secretary-general Norhayati Karim said Muhammad Irfan and Grace are currently training abroad, as they prepare to shine at the 20th edition of the quadrennial games. The Commonwealth Games will be held from July 23 to Aug 2, while the Asian Games are sched uled from Sept 19 to Oct 4. The 2026 AUG will take place from Dec 10 to 20. – Bernama

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Sumali backs ‘ferocious’ Asian showing THE Chef de Mission (CDM) for the 2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Games, Datuk Mohd Sumali Reduan, is banking on the Malaysian contingent to deliver a more “ferocious” performance in Japan, surpassing their achievement at the 2022 edition in Hangzhou, China.

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Mohd Sumali said he is committed to exploring new strategies to help the national squad ensure the Jalur Gemilang flies high in the Land of the Rising Sun . “We will certainly look for ways to secure a higher medal haul than before, particularly in terms of gold medals. “I believe any CDM would aspire to achieve a better performance than the previous edition, and we must work toward that goal,” he said when con tacted by Bernama yesterday. The Sepaktakraw Federation of Malaysia (PSM) president expressed hope that his extensive experi ence with the national sepak takraw squad in previ ous major games would help him lead the contin

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