24/03/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | MAR 24, 2026

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‘Conflict will not hinder SEA Games preparation’

RESULTS & STANDINGS

ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP FINAL Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2 (O'Reilly 60, 64) . ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Newcastle 1 (Gordon 10) Sunderland 2 (Talbi 57, Brobbey 90) , Aston Villa 2 (McGinn 15, Watkins 68) West Ham 0, Tottenham 0 Nottingham Forest 3 (Jesus 45, Gibbs-White 62, Awoniyi 87) . 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 31 15 10 6 56 43 55 Aston Villa 31 16 6 9 42 37 54 Liverpool 31 14 7 10 50 42 49 Chelsea 31 13 9 9 53 38 48 Brentford 31 13 7 11 46 42 46 Everton 31 13 7 11 37 35 46 Fulham 31 13 5 13 43 44 44 Brighton 31 11 10 10 41 37 43 Sunderland 31 11 10 10 32 36 43 Newcastle 31 12 6 13 44 45 42 Bournemouth 31 9 15 7 46 48 42 Crystal Palace 30 10 9 11 33 35 39 Leeds 31 7 12 12 37 48 33 Nottm Forest 31 8 8 15 31 43 32 Tottenham 31 7 9 1540 50 30 West Ham 31 7 8 1636 57 29 Burnley 31 4 8 1933 61 20 Wolves 31 3 8 2024 54 17 LA LIGA Barcelona 1 (Araujo 24) Rayo Valle cano 0, Celta Vigo 3 (Jutgla 19, 37, Alvarez 27) Alaves 4 (Martinez 45+3, 74, Perez 50, Rebbach 78) , Athletic Bilbao 2 (Vivian 25, Sancet 45) Real Betis 1 (Fornals 75) , Real Madrid 3 (Vinicius 52-pen, 72, Valverde 55) Atletico Madrid 2 (Lookman 33, Molina 66) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 29 24 1 4 78 28 73 Real Madrid 29 22 3 4 63 26 69 Villarreal 29 18 4 7 54 34 58 Atletico 29 17 6 6 49 28 57 Real Betis 29 11 11 7 44 37 44 Celta Vigo 29 10 11 8 41 35 41 SERIE A Atalanta 1 (Zappacosta 37) Verona 0, Bologna 0 Lazio 2 (Taylor 72, 82) , Como 5 (Diao 7, Douvakis 29, Baturina 48, Paz 75, Perrone 81) Pisa 0, Fioren tina 1 (Ndour 77) Inter Milan 1 (Espo sito 1) , Roma 1 (Vaz 57) Lecce 0. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan 30 22 3 5 66 24 69 AC Milan 30 18 9 3 46 23 63 Napoli 30 19 5 6 46 30 62 Como 30 16 9 5 53 22 57 Juventus 30 15 9 6 52 29 54 Roma 30 17 3 10 40 23 54 BUNDESLIGA Augsburg 2 Stuttgart 5, St Pauli 1 Freiburg 2, Mainz 2 Eintracht Frankfurt 1. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts B. Munich 27 22 4 1 97 25 70 Dortmund 27 18 7 2 58 28 61 Stuttgart 27 16 5 6 56 36 53 RB Leipzig 27 15 5 7 53 35 50 Hoffenheim 27 15 5 7 54 39 50 Leverkusen 27 13 7 7 52 36 46 FRENCH LIGUE 1 Lyon 1 Monaco 2, Paris FC 3 Le Havre 2, Rennes 0 Metz 0, Marseille 1 Lille 2, Nantes 2 Strasbourg 3. TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Paris SG 26 19 3 4 58 22 60 Lens 27 19 2 6 54 24 59 Marseille 27 15 4 8 54 35 49 Lyon 27 14 5 8 41 29 47 Lille 27 14 5 8 42 34 47 Monaco 27 14 4 9 47 38 46

THE current economic challenges and the conflict in West Asia will not affect Malaysia’s preparations as host of the 2027 SEA Games, said Youth and Sports Minister Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari. Despite adopting cost-saving measures in response to these situations, he said the standards and quality of the event will be assured to main tain the prestige of the biennial Games. He said the savings measures include utilising existing facilities across the four main clusters for the Games, involving Sarawak, Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur. “We will not be spending large sums on con structing new facilities. Almost all the venues already have complete facilities and are ready for the hosting of the 2027 SEA Games.

(National Velodrome, Nilai), volleyball, netball, equestrian, hockey, karate, fencing, ice skating, ath letics, pencak silat, sailing (Langkawi), rugby and water skiing. Acknowledging that hosting the Games across four clusters presents logistical challenges, Mohammed Taufiq is confident that the 34th SEA Games Organising Committee (Masoc) will ensure the event runs smoothly. “I am confident that the committee is working diligently, efficiently and in an organised manner to ensure that this SEA Games will run smoothly and be among the best compared to previous edi tions,” he said. The Games will take place from Sept 18 to 29. – Bernama

“What is most important now is the improve ment or upgrading of existing facilities rather than building new infrastructure that would incur higher costs,” he said. Sarawak will serve as the main cluster and the location for the opening ceremony of the Games, with 17 sports to be contested: aquatics, weightlift ing, basketball, bowling, lawn bowls, e-sports, gym nastics, golf, cricket, archery, shooting, Muay Thai, petanque, squash, taekwondo, tennis and wushu. The Penang cluster will host six sports: sepak takraw, snooker and billiards, judo, boxing, table tennis and floorball, while the Johor cluster will host only one event, football. The Kuala Lumpur cluster will stage the closing ceremony and 14 sports: badminton, cycling

Steadfast Cklamovski Coach won’t let Asian Cup debacle derail Harimau Malaya’s World Cup aspirations

H ARIMAU MALAYA head coach Peter Cklamovski, whose contract with the national football team ends this year, has hinted at his will ingness to continue to guide the team despite their failure to qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup Finals. He admitted to being extremely disappointed, especially since it (their failure to qualify) was due to factors beyond the team’s control, including the issue involving sev eral players. However, his long-term vision hasn’t changed: to take Malaysia to the World Cup Finals. “Since arriving here, I have truly fallen in love with this country.

Darul Ta’zim’s (JDT) Bergson da Silva and Kuala Lumpur City FC’s Giancarlo Gallifuoco were not listed for the match against Vietnam was due to late registra tion. The two Super League import players were supposed to join the latest centralised training camp after reportedly completing their five-year stay in Malaysia in accor dance with Fifa’s naturalisation regulations. “Basically, Bergson and Giancarlo, I got updated that their registration won’t be done in time for them to be available for the game. “Meanwhile, Nacho Mendez (of JDT) … I think everyone would have seen him coming off injured in his last game a few days ago. So, again, an easy one for me that he’s unavailable through injury,” he said. – Bernama

through that disappointment,” he added.

vision to get to a World Cup. “I also said there’d be a short-term goal to get to the Asian Cup. Now,

The Harimau Malaya squad are preparing for their last Group F fix ture against Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers at the Thien Truong Stadium in Ninh Binh on March 31. The Australian

that’s been ripped away from us … completely some thing that we can’t control. “So, there’s

a bit of heart ache to sort of process

coach said the Harimau Malaya squad will train in Bangkok from today until Friday before heading for Nam Dinh the following day. Meanwhile,

Working with the play ers and coaching staff has been a great experience for me,” he told reporters after the team’s training session in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. “I guess 12

Cklamovski said the rea son Johor

Harimau Malaya head coach Peter Cklamovski at a press conference yesterday ahead of the match against Vietnam on March 31. – BERNAMAPIC

months ago, I sat here for the first time in front of all you guys and said there was a long-term

PREMIER LEAGUE THREE TALKING POINTS

TOTTENHAM’S fears of a ruinous relegation from the Premier League deepened after a 3-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest as Aston Villa took control of the race for a place in the Champions League at the weekend. Villa reestablished a cushion in the battle for Champions League riches as they beat West Ham 2-0 to take advantage of defeats for Liverpool and Chelsea. Here’s a look at three talking points from the Premier League weekend: Spurs sink ever closer to abyss Tottenham fans issued a rallying call for the rele gation six-pointer against Forest, descending en masse before kickoff to greet the team bus amid a sea of white. But it made little difference when it came to matters on the field. Spurs are the only side without a Premier League win in 2026 and remain just one point above the relegation zone. For the second time this season Forest strolled to a 3-0 vic

could come up (and) tell you all the reasons why we’ve lost 10 times this season,” said Slot, refer encing Liverpool’s lengthy injury list. “It’s not my job to find excuses,” added Slot. “My job is to find answers.” World champs Chelsea hit the wall A bright start for Liam Rosenior as Chelsea boss has been swiftly forgotten after a run of four consecutive defeats. After a humbling 8-2 aggre gate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, the Blues were soundly beaten 3-0 at Everton to miss the chance to climb back into the top five. Rosenior is hoping the upcoming international break will provide a much-needed rest for his shattered squad. Chelsea’s success at the Club World Cup in July meant they had barely any break between last season and this. AFP

tory over the Europa League winners. Igor Tudor missed his post-match duties due to news of a fam ily bereavement… but the Spurs hierarchy have a huge decision to make over the Croatian’s future in the three weeks before they play again. Hired to bring an immediate lift, Tudor has collected just one point from a possible 15. Slot lacks solutions to Liverpool slide The defending champions slumped to a 10th League defeat of the season as Danny Welbeck struck twice in Brighton’s 2-1 win over Liverpool. Any hope that Arne Slot’s men had turned the corner in a dominant 4-0 victory over Galatasaray to reach the Champions League quarterfinals proved short-lived. A flat performance lacking intensity, creativity and riddled with individual errors was a familiar feeling for a fan base who have begun to question Slot, less than a year after he delivered the club’s 20th league title. “I