19/05/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 19, 2026

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Family sacrifice fuels hockey mission

THE national men’s hockey squad players are required to make major sacrifices by leaving their families for 41 days to face a packed schedule involving three major tournaments this year. National Team Management Committee chairman Datuk Najmi Razak said the Speedy Tigers will be based in South Africa starting this June in preparation for the Nations Cup from June 11 to 20. He said the national squad will then compete in the World Cup in Belgium from Aug 14 to 30, M EN’S DOUBLES top seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik are not feeling any pressure ahead of their Malaysia Masters campaign, which begins today and runs until May 24 at the Axiata Arena. Soh said the situation is very different from last year’s campaign, when they returned home with high expectations after winning two titles – the 2025 Badminton Asia Championships in April and the 2025 Thailand Open in May. “We feel more relaxed this time around, and we will do our best,” he told reporters after a court test session for the Malaysia Masters in Bukit Jalil yesterday. They will face Singapore’s Wesley Koh-Kubo Junsuke in the first round of the Super 500 tour nament. Chia said they are also looking forward to the Singapore Open, scheduled from May 26 31, and the Indonesia Open from June 2-7. Meanwhile, national men’s doubles shuttler Wan Arif Wan Junaidi said he is ready to compete in the Malaysia Masters despite just returning to the court after suffering a meniscus tear in his right knee during the All England in Birmingham last March. His partner Yap Roy King said their mental resilience has also improved and they are opti mistic of delivering a strong performance in front of home fans. Wan Arif-Roy King, ranked world No. 16, will begin their campaign against Taiwan’s He Zhi Wei–Huang Jui-Hsuan. Muay thai motivation National top mixed doubles player Toh Ee Wei sought inspiration from national muay thai star Muhammad Johan Ghazali at a combat sports event in Negeri Sembilan recently ahead of the Malaysia Masters. Toh said the opportunity to meet the Thailand 2025 SEA Games gold medallist in the 57kg cate gory, better known as Jojo, was used to exchange views, particularly on dealing with public criti cism when not delivering their best perform ances. “I had a chit-chat with Jojo and he is truly an extraordinary athlete. He is a fighter and I hope I can also become a fighter on court. “Our journeys seem quite similar. Many peo

Lyon 0 Lens 4, Marseille 3 Rennes 1, Nice 0 Metz 0, Paris FC 2 Paris Saint Germain 1, Strasbourg 5 Monaco 4. P W D L F A Pts Paris SG 34 24 4 6 74 29 76 Lens 34 22 4 8 66 35 70 Lille 34 18 7 9 52 37 61 Lyon 34 18 6 10 53 40 60 Marseille 34 18 5 11 63 45 59 Rennes 34 17 8 9 59 50 59 Monaco 34 16 6 12 60 54 54 Strasbourg 34 15 8 11 58 47 53 Lorient 34 11 12 11 48 51 45 Toulouse 33 12 8 13 47 46 44 Paris FC 34 11 11 12 47 50 44 Brest 34 10 9 15 43 55 39 Angers 34 9 9 16 29 48 36 Le Havre 34 7 14 13 32 44 35 Auxerre 34 8 10 16 34 44 34 Nice 34 7 11 16 37 60 32 Nantes 33 5 8 20 29 52 23 Metz 34 3 8 23 32 76 17 NOTE: Top three qualify directly for Champions League; 4th place enters Champions League in third qualifying round; 5th goes into Europa League; 6th qualifies for Conference League; bottom two go down, with team in 16th going into promotion/relegation play-off against club from Ligue 2. In addition to the main categories, ASN 2025 will also feature seven other categories, namely National Men’s and Women’s Team, National Men’s and Women’s Coach, Sports Personality Award, Sports Leadership Award and Special Award. ASN 2025 is scheduled to take place at MSN today. – Bernama Sport elites battle for ASN crown THE race for the National Sportsman and Sportswoman titles at the National Sports Awards (ASN) 2025 is expected to be highly competitive, bringing together nominees with impressive international achievements over the past year. The National Sports Council (MSN) said in a statement yesterday that for the National Sportsman category, wushu ath lete Si Shin Peng will be challenged by Chen Tang Jie (badminton), Muhammad Khairi Abib Azhar (pencak silat), Muhammad Rafiq Ismail (tenpin bowling) and Abdul Aziz Ahmad (bodybuilding). For the National Sportswoman cate gory, wushu athletes Tan Cheong Min and Pang Pui Yee will compete against Emma Firyana Saroji (lawn bowls), Natasha Mohamed Roslan (tenpin bowling) and Toh Ee Wei (badminton). In the National Paralympic Sportsman category, national powerlifting star Bonnie Bunyau Gustin leads the nomina tions alongside para cyclist Mohammad Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin and national para athletics icon Abdul Latif Romly. The National Paralympic Sportswoman category features Jariah Zakaria (para lawn bowls), Lim Carmen (para swimming) and Parameswary Kashinathan (para shooting). Winners of the National Sportsman and Sportswoman as well as the National Paralympic Sportsman and Sportswoman categories will each receive a trophy, a challenge trophy, a certificate of appre ciation and a cash prize of RM20,000. He said three players from the national junior squad, namely Muhammad Safwan Salihe, Rahuul Fazrien Muhammad Nazrien and Muhammad Nabil Irfan Mohd Yusof, were given the opportunity to join the senior squad as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s player development pipeline. – Bernama

July 14 before flying to Belgium for the World Cup (Aug 14 to 30),” he said in a statement issued by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation yester day. In the same development, Najmi also announced the list of 34 players called up to train with the national squad.

with the highlight being the Asian Games in Japan from Sept 19 to Oct 4. “After the Nations Cup, the team will undergo five series of friendly matches against South Africa and team-strengthening sessions to fur ther improve understanding among the players. They are expected to return to Kuala Lumpur on

Nation’s men doubles Aaron Chia (left) and Soh Wooi Yik. – BERNAMAPIC

Relaxed but ready World No. 2 pair confident without burden of past expectations

ple criticise and get angry with us. It does not mat ter if we are criticised or anything else, what mat ters is that we have discipline, train hard and always try to do the best for our country,” she said. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old player said she and partner Chen Tang Jie are fully prepared to challenge any pair in this year’s Malaysia Masters. The reigning world champions, seeded second in the Super 500 tournament, will open their cam paign against world No. 56 pair Jonathan Lai Crystal Lai of Canada in the first round. Off-court struggles Malaysia’s men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao has admitted that he has indeed been absent

from training due to personal problems. “I did miss training, but I don’t want to comment much on this matter,” he told reporters yesterday. According to media reports, Leong has been issued a final warning by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) over disciplinary problems. BAM Performance Committee chairman Datuk Seri Lee Chong Wei was reported to have said that the 26-year-old risks being dropped from the national squad if he fails to change his attitude. The world No. 25, said his focus now is to improve his performance and deliver his best on home soil at the Malaysia Masters. Bernama

RESULTS & STANDINGS

Cremonese 1 (Vardy 9) .

Nottm Forest 37 11 10 16 47 50 43 Tottenham 36 9 11 16 46 55 38 West Ham 37 9 9 19 43 65 36 Burnley 36 4 9 23 37 73 21 Wolves 37 3 10 24 26 67 19 NOTE: Top five qualify for Champions League; bottom three relegated. LA LIGA: Atletico Madrid 1 (Lookman 21) Girona 0, Elche 1 (Chust 19) Getafe 0, Real Oviedo 0, Osasuna 1 (Munoz 49) Espanyol 2 (Romero 27, Garcia 53) , Rayo Vallecano 2 (Camello 28, Alemao 47) Villarreal 0, Real Sociedad 3 (Munoz 3, Tarrega 60-og, Oskarsson 63) Valencia 4 (Guera 7, 90+3, Duro, 21, Rodriguez 88) , Athletic Bilbao 1 (Inaki Williams 52) Celta Vigo 1 (Swedberg 4), Sevilla 0 Real Madrid 1 (Vinicius 15) , Barcelona 3 (Raphinha 28, 62, Cancelo 74) Real Betis 1 (Isco 69-pen) . P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 37 31 1 5 94 33 94 Real Madrid 37 26 5 6 73 33 83 Villarreal 37 21 6 10 67 45 69 Atletico 37 21 6 10 61 39 69 Real Betis 37 14 15 8 57 47 57 Celta Vigo 37 13 12 12 52 48 51 Getafe 37 14 6 17 31 38 48 Vallecano 37 11 14 12 39 43 47

Valencia Sociedad Espanyol Bilbao Sevilla Alaves Levante Osasuna

37 12 10 15 43 54 46 37 11 12 14 58 60 45 37 12 9 16 42 54 45 37 13 6 18 41 54 45 37 12 7 18 46 59 43 37 11 10 16 43 54 43 37 11 9 17 46 59 42 37 11 9 17 44 49 42 37 10 12 15 48 56 42 37 9 13 15 38 54 40 37 10 9 19 44 57 39

P W D L F A Pts 37 27 5 5 86 32 86 37 22 7 8 57 36 73 37 20 10 7 52 33 70 37 22 4 11 57 31 70 37 19 11 7 61 28 68 37 19 11 7 59 32 68 37 15 13 9 50 35 58 37 16 7 14 46 43 55 37 13 12 12 39 39 51 37 14 8 15 45 47 50 37 14 7 16 46 49 49 37 12 8 17 42 61 44 37 10 12 15 27 46 42 37 10 11 16 41 50 41 37 9 14 14 40 49 41 37 10 10 17 38 52 40 37 9 8 20 27 50 35 37 8 10 19 31 53 34 37 3 12 22 25 59 21

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Manches ter United 3 (Shaw 5, Cunha 55, Mbeumo 76) Nottingham Forest 2 (Morato 53, Gibbs-White 78) , Brentford 2 (Ouattara 40, 88) Crystal Palace 2 (Sarr 6-pen, Wharton 52) , Everton 1 (Rohl 43) Sunderland 3 (Brobbey 59, Le Fee 81, Isidor 90+1) , Leeds 1 (Calvert-Lewin 90+6) Brighton 0, Wolves 1 (Mane 25) Fulham 1 (Robinson 45+3-pen) , Newcastle 3 (Woltemade 15, Osula 19, 65) West Ham 1 (Castellanos 69) . P W D L F A Pts Arsenal 36 24 7 5 68 26 79 Man City 36 23 8 5 75 32 77 Man Utd 37 19 11 7 66 50 68 Aston Villa 37 18 8 11 54 48 62 Liverpool 37 17 8 12 62 52 59 Bournemouth 36 13 16 7 56 52 55 Brighton 37 14 11 12 52 43 53 Brentford 37 14 10 13 54 51 52 Sunderland 37 13 12 12 40 47 51 Chelsea 36 13 10 13 55 49 49 Newcastle 37 14 7 16 53 53 49 Everton 37 13 10 14 47 49 49 Fulham 37 14 7 16 45 51 49 Leeds 37 11 14 12 49 53 47 Crystal Palace 37 11 12 14 40 49 45

Inter Milan

Napoli

AC Milan

Roma Como

Juventus Atalanta Bologna Udinese Sassuolo Lazio

Elche Girona

Mallorca Oviedo

37 6 11 20 26 57 29 NOTE: Top five qualify for Champions League; 6th qualifies for Europa League; 7th qualifies for Conference League qualifiers; bottom three relegated. SERIE A: Como 1 (Moreno 58) Parma 0, Genoa 1 (Vasquez 87) AC Milan 2 (Nkunku 50-pen, Athekame 82) , Inter Milan 1 (Bonny 47) Verona 1 (Bowie 90+1), Juventus 0 Fiorentina 2 (Ndour 34, Mandragora 83) , Pisa 0 Napoli 3 (McTominay 21, Rrahmani 27, Hojlund 90+2) , Roma 2 (Mancini 40, 66) Lazio 0, Atalanta 0 Bologna 1 (Orsolini 78), Cagliari 2 (Esposito 39, Mina 45+2) Torino 1 (Obrador 38), Sassuolo 2 (Lauriente 20, Pinamonti 82) Lecce 3 (Cheddira 14, 25, Stulic 90+6) , Udinese 0

Torino Parma Genoa

Fiorentina

Cagliari

Lecce

Cremonese

Verona

Pisa 37 2 12 23 25 69 18 NOTE: Top four qualify for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League; fifth goes into Europa League; sixth goes into Confer ence League; bottom three relegated to Serie B. FRENCH LIGUE 1: Brest 1 Angers 1, Lille 0 Auxerre 2, Lorient 0 Le Havre 2,

CHAMPIONS

RELEGATED