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PSM lodges official complaint to Istaf

MALAYSIAN Sepaktakraw Federation (PSM) has lodged an official complaint with the International Sepaktakraw Federation (Istaf) over the conduct and actions of several senior Thai officials during the men’s team regu final of the Istaf Sepaktakraw World Cup Kuala Lumpur 2026. In a letter dated May 24, PSM secretary-general Datuk Abidullah Salleh said the complaint was related to the final match between Malaysia and Thailand at the Titiwangsa Stadium here on May 23. He said that during the com motion arising from the referee’s decision in the third regu match, it was observed that three Thai offi cials, who were not in the team reg istration and official match list, entered and gathered around the Thailand team bench area during

RESULTS & STANDINGS

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Brighton 0 Manchester United 3 (Dorgu 33, Mbeumo 44, Fernandes 48) , Burnley 1 (Flemming 47) Wolves 1 (Armstrong 5-pen) , Crystal Palace 1 (Mateta 89) Arsenal 2 (Jesus 42, Madueke 48) , Fulham 2 (Diop 20, Cairney 80) Newcastle 0, Liverpool 1 (Jones 58) Brentford 1 (Schade 64) , Manchester City 1 (Semenyo 23) Aston Villa 2 (Watkins 47, 61) , Nottingham Forest 1 (Gibbs-White 34) Bourne mouth 1 (Tavernier 54) , Sunderland 2 (Hume 25, Gusto 50-og) Chelsea 1 (Palmer 56) , Tottenham 1 (Palhinha 43) Everton 0, West Ham 3 (Castellanos 67, Bowen 79, Wilson 90+4) Leeds 0. P W D L F A Pts Arsenal (C) 38 26 7 5 71 27 85 Man City 38 23 9 6 77 35 78 Man Utd 38 20 11 7 69 50 71 Aston Villa 38 19 8 11 56 49 65 Liverpool 38 17 9 12 63 53 60 Bournemouth 38 13 18 7 58 54 57 Sunderland 38 14 12 12 42 48 54 Brighton 38 14 11 13 52 46 53 Brentford 38 14 11 13 55 52 53 Chelsea 38 14 10 14 58 52 52 Fulham 38 15 7 16 47 51 52 Newcastle 38 14 7 17 53 55 49 Everton 38 13 10 15 47 50 49 Leeds 38 11 14 13 49 56 47 Crystal Palace 38 11 12 15 41 51 45 Nottm Forest 38 11 11 16 48 51 44 Tottenham 38 10 11 17 48 57 41 West Ham 38 10 9 19 46 65 39 Burnley 38 4 10 24 38 75 22 Wolves 38 3 11 24 27 68 20 LA LIGA: Villarreal 5 (Parejo 30-pen, Perez 34, 54, Mikautadze 40, Gueye 45) Atletico Madrid 1 (Pubill 43) . P W D L F A Pts Barcelona (C) 38 31 1 6 95 36 94 Real Madrid 38 27 5 6 77 35 86 Villarreal 38 22 6 10 72 46 72 Atletico 38 21 6 11 62 44 69 Real Betis 38 15 15 8 59 48 60 Celta Vigo 38 14 12 12 53 48 54 Getafe 38 15 6 17 32 38 51 Vallecano 38 12 14 12 41 44 50 Valencia 38 13 10 15 46 55 49 Sociedad 38 11 13 14 59 61 46 Espanyol 38 12 10 16 43 55 46 Bilbao 38 13 6 19 43 58 45 Sevilla 38 12 7 19 46 60 43 Alaves 38 11 10 17 44 56 43 Elche 38 10 13 15 49 57 43 Levante 38 11 9 18 47 61 42 Osasuna 38 11 9 18 44 50 42 Mallorca 38 11 9 19 47 57 42 Girona 38 9 14 15 39 55 41 Real Oviedo 38 6 11 21 26 60 29 Serie A: Cremonese 1 (Bonazzoli 55-pen) Como 4 (Rodriguez 36, Douvikas 51, Da Cunha 74-pen, 81) , Lecce 1 (Banda 7) Genoa 0, AC Milan 1 (Saele maekers 2) Cagliari 2 (Borrelli 20, Rodriguez 57) , Napoli 1 (Hojlund 24) Udinese 0, Parma 1 (Pelle grino 80) Sassuolo 0, Torino 2 (Casadei 59, Adams 84) Juventus 2 (Vlahovic 24, 54) , Verona 0 Roma 2 (Malen 57, El Shaarawy 90+4) . P W D L F A Pts Inter Milan (C) 38 27 6 5 89 35 87 Napoli 38 23 7 8 58 36 76 Roma 38 23 4 11 59 31 73 Como 38 20 11 7 65 29 71 AC Milan 38 20 10 8 53 35 70 Juventus 38 19 12 7 61 34 69 Atalanta 38 15 14 9 51 36 59 Bologna 38 16 8 14 49 46 56 Lazio 38 14 12 12 41 40 54 Udinese 38 14 8 16 45 48 50 Sassuolo 38 14 7 17 46 50 49 Parma 38 11 12 15 28 46 45 Torino 38 12 9 17 44 63 45 Cagliari 38 11 10 17 40 53 43 Fiorentina 38 9 15 14 41 50 42 Genoa 38 10 11 17 41 51 41 Lecce 38 10 8 20 28 50 38 Cremonese 38 8 10 20 32 57 34 Verona 38 3 12 23 25 61 21 Pisa 38 2 12 24 26 71 18 | C: League Champions | Champions League | Europa League | Conference League |

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through the official protest proce dures and not through refusal to continue the match,” he said. Abidullah said the incident occurred during one of the most important matches ever organised under the Istaf World Cup structure and that the championship was conducted under live television broadcast together with multiple international streaming platforms reaching millions of viewers world wide. The men’s team regu final at the 2026 Sepaktakraw World Cup here yesterday was marred by contro versy after Thailand pulled out of the match in protest against a refe reeing decision, with Malaysia later declared 2-1 winners. – Bernama ‘M’sia fall short of expectations at Masters’ BADMINTON Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz described the performances of BAM players at the 2026 Malaysia Masters as falling short of expectations. He said excuses were no longer suf ficient, and all parties involved needed to undergo a reset by focusing on fun damental aspects such as discipline, consistency, and the mentality required to compete and win at the highest level. He added that BAM would imple ment improvements, including refining training approaches and strengthening focus ahead of upcoming tournaments. “Everyone must take responsibility – players, coaches, and management. In elite sports, a big name alone is not enough. Performance must be consis tent. “Keep fighting. We are not done yet,” he said in a post on his Instagram account yesterday. Earlier, none of BAM’s representa tives managed to reach the final of the 2026 Malaysia Masters after national men’s doubles pairs Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King were eliminated in the semifi nals on Saturday. The outcome was in stark contrast to last year’s edition, when two Malaysian representatives – Aaron Wooi Yik and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun in the men’s doubles event – reached the final, with Wei Chong-Kai Wun emerging as champions. Meanwhile, Wei Chong-Kai Wun, will miss two upcoming Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour tourna ments, namely the Singapore Open starting today and the Indonesia Open on June 2. Head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi said the decision was made as Wei Chong has yet to fully recover from a knee injury. “Wei Chong’s leg has not fully healed, and he is still recuperating. For the time being, he is not ready for tour naments, so they will skip the Singapore and Indonesia Opens,” he said recently. Herry added that he and the player are expected to meet a doctor soon to obtain a clearer assessment of the injury. Last week, Wei Chong-Kai Wun also withdrew from the Malaysia Masters due to Wei Chong’s knee problem. – Bernama

“Instead, their presence and continued engagement with the players during the stoppage appeared to contribute further to the disruption and uncertainty sur rounding the match situation at a crucial stage of the final,” Abidullah said. As sports leaders, especially at the level of international and Olympic movement involvement, he said, they should have demon strated leadership, composure, pro fessionalism, sportsmanship, and respect toward the authority of the referees and competition officials. “If there was any dissatisfaction with the referee’s decision, the appropriate avenue under Istaf regulations would have been

The officials named in the letter were Takraw Association of Thailand president Thana Chaiprasit, secretary-general Dr Srihasak Arirachakaran and former team manager Piroj Archaroongroj. “As senior leaders of Sepaktakraw in Thailand and repre sentatives holding important posi tions within the sports movement and Olympic structure, it was deeply disappointing and concern ing to observe that these officials did not assist in calming the situa tion or encouraging the Thailand players to return to the court and complete the match in accordance with the Laws of the Game and competition regulations.

Beyond expectations

JDT’s Marcos Guilherme (left) fight for the ball against Kuching’s Jerome Etame during the Malaysia Cup final at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday. – BERNAMAPIC

T HE rise of Kuching City FC is among the positive developments in the 202526 Malaysia League (M-League) competi tion, according to local sports analyst Datuk Dr Pekan Ramli. He said Kuching City’s achievement of finish ing second in the Super League, reaching the Malaysia Cup final and booking a ticket to the AFC Champions League 2 (ACL 2) next season was beyond many expectations. “Everybody knows that Kuching City was not built on a large budget, but still managed to out perform the favourites, such as Selangor, Terengganu and Kuala Lumpur City, to finish behind perennial champions JDT (Johor Darul Ta’zim) in the Super League standings. “They are also one of the most solid defensive teams. For me, this is a very positive achievement for the league this season,” he told Bernama yes terday. However, Pekan said the domestic league con tinues to face several long-standing issues, includ ing salary arrears, uneven team quality, refereeing standards and relatively low match attendance. While salary delays appear to be improving, he said a number of Super League clubs have yet to fully resolve outstanding payments. Pekan said that financial instability may also have contributed to the widening gap between teams, reflected in several one-sided results. “When you see results like 10-0 or 14-1, that is not the standard expected of the Super League. The gap between teams is still too wide,” he said. On the refereeing aspect, Pekan acknowledged improvements in the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology but said further refine

ment is still needed. He also said the use of foreign or international referees in the Malaysia Cup final also indirectly gives the perception that local referees have yet to earn the trust to handle big matches. “On one hand, it is good to ensure public confi dence in the final match, but at the same time it gives the perception that local referees are not yet at their best,” he said. Meanwhile, Pekan also raised concerns over logistical issues and last-minute fixture changes, saying they affect both fans and teams. Looking ahead, he called for stronger enforce ment of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations and urged clubs to adopt more professional manage ment structures. He said well-governed clubs with sustainable finances would be crucial to improving competi tiveness in the league. “We hope that next season the enforcement of FFP will be really strengthened and teams that do not qualify will be subject to appropriate action. “Clubs also need to be led by individuals who are truly professional and know how to manage the team and generate financial resources,” he added. For the record, JDT continued their dominance this season, winning the Super League, FA Cup and Malaysia Cup, completing a fourth consecu tive domestic treble. – Bernama Pekan lauds rise of Kuching City amid ongoing M-League concerns