13/05/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | MAY 13, 2025

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In contrast, Rachel Arnold was sent packing after falling to world No. 4 Olivia Weaver 5-11, 2-11, 13-11, 5-11, while Aira Azman also made an early exit after losing to Egypt’s Salma Hany 6-11, 10-12, 4-11. Malaysia to meet Japan in final MALAYSIA achieved their target of reaching the final in the quadrant event after beating South Korea 2-0 in a tense match at the Sepak Takraw Asian Cup 2025 at Stadium Titiwangsa yesterday. Fuelled by strong support from the home crowd, Muhammad Afifuddin Mohd Razali, Amirul Zazwan Amir, Norfaizzul Abd Razak and Muhammad Shahalril Aiman Halim put Malaysia on the right footing by taking the first set at 15-13. South Korea tried to force a decider but a service error at the net handed Malaysia a 15-8 victory, sealing the straight-sets win. The result sees Mohammad Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman’s men book a spot in tonight’s final against Japan, who stunned Sepaktakraw World Cup

runners-up Vietnam 15-12, 15-11 in the other semifinal. National left apit Norfaizzul said the team’s progress to the final was the result of collective effort. “Alhamdulillah, we made it to the final, and I was quite surprised by Vietnam’s defeat to Japan because we know they’re the more experienced side in the quadrant event. “Regardless, we will take the right approach and not underestimate Japan, especially since we’ve already faced them in the group stage,” he told reporters after the semifinal match. KDN’s major overhaul KELANTAN Darul Naim FC (KDN FC) will undergo a major overhaul to be a more competitive squad in the Malaysian League (M-League), especially the Super League for the 2025/26 season. Its Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Mohd Irwan Rizal Ali Napiah said that his current focus, together with the leadership team, is to ensure that

outstanding salary arrears owed to players from last season can be resolved quickly. “We will bring in quality players and coaching staff to ensure KDN FC can compete with other teams in next season’s league campaign. “The most important thing right now is that we do not want to face the same (debt) issues this season. We want to begin the new league season debt-free,” he told Bernama when contacted yesterday. Mohd Irwan Rizal said that although the club will carry out changes in players and coaches this season, spending will be done prudently according to financial capacity. Previously, KDN FC president Rozi Muhamad admitted that there were still outstanding arrears owed to players for the 2024/25 season, but stressed that efforts are being actively made to settle them soon. Commenting further, Mohd Irwan Rizal said the club management is also working to ensure all requirements set by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) for this season’s club licensing are fulfilled.

SHORTS

Squash duo through to next round NATIONAL squash players S. Sivasangari and Ng Eain Yow have advanced to the third round of the 2024–2025 World Championship in Chicago, the United States. Sivasangari defeated Egypt’s Sana Ibrahim 11-4, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5 in a second-round match early this morning at the University Club of Chicago. World No. 9, Sivasangari, will next meet Amanda Sobhy, who cruised past Egypt’s Kenzy Ayman 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 in another second-round match. In the men’s event, world No. 10 Eain Yow continued his fine form with a commanding 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 win over Pakistan’s Muhammad Asim Khan. Eain Yow, seeded 10th, is expected to face a tough test in the third round against world No. 1 Mostafa Asal of Egypt.

Postecoglou hopeful Spurs boss says Kulusevski will be fit ahead of Europa League final A NGE POSTECOGLOU is confident Dejan Kulusevski will be fit for the Europa League final after the forward was injured in Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on Sunday. sealed a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday. But their wretched domestic form continued as they slipped to a 20th league loss this season.

Napoli give Inter Scudetto hope NAPOLI’S bid for a second Serie A title in three seasons was hit by yesterday’s 2-2 home draw with Genoa which allowed Inter Milan to move to within a point of the league leaders thanks to their dramatic 2-0 win at Torino. Antonio Conte’s team’s destiny is still in their hands with two matches remaining in the season, and two wins against Parma and Cagliari will secure the Scudetto. But Inter will have hope of retaining their league crown after Johan Vasquez’s thumping header gave Genoa a late draw at a packed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. “They had two shots on target and scored two goals. These things happen,” said a visibly irritated Conte to DAZN . “It’s annoying because we should have won given what we created and how we played. It’s disappointing to not win like this at the start of the season, forget about it with three matches remaining. “But I can’t complain about the performance, we had 11 shots on target, all of the ball… We have to go and win the other two matches, that’s all there is to do it.” Giacomo Raspadori thought he had won the game and all but secured the title for Napoli in the 64th minute after a wonderful piece of skill to control Scott McTominay’s pass. McTominay also set up Romelu Lukaku’s 15th-minute opener which was cancelled out in the 32nd minute when Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret inadvertantly diverted Honest Ahanor’s header into his own goal. And Vasquez piled the pressure on Napoli who also lost Stanislav Lobotka early on after Conte selected the key midfielder even though he hadn’t recovered from an ankle injury. The cheers will have rung around the blue and black half of Milan when Vasquez powered home Genoa’s late leveller, after Nicola Zalewski and Kristjan Asllani gave Inter just their second away win in eight Serie A matches under torrential rain. “It’s not up to us, so all we can do is do our jobs. That’s what happened today,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi. – AFP

performance and nowhere near the level it should be. “Guys had an opportunity today to put their name forward and put some pressure on the guys who played the other night. Fair to say there wasn’t any compelling evidence of that. “That’s what I’m trying to push with these guys, that sometimes in football you’ve just got to take the opportunities there before you. They’re never going to be perfect. “We made eight changes but there is an opportunity there and you’ve just got to take it when presented to you and I’m disappointed more didn’t step forward today. “I get it and people are banging the drum about this record with defeats, but if people don’t see there is a correlation between the two,” he said. “It’s not exactly Pythagoras theorem. It’s quite simple to understand we would have had much better results if we didn’t have to navigate this. So, either you understand or you don’t and beat us over the head, I get it.” – AFP

It marks Tottenham’s worst-ever tally of defeats in the Premier League area after they twice lost 19 fixtures in the 1993-94 and 2003-04 campaigns. To add to the under-fire Postecoglou’s problems, Kulusevski had to be replaced after 19 minutes. But Postecoglou provided a positive update on the Sweden international after he lost Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison to season-ending injuries last week. “Medical team are not too concerned with him, more of a knock than anything else, so we’re hoping he should be OK,” Postecoglou said.

Eberechi Eze struck twice for the FA Cup finalists at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to leave Postecoglou’s side languishing in 17th place in the Premier League. Tottenham booked a Europa League final with Manchester United on May 21 after they

“It’s not helpful when you lose another player, it’s the fine line we’re trying to navigate at the moment. That aside, it was a disappointing

We’ll defend better next season: Flick

BARCELONA coach Hansi Flick pledged to work on his team’s defending next season after his side edged Real Madrid 4-3 in a thrilling La Liga Clasico on Sunday to put one hand on the title. The Catalans moved to the brink La Liga glory with their victory at the Olympic stadium, opening a seven-point gap on second place Madrid with three matches remaining. In the final stages Madrid spurned several good chances to equalise, while on last Wednesday Inter Milan knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League semifinals in a 4-3 win as the Catalans’ defence crumbled. “It’s not been easy for us to work on some things in training. I know that we have to improve (defensively) and we will do it next season,” Flick told reporters. Barcelona play with a high defensive line and Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hattrick and two disallowed goals, and Vinicius Junior breached it several times. At the other end, his team’s talented attacking stars have put 16 goals past Real Madrid in four meetings this season, Barca

triumphing every time.

The Catalans were also ousted by Inter 7-6 on aggregate and have arguably been the most entertaining side in Europe this season. “For me, it’s not always fun, sometimes I really suffer a lot,” admitted Flick. “I’m really happy with what we are doing (in general), and of course, football is a game of making mistakes. “Hopefully, we can make things better and make fewer mistakes.” Flick said he did not blame his defenders for the team’s struggles to keep goals out, and that it was more of a systematic issue. “I think this journey that we started last year, it’s not over – I know that we have to improve a lot in defence,” added the coach. “It has nothing to do with the back four. When we make mistakes, Real have fantastic offensive players.” Barcelona can wrap up the title with a win at local rivals Espanyol on Friday, or before if Madrid lose against Real Mallorca on Thursday. – AFP

Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong (top) in action with Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham. – REUTERSPIC