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Local junior golfers face international competition at KGS BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sports - New 2 Borneo

Local junior golfers face international competition at KGS

Posted: 18 Nov 2013 03:04 PM PST

by Matthew T. Umpang, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on November 19, 2013, Tuesday

KUCHING: The 15th Sarawak International Junior Golf Championship starts today with junior golfers from all over the country and neighbouring countries vying for the Chief Minister's Cup.

Registration counter opened at 9am yesterday at the tournament venue, the Sarawak Golf Club (KGS).

The tournament tees off today and ends this Thursday.

Among the main contenders is last year's winner Paul San who is back to defend his boy's title.

The national golfer from Sarawak admitted he faced an uphill battle ahead.

"I saw a few golfers who are in the national team here at the KGS. It's going to be tough, but I nevertheless relish the chance to challenge for the top honours against them," he said.

State junior golfer Eliza Mae Kho from Miri intends to do well in the girl's event.

Although up against international players, she is hoping for home advantage to help her.

Eliza has represented Sarawak in MSSM tournaments twice.

Thailand have a contingent of 14 golfers here for the competition.

Team leader Pongnat Vatansak hopes the Chief Minister's Cup will fly to Bangkok this year after narrowly missing out on the opportunity last year.

"We would love to win this prestigious cup again and we will just have to fight for it," he said.

Last year, Thai junior Thanakorn Thorsee narrowly lost to Paul despite leading in the first day.

The last Thai junior golfer to win the Chief Minister's Cup was Thiraphat Phuanglamyai in 2010.

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Defending champion determined to keep title in Sarawak

Posted: 18 Nov 2013 03:02 PM PST

Posted on November 19, 2013, Tuesday

KUCHING: Defending boy's champion Paul San hopes to retire from the 15th Sarawak International Junior Golf Championship on a high note.

The +2 handicap Sarawak-born national golfer revealed that this would be his last tournament before he moves to the United States for further studies.

Paul is seeking an unprecedented feat of winning the event three times in a row.

"My motivation is that I want to send a message out to everyone that Sarawak is capable of producing quality golfers. All it takes is hard work, knowledge and determination," he told The Borneo Post at Sarawak Golf Club (KGS) yesterday.

He won his first title in 2011. This year marks the fifth time that Paul is competing in the tournament.

Despite his optimism, Paul has revealed some of his concerns.

"Due to the erratic weather conditions here in Sarawak during the past week, I am currently carrying a slight cold but I think that I can shake it off. I am confident that it would not ruin my game," he said.

He added that course conditions at the KGS would also be tough if it continues to rain in the evening during the tournament.

His father Sylvester San, who was also at the venue, disclosed that Paul would be studying at a college in Lousiana on a golf scholarship programme.

"Personally, I think my son will miss Sarawak. But he is moving for the good of his game and I'm sure when he returns, he will be a better player," he added.

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50 youth players at AirAsia-QPR football clinic

Posted: 18 Nov 2013 02:59 PM PST

by Saiful Bahari, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on November 19, 2013, Tuesday

KUCHING: Two young players from Malaysia have been identified from the AirAsia-QPR Coaching Clinic Tour which made its last stop here yesterday.

This was disclosed by QPR (Queens Park Rangers) in the Community Trust CEO Andy Evans.

"The level of standard shown by participants was impressive. We have identified two players and they stand a chance to be flown to London to train in the Queens Park Rangers Academy at Loftus Road, London for a week," he told reporters at SMK Tabuan Jaya here yesterday.

He added that the tour had coached over 300 young players aged 15 to 16 in Singapore and Malaysia. Only seven players will be selected for the trip.

Earlier on, Air Asia Berhad CEO Aireen Omar said AirAsia was proud to bring the development programme to Kuching which would benefit grassroot football development.

"We are out to identify promising football talents and with the guidance of highly experienced QPR coaches, they will be trained with advanced skills to make them better players and become valuable assets for the state," she explained.

"Sarawak and East Malaysia as a whole are an important hub for us and our success in East Malaysia is due to the strong support from the community and state government," she stressed.

AirAsia has been involved in numerous sports development initiatives for the benefit of the youths and enabled athletes such as MotoGP rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin and international squash player Low Wee Wern to compete at the highest level.

Around 50 youth players participated in yesterday's one-day clinic which was conducted by QPR academy coaches, Danny Edwards, Stephen McCarthy, Matino Cheavannes and Adam McLachlan.

Also present at the event was SMK Tabuan Jaya principal Hassan Wa'Gani.

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Superb season finale for Corbusier’s Laurel

Posted: 18 Nov 2013 02:56 PM PST

by Marshall Tiong. Posted on November 19, 2013, Tuesday

KUCHING: Team Corbusier's Laurel Lauridsen Adrian out-duelled two others to win the Sarawak Health Road Challenge road race last Sunday.

It was a superb win for Laurel as he outsprinted Team Kalbar's Radian Saputra and his teammate Iqbal Fernando in Viking colours.

The 105km race started in aggressive fashion as Corbusier, Kalbar and Viking sought to establish early control of the race.

A Corbusier breakaway by co-captain Laurel and Frank Voon in the first km was quickly reeled in by Kalbar and Viking.

At the 7km mark, another breakaway attempt ensued.

Corbusier put all four of its top riders in the break which also included Kalbars's Bentar Sari in addition to Radian and Iqbal.

The Corbusier quartet of Fito Prilanji, Yudi Rachmad, Prio Adi Saputro and Laurel would work with the others to quickly put a huge gap on the peloton.

Prio would have an unfortunate puncture and had to drop back to the peloton after his wheel change.

Co-captain Fito made the decision for Laurel and Yudi to chase down a move by Radian and Iqbal while he stayed on the wheel of Bentar after half an hour of racing.

It turned out to be the winning break as the quartet stayed together for the remainder of the race.

Corbusier used their two-men advantage to perfection as Yudi led out Laurel 500m from the line as the sprint finish started.

Laurel made his move with 50m to go as he shot out of his lead-out man's slipstream and beat Radian by a bike length with Iqbal third.

All four riders were timed at 2hrs 23mins 51secs.

"I put my heart and soul into that sprint. I just knew I had to win it for the team," said an emotional Laurel.

"The Kalbar rider probably felt that I couldn't sprint and that I was tired," said Laurel.

He acknowledged that team principal Safri Mohammed had stressed the importance of a strong result for the race.

"Safri told us that it was our goal to win this race, that we must be champion," said Laurel.

He paid tribute to his team in helping him win.

"I am so happy for the team. They worked hard for me to win. Fito, Yudi, Prio and the whole team contributed to the win."

The UiTM diploma student will be looking to concentrate on his studies after a long and hard season.

Co-captain Fito knew he had to stay behind to let his team have a strong chance of winning.

"Bentar is a strong rider. I knew I couldn't let him catch up with Laurel, otherwise our chances wouldn't be as good," said Fito, a pro with Brunei's Team CCN.

He beat Bentar to the line for fifth place.

Safri had more than the usual reason to be happy for the win.

"I think this is a morale booster for Laurel as he has not had much luck in the big races lately," said Safri.

Laurel had to drop out of his last race in the Sepang Criterium series due to fatigue.

In the Sarawak Closed event, Saxon Racing's Patrick Siqueen was the top finisher, beating teammate Syamsul Ali Hamdan, the former Sarawak rider.

Corbusier junior Noel Lim was second while Fairulanan b. Peter was third for Viking.

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Vettel wins US Grand Prix for record 8th successive victory

Posted: 18 Nov 2013 02:54 PM PST

Posted on November 19, 2013, Tuesday

WORLD champion Sebastian Vettel won a record eighth successive race when he triumphed in Sunday's United States Grand Prix.

The German Red Bull driver beat Michael Schumacher's previous record of seven wins in a row in the same season set in 2004.

France's Romain Grosjean, in a Lotus, was second with Red Bull's Mark Webber taking third.

Vettel's win was not only his eighth in a row, but also his 12th of the season and the 38th in his short, but brilliant career of just 119 races.

It was also his first in America leaving only the Hungarian Grand Prix as a venue where he has yet to triumph. Asked on the victors' podium by American Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion, to explain his secret for success, Vettel admitted: "I don't know how I do it, if I'm honest.

"It's impossible to know what to say, but I want to say thanks to the crowd. It's unbelievable to have more than 100,000 here on Sunday in only our second year. The city is going crazy.

"The car was fantastic. It was a bit tight at the start, Romain had a good start and I didn't know if it would be enough.

"We had good pace though and could control the gaps for eight wins in a row. My debut was in 2007 in Indianapolis so to come back last year, podium, and win today – it's fantastic."

Starting from pole, the 26-year-old German controlled the race from lights to flag with a consummate demonstration of skill and speed at the wheel of his equally dominant Red Bull.

If he wins the year-ender in Brazil next Sunday, he will equal Schumacher's 2004 record of 13 in a season with Ferrari.

It was in that series that Schumacher reeled off his now-beaten record of seven straight wins as he delivered his seventh and final drivers' title success.

That remains another statistical landmark for Vettel to pass.

Grosjean followed him home, 6.284 seconds adrift, for Lotus, equalling his best result.

"It was a good race for me," he said.

"I had a good start and I got past Mark and almost caught Seb. The car worked well and I'm very proud to represent Lotus."

Vettel's team-mate, retirement-bound Australian Mark Webber, third, claiming his 40th career podium.

Webber, who will be sportscar racing with Porsche next year, said: "I think pole was very important yesterday and it probably cost me a better result today.

"I should have qualified better and it was difficult to be in a good position on Turn One from there. We all wanted to be on the outside."

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Mercedes ahead of Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber and Sergio Perez of McLaren.

"I am so happy for the team," said Hamilton.

"It was good for me to be able to make a real contribution."

Finn Valtteri Bottas delivered a superb eighth for the Williams team, his first points-scoring finish which tripled their season total, ahead of Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes and 10th placed Jenson Button in the second McLaren.

Button, in his 246th race, equalled the British record for Grand Prix starts held by David Coulthard, a former Red Bull team-mate of Webber's.

A perfect day's racing was only clouded by a first lap collision involving the unhappy Pastor Maldonado, in a Williams, and luckless Adrian Sutil of Force India which brought out the Safety Car.

Both were unhurt but Sutil's car was wrecked after hitting the barriers. — AFP

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England, Germany test World Cup credentials

Posted: 18 Nov 2013 02:52 PM PST

Posted on November 19, 2013, Tuesday

LONDON: England's World Cup ambitions will be placed beneath an unforgiving spotlight on Tuesday when they tackle arch rivals Germany at Wembley Stadium in their final fixture of 2013.

Roy Hodgson's side saw a 10-game unbeaten run ended in disappointing fashion by Chile on Friday and in Germany they face a team who dropped only two points in qualifying for next year's World Cup in Brazil.

The game is the latest chapter in a story that has conjured up some of the most enduring images in the sport's history, from England's triumph in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley to the Germans' spot-kick success in the European Championship semi-finals on the same turf 30 years later.

The sides have been evenly matched in recent encounters, with three wins apiece in the six matches that have taken place since the turn of the century.

Their last encounter, however, was crushingly one-sided, with Germany running out 4-1 victors in a last-16 tie at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that left deep scars on the English psyche.

Germany ultimately went out in the semi-finals and they also fell in the last four at Euro 2012, but England midfielder Frank Lampard believes that Joachim Loew's men are now an even more formidable prospect.

"They've got a very, very strong international squad, not just the XI," said the Chelsea midfielder.

"Their style of play is very good. I think they've improved."

Lampard was famously denied a goal in that 2010 Bloemfontein encounter despite his lobbed half-volley crossing the line with England 2-1 behind, but the 35-year-old says Tuesday's friendly will not be a revenge mission.

"Coming home from then, there was a very negative feel; not just press and public, but in the squad itself," he said.

"We were disappointed with ourselves and I think we've got a bit more of a positive feel back again now."

He added: "They're our rivals, and not in a terrible way — it's a good rivalry. We've got a lot of respect for them, but we want to beat them. There's a lot at stake for us."

England manager Hodgson has pledged to field his strongest possible side after making several experimental adjustments against Chile.

Joe Hart, Ashley Cole and captain Steven Gerrard are among the players expected to return to the starting XI, while Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has declared himself fit following a foot injury.

Germany drew 1-1 with Italy in a friendly in Milan on Friday, after a run of four consecutive wins in which they had scored 14 goals.

Like Hodgson, Loew has only one further friendly game lined up before he announces his squad for the World Cup — against Chile in March — but injuries have forced his hand for the meeting with England.

Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira will be out for around six months after rupturing knee ligaments against Italy, while Bayern Munich pair Manuel Neuer and Philipp Lahm, the captain, have also withdrawn from the squad.

In addition, Loew has decided to rest Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil, who was unable to train fully in the build-up to the match in Milan.

"The England game is our last chance before the World Cup to try out one or two new tactical variations and personnel," said Loew, whose side are currently ranked second to Spain in the world.

"Philipp Lahm, Manuel Neuer and Mesut Ozil are part of the absolute backbone of our team and for me, it is more important now to give other players a chance to prove themselves in these key positions, particularly against such a strong team as England."

Neuer's absence means that goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller will win his first cap, at a ground where his Borussia Dortmund side were dealt an agonising defeat by Bayern in the Champions League final in May.

Ozil's Arsenal team-mate Per Mertesacker is also in line to play after sitting out the draw with Italy through illness. — AFP

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