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Moment of truth: FAS to make key announcement BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sports - New 2 Borneo

Moment of truth: FAS to make key announcement

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:21 AM PST

KUCHING: The wait is over as Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) looks set to announce Sarawak's 2014 Super League squad today.

A scheduled press conference today should end months of speculation about the next season's list of players.

It is believed that complications regarding the International Transfer Certificate for the import players was responsible for the delay in this announcement.

Former Portsmouth defender Gabor Gyepes and Iranian international striker Alireza Abbasfard are the probable foreign imports to make the team.

Former PSV Eindhoven Academy striker Ronald Hikspoors is a possibility.

Meanwhile, FAS have also acquired the services of six new faces namely Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli, returning Croc Reeshafiq Alwi, Mohd Lot Abu Hassan, Mohd Rashid Aya, S Chanturu and Mohd Fadzley Abdul Rahim.

The expected disclosure of the list of 2014 Crocs is timely as head coach Robert Alberts will lead the team for a tour of friendly matches in Indonesia from Dec 7-20.

They will play against Indonesian clubs such as Metro, Persebaya Surabaya, Persipam Madura and Albert's former club Arema Malang.

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Career officer-cum-bodybuilder aims for SEA Games medal

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:19 AM PST

by Matthew T. Umpang, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on December 5, 2013, Thursday

KUCHING: National bodybuilder Buda Anchah hopes that it will not be too late for him to represent Sarawak once he retires from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) next year.

For now, the RMAF warrant officer battles to divide his time between his career and bodybuilding.

"I only took up bodybuilding in 1996 which was two years after I joined the force," he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

A self-professed big fan of American-Austrian bodybuilder turned actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Buda said he took up the sport at the time as he was feeling homesick.

"During the time, I was away from my family for the first time and I kept on thinking about Sri Aman, my hometown.

"I had to find a source of inspiration to keep me going on, hence my fling with bodybuilding," he explained.

He went on to win many titles, both on the national and international stage.

He has been crowned Mr Malaysia six times.

Buda's latest international achievement took place in Budapest, Hungary last month.

He won the Master's Open category at the international contest organised by the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation.

The latest win has raised his confidence as he and other national bodybuilders start the countdown for next week's SEA Games in Naypyidaw, Myanmar.

Vying in the 70kg – 80kg category, Buda is under no illusion that it will be a walk in the park in Naypyidaw.

"Indonesia and Thailand have very good bodybuilders and they are our traditional rivals. Host Myanmar might also spring up a surprise," he commented.

But the Sarawak-born athlete is determined to bring home a medal for Malaysia and his beloved home state.

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Panathinaikos sell Figueroa to Johor Darul Takzim

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:15 AM PST

ATHENS: Argentine striker Luciano Figueroa has been sold to Malaysian Super League club Johor Darul Takzim, Panathinaikos announced Tuesday.

The Athens-based Greek Super League team said the transfer fee was worth US$1 million.

Figueroa, 32, has signed a three-year deal with the club for a reported US$1.5 million annually.

He joined Panathinaikos earlier this year and has played in 15 matches scoring six goals.

His previous clubs include Boca Juniors, Genoa, River Plate, Villarreal and Birmingham City.

Figueroa has appeared for the Argentina national football team while playing for Cruz Azul and Villarreal CF, performing impressively in the Copa America 2004 and the 2005 Confederations Cup – where only the Brazilian Adriano outscored him – and was part of the gold medal-winning Argentina team at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

At international level, he boasts a strike-rate of 60 per cent, with nine goals from 15 appearances.

The cruciate injury deprived him of the chance to represent his country at the 2006 World Cup. — AFP

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Gold, silver and bronze for Kapit boxers

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:13 AM PST

KAPIT: Four boxers from Kapit competed in the recent National Youth Boxing Championship held at Dewan Keramat Kuala Lumpur, Selangor.

Three performed well and returned with medals.

Alexson Tiong won the gold medal in the 54 kg category.

Ismail Arwan took the silver for the 66 kg fighters while Spencer Ngadit collected the bronze among the 46 kg weight division.

The Kapit team was led by team manager Robin Tiong, who is also coach at the Boxing Development Centre Kapit.

Meanwhile, the boxers will be preparing for the state-level tournament among boxing development centres to be held in Betong from Dec 9-14.

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Suspense mounts as FIFA prepares World Cup draw

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:07 AM PST

COSTA DO SAUIPE: FIFA on Tuesday began the countdown to tomorrow's World Cup draw but football's world governing body kept everyone in suspense by saying it will only reveal the composition of the draw pots on the day itself.

The World Cup circus has descended on the northeastern resort of Costa do Sauipe, some 70 km north of the city of Salvador, one of the 12 venues for next year's finals.

Salvador was one of the host cities for last June's Confederations Cup, the World Cup dress rehearsal, and was one of several to see outbreaks of sometimes violent protest against government corruption but also the estimated $11bn bill of staging the event.

FIFA is keeping the exact draw mechanism under wraps for now but the 32 participating nations will be drawn in eight groups of four, each containing one seeded nation.

The seeds are hosts Brazil, defending champions Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

Pot two has seven teams for the time being, including the five-strong African contingent, with pot three containing, among others, the United States, Australia and Japan.

Pot four consists of the nine non-seeded European teams, one of which will have to be assigned to pot two.

FIFA based its seeding according to its rankings as of last Oct 17, prior to the playoffs. — AFP

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‘Tiger Dads’ in search of China’s Tiger Woods

Posted: 04 Dec 2013 10:06 AM PST

GUANGZHOU: China is mobilising the state behind golf, but 13-year-old Ye Wocheng, the youngest player to compete on the European Tour, says officials should turn instead to the country's "tiger" parents to find the next Tiger Woods.

Golf was once banned in Communist China as a bourgeois indulgence, but its return to the Olympics has seen Beijing build a high-tech US$80 million training complex and enlist its rigid education system in a search for new stars.

While officials are looking to satisfy the national urge for medals, a wave of child prodigies is already emerging, tutored by foreign coaches and ingrained with an insatiable desire to succeed by their wealthy, highly-disciplined parents.

Ye made history earlier this year when he played at the Volvo China Open aged just 12 years and 242 days.

The schoolboy smashed the record set by compatriot Guan Tianlang, who astonished the world in April when he made the Masters cut at the age of 14.

The rise of golfers like Ye and Guan outside China's sporting infrastructure throws up potential challenges for Beijing, which presents individual talents as state-moulded patriotic champions, rather than self-motivated sports stars.

China has now introduced golf into its Soviet-like sports school system for the first time, and its ultra-modern training centre in Shandong province is expected to be a production line for future champions, with an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

But Ye – who still wears braces – believes China's future as a golfing superpower will be down to individual hard work, along with a dose of firm parenting.

"There will be lots of great (Chinese) players in the future," he told AFP, predicting half the world's top 100 will come from China in 20 years, a huge improvement for a country which currently has only six in the PGA's top 1,000, with its top player Liang Wenchong at 107.

"This is because in China a lot of children play golf and they are all conscientious and hard working. They train hard and also the parents are very strict.

"Sometimes, if the kids don't play golf well, the parents will hurl abuse at them or even hit them," he added, with a serious stare belying his age.

Strict parenting is common in China, particularly with regards to education, and sometimes sport.

The tough approach became a media phenomenon in 2011, when Chinese-American professor Amy Chua's book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" detailed how she insisted on top marks from her kids.

The best golfer of recent years, Tiger Woods, a child prodigy who was on television aged two, has often praised his ex-military father and Thai mother for helping develop his competitive edge, and said in 2007 he would be a "disciplinarian" with his own children.

Ye lives with his parents – who he says are "not strict" – in the southern city of Dongguan in Guangdong, China's most affluent province, although the family are considering moving to the US to focus on his golf.

His father, a wealthy interior designer, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Ye's training, and has recruited British former professional David Watson, who coached Lee Westwood and Justin Rose when they were amateurs.

Ye trains at Lion Lake Country Club near Guangzhou, a lavish dual-course complex containing China's largest inland yacht club and a "southern California-style" clubhouse.

Guan also trains there, and his image is everywhere, with his trophies on show in the restaurant.

"We have an exclusive putting green just for Guan," said club president Zheng Jingfen.

"And we don't charge him to use the course, as youngsters need an environment to develop their skills."

Club officials say several families have moved into the local area purely to develop their children's golf. A few hours away is the enormous Mission Hills complex in Dongguan, the world's largest golf club with 12 sprawling courses.

Ye won an under-18 tournament there in June, carding a two round two-under-par total of 142 on its World Cup course, designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus.

Its Mission Hills Golf Series Junior Tour is open to children as young as nine, and competitor Chen Geyi, 14, was born Beijing, 2,000 kilometres to the north, but said he moved to Shenzhen when he was a toddler because "you cannot play golf in the winter in Beijing".

His father Chen Daxin says the family relocated to warmer climes for "work reasons", but admits he has spent a fortune on developing his son's golf.

"Parents basically don't bother too much about cost when it comes to children's interests," said the 43-year-old, brushing off suggestions he was a strict parent.

Some "give up their career and life to throw everything into their children's future" Chen added, before taking his son's clubs on his shoulder. — AFP

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