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Night of reckoning for Crocs BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sports - New 2 Borneo

Night of reckoning for Crocs

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:03 AM PST

by Matthew Umpang, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday

Sarawak's 2014 Super League campaign kicks off tonight against ATM at Selayang

KUCHING: After months of anticipation, all will be unveiled as Sarawak take on ATM at the Selayang Stadium tonight for their Super League curtain-raiser. Like all teams in the Super League, both sides are eager to show their fans what their reinforcements and new signings can do to help their cause among the nation's elite. Sarawak head coach Robert Alberts has not set a specific target for the 2014 season – though there have been media talk of somewhere between top f light survival and a top six finish – among the 12 teams in the Super League. For tonight's match, Alberts might field the same side that thrashed Premier League side SPA Putrajaya FC 5-0 last week in a friendly match. New players like Gabor Gyepes, Milorad Janjus and Mohd Lot Abu Hassan are expected to make their debuts. ATM a r e c er t ainly qui t e formidable. An interesting fact is that both teams have been recent Premier League champions – ATM in 2012 and Sarawak in 2013. Upon promotion to the top tier, Armed Forces did well enough to fi nish sixth last season. They are strengthened with 10 new signings this season. A conf ident head coach B. Sathianathan, an ex-national coach, has been quoted as saying that he would consider himself and his team a failure if they fail to win at least one trophy this year. Juan Arostegui, who was a former Malaysia Cup winner with the now defunct MPPJ Selangor seven years ago, is scheduled to make an emotional return to the Malaysian football arena as the Argentinian striker dons the ATM colours. Both teams look evenly-matched but Sarawak will need to work hard on their away form to win this clash which kicks of f at 8.45pm. After their team's unbeaten and victorious Premier League c amp a i g n f o l l owe d by a n impressive run in the Malaysia Cup last year, Sarawak fans are anxious to see how well the Crocs will be when pitted against the big boys of the Super League. Milorad Janjus Let the battle begin!

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New format for this year’s Sibu League

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:51 AM PST

Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday

SIBU: The 2014 Sibu Football League will take on a different format this year with teams divided into Division I and Division II. Sibu Footbal l Associat ion secretary Abdul Hajis Abdullah said Division I would comprise the top eight winning teams in the last season. They include Nazario FC, Nafas Mukah FC, V8 FC, Kastam, TZ FC, Rimba Hijau, Exodust FC and Rascom. He said Division I I would comprise the last four teams of the last season, namely DD FC, Polis, Miskal FC and Singgah Selalu and some of the new teams. "We are waiting for these new teams to send in their entries," he said. Hajis said the idea behind the new format was to tap talented players from Division I and also to encourage more teams to take part. He said Sibu FA was serious in getting good players from Division I as they were the players who would eventually be picked to represent Sibu in the Sarawak Cup to be held in Sarikei later this year. "We want to give the rest of the divisions in the state a taste of our force and we do not want to be always on the losing side as far as Sarawak Cup is concerned," he added. Entry fee for Division I category is RM800 while it is RM600 for Division II category. Hajis reminded all team managers for Division I to get ready the name lists of their players and submit it to Sibu FA before Jan 31. He said this was to avoid any clash of names when Sibu FA received the final name lists. For Division II teams, he said they may submit their name lists by the end of February. Matches will be played at Stadium Tun Zaidi and Prison Field on Saturday and Sunday. "The Sibu League is expected to be held sometime in March," he added. In between, Hajis said Sibu FA Cup would also be conducted following the casting of lots among the teams. He said Sibu FA Cup would be played on a single knock-out basis and the teams that remained unbeaten would take the title. Those interested to join the competition should contact Hajis at 012-8559639.

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Six state junior exponents attend national wushu selection

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:50 AM PST

KUCHING: Six junior exponents from the Wushu Federation of Sarawak left for Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur yesterday to attend a national selection for the World Junior Wushu Championship in Antalya, Turkey from March 11- 18.T hey are Yong Arifah Khairul Kok ( SMK Su ng a i Maong , Kuching) , Fu Wen Jie (SJK Chung Hua No. 4, Kuching), Lee Hui Xian (SMK Bandar Kuching No. 1, Kuching), Stephanie Ngu Cai Ern (SJK Thai Kwang, Sibu), Bong Yun Pin (SJK Chung Hua Pending, Kuching) and Landy Liew Jia Yee (SJK Chung Hua No. 3, Kuching). Accompanying the group is Sarawak State Sports Council Centre of Excellence for Wushu, Kuching coach Ling Ung Hee. According to Ling, ten junior exponents were selected for a month-long intensive training but only six made the grade for the national selection. "Wushu Federation of Malaysia are selecting a few junior exponents for the B and C categories for the world junior meet and I am quite confident our juniors can put on a good show at tomorrow's selection," she said. The six juniors were selected based on their good performance at the Sarawak Wushu Championship last December. They are al so t rainees of the state's wushu development programme and are groomed for the Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia Junior Wushu Championship and future Sukma teams. Two years ago, four Sarawak junior exponents represented Malaysia at the 4th World Junior Wushu Championship in Macau, China from Sept 17-25. They were national junior Elvic Bong Qian Zheng, Clement Thian Fung Seng, Fu Wen Jie and Nicholas Kho How Jun. Clement Thian bagged the gold medal in the Boys B nanquan and was fourth in Boys B nangun while Elvic Bong won the Boys B jianshu silver and fi nished sixth in Boys B qiangshu. As for Fu, she was fifth in Girls c jianshu and 12th in Girls C changquan while Nicholas Kho fi nished 14th in Boys C changquan.

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225 swimmers for 26th Kuching Age Group Swimming Championship

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:49 AM PST

by Ting Tieng Hee, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday

KUCHING: The 26th Kuching Age  Group Swimming Championship  this weekend at the Centre of  Excellence for Aquatics, Youth  and Sports Complex along Jalan  Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce will  see a record participation of 225  swimmers from 34 primary and  secondary schools.  Kuching Amateur Swimming  Association (Kasa) 2010 secretary  Sylvia Lau said yesterday that  there was an increase of 30  swimmers when compared to  195 swimmers from 24 schools  in Kuching and Kota Samarahan  last year.  "For the f irst time in the  championship's history, all the  152 events will be competed.  We received 1,095 entries for  the events," she told the Borneo  Post.  According to Sylvia, the  biggest team from the primary  school section were defending  champions SJK Chung Hua No.  2 who fi elded 27 swimmers while  the biggest team in the secondary  school section were Lodge School  who are sending 24 swimmers.  T h e s e c o n d a r y s c h o o l  defending champions are SMK  Batu Lintang whose challenge  will be spearheaded again by  Sukma swimmer Angela Chieng  Chui Fei.  "This event is part of Kasa's  annual activities which is also  aimed at assessing the progress  of the swimmers especially those  in the younger age groups," said  Sylvia.  Lau said the disciplines to  be competed are freestyle,  breaststroke, backstroke,  butterf ly and individual  medley.  "The freestyle will include  50m, 100m, 200m, 400m,  800m and 1,500m while the  breaststroke, backstroke,  butterfly will involve 50m,  100m and 200m," she added.  Apart from that the  events organised  a r e r e l a y  f o r 4 x 1 0 0 m  f r e e s t y l e ,  4x100m individual medley and  4x50m individual medley for  Group 4 and 5.  "Those who meet the qualifying  times set by Kasa will represent  Kuching at the 41st Sarawak Age  Group Swimming Championship  at Bukit Lima Swimming Pool  in Sibu from Feb 21-13," added  Lau.  Today's events will start at 8am  and expected to end at around  5pm.  Kasa 2010 president Dato Wee  Hong Seng will close  the event tomorrow  and give away all  the trophies to  the best boys and  girls swimmers  a s we l l a s  t he ove r a l l  champions for  primary and  secondary school  categories.

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Tago pulls off major upset at Malaysia Open

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:47 AM PST

Japanese second seed upstages Chen Long to book semi-finals berth

KUALA LUMPUR: Japanese shuttler, Kenichi Tago pulled off a major upset in the Malaysian Open Super Series Premier Badminton Championship 2014 by defeating world number two, Chen Long of China in a quarter-final match at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here, yesterday.

Tago who was seeded fifth, however, was forced to play in 67 minutes before registering 21-18, 9-21 and 21-10 to set up a clash with world number four, Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, today.

Sugiarto cruised to the semi-finals after brushing aside India's K Srikanth 21-10 and 21-15 in another quarter-final match.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Tago said the lanky Chinese did not give a good fight which gave him more confidence to beat his opponent.

"I don't want to think about my next opponent tomorrow (today) but I expect it to be a tough battle for me as the tournament has almost reached the pinnacle," said Tago. Chen Long, on the other hand, admitted that he did not give a good fight as he felt unwell but looked forward to the next tournament.

"It was a normal game today (yesterday) as I feel unwell but it is not the main factor for my defeat to Tago," said the Chinese shuttler, who recently bagged the Korean Open title after defeating world number one, Datuk Lee Chong Wei. — Bernama

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Giant Sarawak flag to reflect fever pitch passion of GB13

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:47 AM PST

KUCHING: The State Prison Department yesterday presented possibly the largest Sarawak flag ever made to the state football supporters group, GB13 in a ceremony held at Puncak Borneo Prison.

Measuring 175 feet by 95 feet, the flag was funded by GB13 themselves together with funds collected by other state football supporters.

According to GB13 representative Awang Khairul Adzhar, the flag, possibly the largest Sarawak flag ever produced, was made at a cost of RM9,000.

"We were introduced to the Prison Department by a fellow staff of Puncak Borneo Prison and we were overwhelmed that they were keen to help us realise our dreams of having the largest state flag," said Awang.

Awang further elaborated that the flag symbolises the spirit of GB13 who had always been with the state football team.

Meanwhile, State Prison Director Abdul Kadir Rais said the State Prison Department were proud to be one of the agencies to assist in making the dream came true.

"We all knew that the state football team has the most fanatical supporters in Malaysia and we are very supportive and willing to help in any possible ways," said Rais.

More than 25 inmates were involved in the production of the giant flag which was constructed from Dec 4 last year and completed on Jan 15.

The flag will be displayed during the Sarawak FA home matches at Stadium Negeri Petra Jaya.

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