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Jironi, Loh crowned Olympian of year BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sports - New 2 Borneo

Jironi, Loh crowned Olympian of year

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Middle distance ace Mohd Jironi Riduan and national swimmer Christina Loh Yen Ling were crowned as Olympian of the Year in the men's and women's category during the 21st Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM)-Coca Cola Olympian of the Year award yesterday.

Both winners were selected by the OCM Award Committee after taking into account their two gold medal feat in the recently concluded Myanmar SEA Games, last year.

Mohd Jironi, 28, who has since decided to retire from the sports, won the gold medal in the men's 800m and 1,500m races while Christina Loh, 19, clinched two gold medals in the 100m and 200m breaststroke.

"This is my first national award after three SEA Games. I am surprised because many more athletes also did well. My target for this year is to beat my own personal record in the 50m breaststroke which is 32.15s and reach the finals in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games," she said after the award presentation.

Meanwhile, Mohd Jironi said it was the best award he had won since his involvement in sports, especially athletics.

The achievement allowed both of them to take home RM10,000 cash and medals sponsored by Coca-Cola and presented by OCM President Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Ja'afar.

The Olympian of the Year award is an annual event held by the Olympic Council of Malaysia since 1993 to recognise the achievements of national Sportsmen and Sportswomen.

The OCM awards committee, under Tan Sri Halil Abdul Mutalif, had shortlisted three male athletes – Ooi Tze Liang (diving), Khairul Anuar Mohamad (archery), Jironi Riduan (athletics) – and three female athletes – Christina Loh (swimming), Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (badminton) and Syakila Salni Jefry Krishnan (karate) – for consideration. — Bernama

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Favourable draw for Nicol in World Championship

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:23 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian squash queen and world number Datuk Nicol David received a favourable draw in the 29th CIMB Women's World Championship scheduled from March 15 to 23, at the Subterranean Penang International Conference and Exhibition Centre (SPICE) in Bayan Baru, Penang.

In yesterday's draw which was attended by Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) general manager, Christopher Brodie, the seven-time world champion will face unseeded player, Emma Beddoes of England in the opening round.

Nicol is expected to take on either joint 9/16 seed, Annie Au of Hong Kong or a qualifier if she goes through to the second round.

The 30-year Penangite won the world title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

World number six, Low Wee Wern is also expected to have an easy passage in the first round as she has been drawn against unseeded Australian, Donna Urquhart and expected to face Line Hansen of Denmark or a qualifier in the next round.

National amateur player, Vanessa Raj who gained entry through a wild-card ticket however, will have an uphill task after being drawn against world number two, Laura Massaro of England in the opening round.

The winner of the match will meet either joint 9/16 seed, Jenny Duncalf of England or a qualifier in the second round.

Vanessa Raj when met by reporters after the draw said, she does not want to think too much about her opponent but instead would try to give her best performance to increase her world ranking which is currently at 102nd position.

"My aim is to get exposure in the tournament and I don't want to think much about Laura because this is our first meeting. I hope to improve my world ranking through this tournament and boost my chances of playing in more high level tournaments," said the 18 year-old petite girl from the St George's Girls' School who had just completed her SPM examination.

The tournament is being held this year following the cancellation of the 2013 edition when both Hong Kong and Egypt had rejected the proposals to organised it. — Bernama

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Khan hits out at Mayweather after snub

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:23 AM PST

LAS VEGAS: Amir Khan unleashed a flurry of verbal jabs Tuesday at Floyd Mayweather after the unbeaten American passed him over for a lucrative May 3 bout and chose Argentina's Marcos Maidana.

Mayweather, 45-0 with 26 knockouts, said Monday – his 37th birthday – that he would defend his World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council light-middleweight crowns against Maidana, 35-3 with 31 knockouts, and not Khan.

The 27-year-old Englishman Khan – who defeated Maidana in 2010 – made his fury clear in a statement released by his promotions company and linked to a post on his Twitter feed, intimating that Mayweather was running scared.

"Despite having signed my part of the agreement to fight Floyd in early December, I've been preparing myself for some time that the match-up with him wasn't going to happen," Khan said. "Therefore this announcement (Monday) did not come as a surprise.

"I am, however, very disappointed with Floyd and his team for not providing any explanation as to why he delayed the announcement for so long and ultimately avoided the fight with me.

"Clarification, if he was not fighting me, would have allowed me to look over my options and pursue another path, rather than the ultimate delay to my career this has caused."

Khan, 28-3 with 19 knockouts, has not fought since last April 27 and skipped a planned December bout with US southpaw Devon Alexander for the International Boxing Federation title in anticipation of a big-money showdown with Mayweather.

Instead, it has been a major aggravation and the longest layoff of his career, as he attempts to get back on track after two devastating defeats against Lamont Peterson, in 2011, and then Danny Garcia the following year.

"It has been a very frustrating period as I had been due to fight in December," said Khan, who even won an online poll set up by "Money Mayweather" asking his fans to decide whether he should face the Englishman or Maidana.

"I was strongly advised to not take this fight (Alexander) as I would be facing Floyd this May — and therefore signed my side of the contract on this belief.

"Floyd was keen to engage with the fans and so decided to let them choose who he should fight in his next bout.

"I clearly won his official poll, by a significant margin, but for unknown reasons he decided to ignore the fans' vote and failed to keep his word, disappointing many fight fans who took the time to vote."

Khan said he was hoping to announce details about his next fight within 10 days.

"I've been training very hard since my last fight. I'm a fighter who wants to face the very best out there and have never ducked any opponent," he said.

"I'm focused and ready for my next outing." — AFP

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Oscar Pistorius: from Blade Runner to Blade Gunner

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:22 AM PST

CAPE TOWN: Oscar Pistorius: a champion athlete who beat the odds to inspire millions worldwide, or a disgraced hero with a penchant for guns, beautiful women and fast cars?

Both versions of South Africa's double amputee Olympian will be pored over from Monday when the 27-year-old goes on trial for murder after gunning down his girlfriend on Valentine's Day a year ago.

Before the shock shooting, Pistorius was one of the world's most admired sportsmen.

A formidable competitor known as the "fastest man on no legs", he was courted by luxury big brands and named to flattering lists such as the "Sexiest Man Alive."

But his "Blade Runner" epithet, earned by his trademark prosthetic legs that powered him to fame, swiftly became recast as the "Blade Gunner" after he shot dead Reeva Steenkamp.

Born in 1986 in Johannesburg with no fibula bones, Pistorius had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old.

But he played sports unhindered while growing up, switching to running after fracturing a knee playing rugby.

"It was never made an issue. My mother would say to my brother, 'you put on your shoes, and Oscar', you put on your legs, then meet me at the car'," Pistorius told The Independent in 2011.

Just eight months after taking to the track, he smashed the 200m world record at the Athens Paralympics 10 years ago.

Next up was the 2008 Beijing games where he took the 100m, 200m and 400m sprint titles and launched a battle to take part in the able-bodied athletics, overcoming arguments that his custom-built carbon-fibre running blades gave him an unfair advantage.

In 2011 he made history by becoming the first amputee to run at the World Championships, where he took silver with South Africa's 4x400m sprint team.

"You're not disabled by your disabilities but abled by your abilities," he told Athlete magazine in an interview that year.

In 2012 he again made history by becoming the first double-amputee to compete at both the Olympics and Paralympics.

But since shooting Steenkamp, in what he claims was a tragic accident, his sporting prowess has been overshadowed by questions about his behaviour.

In an angry outburst at the London Paralympics he hit out at the length of a fellow competitor's blades who pipped him to gold in the 100m — before apologising.

In 2009, he spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a party in a case that was recently settled out of court.

Two years later, he allegedly fired a gun through the sunroof of an ex-girlfriend's moving car. And weeks before he shot his lover, he reportedly discharged a gun by accident at a Johannesburg restaurant.

"Oscar is certainly not what people think he is," ex-lover and trial witness Samantha Taylor has said.

Pistorius has long been open about his love for guns. The sprinter slept with a pistol under his bed at his upmarket home in a high security Pretoria estate for fear of burglars.

Once held in Amsterdam after gunpowder residue was detected on his prosthetics, he also took a New York Times journalist interviewing him to a shooting range. The same writer described him driving at 250 kilometres an hour, double the speed limit, and referred to Pistorius as having "a fierce, even frenzied need to take on the world at maximum speed and with minimum caution".

His passion for motorbikes, adrenalin and speed is well documented. "He likes fast cars. He is just built for speed," his trainer Jannie Brooks told AFP.

Four years ago he crashed his boat in a river, breaking two ribs, an eye socket and his jaw. Empty alcohol bottles were found in the boat.

He also once owned two white tigers but sold them to a zoo in Canada when they became too big. A middle child whose parents divorced when he was six, he has a problematic relationship with his father, Henke, but is close to his siblings who have been at his side in court.

His mother died when he was 15 and the date of her death is tattooed on his arm.

Early court appearances have seen Pistorius a more humane figure, breaking down and sobbing as a man in mourning, with his career on hold and dumped by sponsors. — AFP

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United fail again, Dortmund rediscover top form

Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:21 AM PST

PARIS: Two former Champions League winners Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund who have both been having trouble in their domestic leagues suffered differing fortunes on Tuesday in their Champions League last 16 first leg ties.

United's woeful season, in manager David Moyes' maiden campaign, took another turn for the worse as they went down 2-0 to Greek champions Olympiakos in Piraeus and the measure of the task awaiting the English champions at Old Trafford in three weeks time is that only one team has come back from a two goal first leg deficit before in the Champions League knockout stages.

United's failure to score left English clubs goalless in this round, with both Arsenal and Manchester City failing to score last week although Chelsea can set that right against Galatasaray on Wednesday.

Dortmund – beaten finalists last season – have also struggled to impose themselves in their league, they trail Bayern Munich by 20 points, but they can probably look forward to the quarter-finals of this competition as they beat Zenit St Petersburg 4-2 in Russia.

Manchester United had been just one of three teams coming into the knockout stages not to have lost thus far in this season's competition but goals from veteran Alejandro Dominguez and a stunning curling effort by Costa Rican Joel Campbell – on loan from Arsenal – ended that record.

United can take heart that they have won 13 of their last 15 home games in the knockout stages of the competition although their last defeat was at this stage last year to Real Madrid.

United midfielder Michael Carrick – who was nutmegged by Campbell in the lead up to the second goal – said that while the performance hads not been a good one he felt they could turn it around at Old Trafford in three weeks time.

"We've lost a game. We came here hoping to win but we are not out of the tie," he said.

"It's not ideal. We had good possession in the first half without penetrating through their lines but at the same time they didn't cause us any problems.

"We didn't start the second half well and that put us on the back foot. We are not getting results and as players we have to take that on the chin.

"You're looking for me to blame someone but everyone at the club is judged by results."

Dortmund had Zenit on the back foot from the start of their game as the hosts looked like a side that hadn't played a competitive match since Dec 6.

First Marco Reus set up Henrikh Mkhitaryan and then he scored himself in the first five minutes.

Although Zenit restored a bit of pride in the second-half with two goals they were counter-balanced by Polish striker Robert Lewandowski scoring a brace to give the Russian side an almost impossible task in three weeks time. — AFP

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