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State weightlifters eye four gold for Sukma BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sports - New 2 Borneo

State weightlifters eye four gold for Sukma

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:44 PM PST

by Matthew Umpang, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 3, 2014, Monday

KUCHING: The state weightlifting team are targetting four gold medals for this year's Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Perlis.

According to state coach Edmund Yeo, the target is realistic judging by the state's performances at Sukma XV in Kuantan two years ago.

The state team won three gold, two silver and one bronze medals then.

"If we work hard and believe in ourselves, I think we can do it. I believe that we are capable," he said.

Yeo is currently preparing the team for at least one more exposure trip to Kangar.

"I have a few coming tournaments in mind. The team plans to travel to Miri early next month," he said.

The Miri meet, he said, is vital for the state team's preparation as the Sabah and Labuan state teams will participate in it as well.

Sarawak will send a team of five weightlifters – a mixture of experience and new faces – to this year's Sukma.

Female weightlifter Jelinie Empera who won two gold medals in Sukma 2012 will spearhead Sarawak's challenge in the weightlifting competition.

The state team aim to participate in eight of the 16 categories contested in Sukma 2014.

Last week, Assistant Minister of Sports Datuk Lee Kim Shin visited the state weightlifters at their training centre located at Jalan Wan Alwi, Tabuan Jaya.

He was accompanied by Ministry of Social Development principal assistant secretary (sports) Mering Wan.

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Limbang test for budding state archers

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:43 PM PST

KUCHING: State Sukma archery coach Abdul Razak Yaacob hopes to evaluate the progress made by budding state archers in Limbang later this month.

The occasion will be the inter-division meet organised by the Sarawak Schools Sports Council (MSSS) from Feb 18-22.

Almost all the young archers earmarked to represent the state in Sukma 2016 will compete in the tournament.

"As Sarawak will become Sukma host in 2016 we want to get these archers whom we hope to represent Sarawak by then ready from now on. I will be there (in Limbang) to monitor them," said Abdul Razak.

He revealed that 10 young archers have been selected to be groomed as state archers.

Most of them were picked during a selection held in Miri last December.

"We have seven of them from Kuching division, two from Bintulu division and one from Sarikei division. The youngest archer in this group is now about 15 years-old," he added.

Four of these archers selected under the 2016 project from Kuching are currently training with their Sukma-bound seniors as they prepare for the Limbang meet.

Wan Farah Aina, Emir Hidayat Soedirman, Ezmir Sadriq Suhardi and Frankie Then are training at the Sarawak Stadium car park under the tutelage of their seniors. They will also undergo a five-month training camp starting next month.

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Man United big guns misfire at Stoke

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:40 PM PST

LONDON: Manchester United's new-look line-up crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Stoke City on Saturday as they squandered another opportunity to make up ground on the Premier League's top four.

United fielded Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and record signing Juan Mata in their starting XI for the first time, but an eighth defeat of the campaign left the champions six points below the Champions League places.

On an afternoon of howling wind at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke took a 38th-minute lead when Charlie Adam's 35-yard free-kick took a huge deflection off Michael Carrick that wrong-footed goalkeeper David de Gea.

United had already lost Jonny Evans to injury by that point and they then saw Evans's centre-back partner Phil Jones stretchered off after an aerial collision with Jon Walters.

United equalised two minutes into the second half, Van Persie finishing adroitly from Mata's deft pass, only for Adam to restore Stoke's lead five minutes later with a glorious shot into the top-right corner.

The visitors piled on the pressure in stoppage time, but to no avail, with Tom Cleverley blazing a shot over the crossbar after Asmir Begovic had palmed a free-kick from Rooney onto the post.

"I don't know what we have to do to win," said United manager David Moyes, whose side remain in seventh place in the table.

"I thought we were extremely unlucky. We played well in difficult conditions, but we have lost to one wicked deflection and one worldy.  "But we should have been out of sight with the amount of opportunities we had today and we only have ourselves to blame."

It was Stoke's first win over United since December 1984 and left them in 11th place in the table.  "To a man, we were fantastic," said manager Mark Hughes, the former United striker.

"We got a little bit of luck with the first goal, which we have felt we haven't had in recent months, but throughout the game, every one of my players put heart and soul into what we were trying to do."

With top-four teams Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool not in action, Everton were the only side who fully capitalised on the opportunity to close on the Champions League positions.

Thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool in mid-week, Everton fell 1-0 down at home to Aston Villa when Leandro Bacuna finished off a slick counter-attack in the 34th minute.

However, Steven Naismith came off the bench to score a 74th-minute equaliser before Kevin Mirallas's sublime late free-kick secured a 2-1 win that left Roberto Martinez's side a point behind Liverpool in fifth place.

Tottenham Hotspur were unable to follow Everton's lead after being held to a 1-1 draw at Hull City that saw them slip to sixth.

Spurs, crushed 5-1 by City on Wednesday, had to settle for a point at the KC Stadium after Paulinho's smart 61st-minute finish cancelled out Shane Long's first Hull goal in the first half.

Sunderland leapt up the table to 14th place after prevailing 3-0 against derby rivals Newcastle United at St James' Park for the second season running.

Fabio Borini's penalty gave Sunderland the lead in the 19th minute and Adam Johnson tapped in his seventh goal in seven games four minutes later before Jack Colback sealed victory with a late strike.

West Ham United also recorded a potentially important victory, weathering the dismissal of striker Andy Carroll to overcome Swansea City 2-0 at Upton Park, although they remained in the bottom three. — AFP

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Silver Age begins as Stern’s Golden Era ends

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:39 PM PST

NEW YORK: After 30 years as commissioner of the NBA that saw the league become a global sports powerhouse, David Stern's reign ended not with a bang but with a tweet.

The league announced Saturday morning on its Twitter page that Adam Silver had officially replaced Stern as commissioner exactly 30 years to the day from when the 71-year-old son of a New York deli owner took the job.

"It's official: Adam silver succeeds David Stern as NBA commissioner" read the note with an attached photo of Stern shaking hands with Silver, the long-time assistant deputy commissioner who was holding a basketball with the view from the commissioner's office of New York in the background.

Among those who tweeted their congratulations to was former San Antonio Spurs star center David Robinson, who told Stern: "Thank you for all you've done for our league."

Twitter did not even exist when Stern took over an NBA whose games were often shown on tape delay, but navigating the league through technological evolutions was merely one of Stern's legacies.

A league where players made an average of  290,000 when Stern began as commissioner in 1984 now sees players making an average of  5.7 million.

Annual revenues are  5.5 billion compared to  165 million when he took charge. Average attendance is 17,269 compared to 10,620 in 1984.

And the number of international players has grown from only eight 30 years ago to a record 92 non-US players this season, a one-team record 10 on the Spurs.

"If you look at what the NBA has become, my greatest accomplishment was in hiring the now 1,200 people that used to be 24 that have taken this league where it is and under Adam's leadership are going to take it higher yet.

"This is an opportunity for Adam and my colleagues to step up one more time and I'm sure the NBA is going to be better for it and that makes me feel pretty good.

"I'm very happy with where we are. I'm stepping down at a time when I think the league is in really great shape."

Stern is expected to work with an India charity group to give more than 500,000 children in that nation a chance to play basketball.

"He's a man who is clearly ahead of his time," India-born Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive told USA Today of Stern. "What he has built in the NBA, it's truly a once-in-a-century platform. He has created what will be a golden era for the NBA."

Ranadive bought the Kings last year for a record price of 535 million. — AFP

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Aragones, architect of Spain’s golden era

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:37 PM PST

MADRID: One of the key figures in the creation of Spain's historic World Cup and double European Championship-winning team, Luis Aragones, died on Saturday at the age of 75.

Aragones was the Spain coach when La Seleccion ended a 44-year wait to win a major international tournament when they beat Germany to take the European Championship in 2008.

Despite a public clamour for him to stay on at the time, Aragones stood by his pre-tournament decision to step aside.

In his absence, Vicente del Bosque took over to lead the side to more glory at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 before defending their European title in Poland and Ukraine two years later.

"Without doubt, he led the way in this extremely succesful era," Del Bosque told the RFEF website.

"It is a sad day for our football. We have lost a key man in the history of modern sport."

Aragones is credited with implementing the tiki-taka playing style of the Spanish side that has become world renowned.

However, he also changed the mentality of a side that, while always talented, had been pegged as perennial underachievers.

After a disappointing exit to France in the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup was followed by a shock defeat to Northern Ireland at the beginning of qualifying for the 2008 Euros, Aragones took the brave decision to drop Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer Raul from the squad.

Released from under the shadow of a man who had been a national hero, Fernando Torres and David Villa led their country to glory in Austria and Switzerland as Villa finished as the competition's top scorer, while Torres netted the winner against Germany in the final.

However, his time in charge of the national team was also blighted by an accusation of using racist language to describe French striker Thierry Henry in an attempt to motivate Henry's then Arsenal teammate Jose Antonio Reyes.

Aragones protested his innocence, claiming his words had been misinterpreted, but he was fined 3,000 euros ( 4,100,  2,500) by the RFEF for the incident.

At club level he will be most fondly remembered as a legendary player and manager at Atletico Madrid.

He won three La Liga titles and two Spanish Cups during 10 years as a player with Los Colchoneros, making 370 appearances and scoring 172 goals.

Indeed, he scored the opening goal in the 1974 European Cup final against Bayern Munich, but after a late equaliser in extra time, the Germans went on to win a replay 4-0 two days later.

It was at Atletico where Aragones also began his managerial career the next season, and he led Atleti to one of the most famous wins in their history as they beat Argentine side Independiente to win the Intercontinental Cup after Bayern refused to take part in the competition.

Aragones also guided Atletico to one La Liga and three Copa del Rey titles during three spells as coach with the club in total.

The "wise man of Hortaleza" managed nine clubs in total, including a brief spell at Barcelona in the late 1980s.

His illustrious career was to end on an unfortunate note as he was sacked after just one season in charge of Fenerbahce in 2009.

However, his legacy remains intact in Spain as the man who took the first step on what has become a golden era of dominance.

As Iker Casillas, who Aragones made captain of the national team after the controversial dropping of Raul, said after his death: "His idea has, up to this day, brought us great results. We will always remember him." — AFP

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Japan advance to Davis Cup quarter-finals

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:36 PM PST

TOKYO: Japan advanced Sunday to the Davis Cup quarter-finals for the first time under the modern format, albeit in anti-climactic fashion after Canada's Frank Dancevic retired from his match with Kei Nishikori.

Canada's injury jinx continued when Dancevic, already given little hope of upsetting Nishikori on his home court, tore a stomach muscle after being blitzed 6-2 in the first set and surrendering his serve at the start of the second.

After a medical time-out, Dancevic trudged over to Nishikori's chair to shake hands.

The victor almost apologetically acknowledged Japan's historic world group first-round win by ruffling his hair in embarrassment and offering a half-hearted fist pump to the crowd of 8,000.

Go Soeda thrashed Peter Polansky 6-1, 6-4 in the dead final rubber to  complete a 4-1 rout over last year's semi-finalists.

Canada were missing world number 11 Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil through injury, dramatically altering the dynamic of the tie.

Nishikori exudes an air of invincibility on the Tokyo hard court where he captured the 2012 Japan Open title and clinically won all three of his matches.

"It's a bit hard being overjoyed to win like that but to make history is  unbelievable," Nishikori, the world number 18, told reporters.

"I always feel a little pressure to win both of my singles but to also help win the doubles makes it extra-special."

Nishikori stormed through the first set in 29 minutes, ripping carbon-copy backhand passes to break Dancevic in the third and fifth games before emphatically closing out the opening frame with an ace.

Minutes later it was all over.

"I pulled a stomach muscle on a serve," said a deflated Dancevic. "I had to be at 110 percent to have a chance against Kei. There was no way I could risk my career or take months off tour so I had to stop.

"The doubles yesterday made my body a little fragile and if it hadn't been  the Davis Cup I wouldn't have stepped on court today, but we didn't have  any options," added the 119th-ranked Dancevic. "We were down to our last legs."

Japan will host either holders the Czech Republic or the Netherlands at  the same venue in April, when they will make their first Davis Cup quarter-final appearance since the 16-nation world group format was established in 1981.

Nishikori, who pushed Rafael Nadal hard in a fourth-round loss at the  Australian Open, beat Polansky 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in Friday's opening singles  before partnering Yasutaka Uchiyama to a 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 doubles win over Dancevic and Daniel Nestor to give Japan a 2-1 lead.

Canada team captain Martin Laurendeau blamed defeat on bad luck, with talisman Raonic sidelined by an ankle injury and Pospisil's back trouble forcing him out also.

"You don't prepare for this kind of weekend," he said. "You know injuries will come but you can't control the timing."

"The players trained hard for a grand slam and the Davis Cup but some of their bodies fell apart during the same week (in Melbourne). You need depth and health, and a lot of elements have to come together."

Japan now hold a 6-0 record against Canada in Davis Cup competition, their previous win coming way back in 1938. — AFP

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