Monday, May 19, 2008

What an eventful week...

THE Malaysian football team winning against a side with pedigree, the badminton squad losing in the Thomas Cup semi-finals and the national hockey team ended their campaign in the Sultan Azlan Shah trophy as wooden spoonists.

Is there something amiss? Aha...B. Sathianathan's men performed quite creditably against Iraq in the ongoing Intercontinental Cup for the Under-23s. Safee Sali's scissors kick was hard to forget. Trouble is Iraq are represented by their Under-19 side.

What else can we say about the badminton team?

We lack depth, simple. As long as the pool of players is as the same as the number of passengers that can occupy my Iswara, we will keep on clinging on to the memories of the 1992 Cup-winning squad.

Speaking of which, we shall offer our prayers to former Sports Commissioner and BA of Malaysia president, Tan Sri Elyas Omar, who will be undergoing a bypass surgery at IJN on Tuesday.

The team of surgeons will be headed by Datuk Dr B. Venugopal, the same specialist who performed the bypass on two former athletes - Datuk Punch Gunalan (badminton) and Syed Ahmad Abu Bakar (football).

Dr Venugopal is the IJN Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon.

Punch's days as the de facto supremo of Badminton World Federation are gone. On Saturday, there was a vote of no confidence on the world body’s deputy president during a controversial Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Jakarta, which went on for eight-and-half hours.

The Mongolian (why Mongolia) Badminton Association had proposed the vote of no confidence and after a secret ballot, a total of 142 members voted for the resolution while 38 were against.

The Mongolian BA, when tabling the resolution, stated that the rationale behind the vote was due to the fact that Gunalan was “not at all interested in the welfare of the BWF but only interested in usurping the powers of the president ... that the deputy president has and is using the council to show his personal dislike of the president. And this was narrated in an e-mail to the members on the president’s character.”

We hope the surgery goes well for Tan Sri Elyas. We pray for his speedy recovery. All the stress of working under a minister like Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said must have taken its toll on Tan Sri's heart.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

balik balik, mesti bantai azalina hahahahahahahaah

Anonymous said...

Bro,
where have you been? lama tak update blog...pergi Jakarta ke?

Anonymous said...

The Malaysian Azlan Shah hockey team was a bunch of clowns...playing like a group of school kiddies...
The coach had defended the team saying the tournament was held too close with the Olympic qualifiers in Japan.
Coach..if u think ur players are tired then field a younger team...take Pakistan as the esample..no one is going to shot u..now see what u have done..

In the name to redeem the so call pride of Malaysian hockey you banked on tired legs which failed miserably...cannot even sprint popely in the second half of each match...
Ipoh people feel cheated over the performance of the team...Last year runner-up, this year at the bottom of the table...
OK boys...go back to ur respective clubs and play club hockey which i suppose is much more fun....
strong teams thrash the weaker ones with big margins...haha
P.S...I person whu i saw n believed played all out at every match was Malaysian goalkeeper..Kumar Subramaniam...
Not being buyers...but watch his game closely..his face expression after losing a match...his commitment...u will agree with me...

Anonymous said...

“I am not giving excuses but I think the tournament was held too close after the qualifiers (April 5-13). "The forwards created a lot of chances but were just unlucky (not) to score in the Sultan Azlan tournament.” - Malaysian coach Sarjit Singh told the Star.

If that is the case dear Sarjit, why did u shoot your mouth off and claim Malaysia will reach the final?
Do you really know what you are doing/saying? Now you blame the forwards for misfiring. As the Indian coach said in the article, Malaysia should have experimented with some juniors, at least if you did, you would have had a valid excuse.
Now, you just look dumb and ignorant.
It's a pity the main stream media have bought your crap. If it was footballers, the reporters would be baying for your blood.

Anonymous said...

Is this the boys who will play in the Asia Cup next month?
God help us. If sarjit is the coach, even God won't be able to help us.
Once again, with the exception of Ghaz Ramli, none of the other newspapers lambasted the coach.
They all just report what he says.
Good work Ghaz. Don't be bought by Sarjit

Anonymous said...

The Azlan Cup outing was piss poor for the Malaysian hockey team. Was it Sarjit's fault? Perhaps. This is still the same Sarjit that won Johor the Piala Razak and the same Sarjit that took them the final last year kan? Looking back, we had some big names as national hockey coaches.

The same with bolasepak, Claude Le Roy for one.

The same with badminton. Rexy Maniaki bukan calang-calang orang.

My point, its the damn players lah.We always have big names coaching our athletes. But I personally think 90% of the time these next generation of Malaysian sportsmen and sportswomen play with no heart and no brains.

In the Intercontinental Cup, the win against Iraq was a good one. But the game against Ireland? True we are out of their league but should players go to the field adopting that mindset already? And how much I enjoy that the Malaysian football team will always opt for long balls the moment they meet a team filled with players taller than ours. "Eh how ah? I know! Let's boot the ball over the top and try to outhead the 6'2" defender - after all my technical ability in trapping the ball is already 10/10". We keep doing this again and again.

In the Thomas Cup, Hafiz and Choon Han, no matter what people say, were just pathetic in the sense, they didn't put up a fight. Macam taknak main. Play with your hearts out at least. Play with passion, like your life depends on it. And use lah your brains. Let us see you trying your best. Tapi after match comments pun macam tak kisah je.

To me some athletes are not worthy enough to put on the national jerseys/shirts.

The frustrating thing is that Malaysian sports is not lacking in funds, or facilities. We give them training, send them overseas, etc. And heck, some of the athletes sure have the skills. Tapi hampeh jugak.

Its interesting to note what Gill Clark commented during the Semis against China - "at this level 90% is all mental. Because skill wise and physical wise there's not much difference".

Anonymous said...

haha...no one can buy Ghaz Ramli..pure sports journo in the reporting field...
the other papez reports stuffz that the people have oledi learnt from websites n seen with their own eyes...
cmoon guys give us some inside stuffz....it b fun to read then...
Learn the art from Ghaz Ramli...

Anonymous said...

Is it true that a journalist from NST also pitched for the PR/media job in the ICC football tournament? I heard this strong rumour that this guy did and then when he did not get it negative article came out in the paper about wrong timing and so on.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Arnaz M. Khairul said...

Nstman, if you leave such comments, then please identify the reporter in question.
Otherwise, you are making a general remark that affects all of us at the desk.

Anonymous said...

Well said Arnaz. Btw, are u the one nstman is referring to or is it the self proclaimed best reporter in the country ... even though I heard a five-year-old can write better sentences.