LIMBC 2012 - "The Great Wall of Langkawi"

Stage 2 of the LIMBC 2012 was nearly declared not rideable but in the end, the 5km stretch of steep terrain dubbed the Great Wall of Langkawi by the riders was conquered. Read here

Team Specialized's Lea Davison of United States, race leader of the women's open, acknowledging her victory with fans

Lea flanked by Norway's Elisabeth Sveum (left) and Janka Stevkova of Slovakia

The diligent media eager to get fresh quotes from Giger who retained his yellow jersey

Giger retains the yellow jersey



No monkeys, only leeches and a snake, says Lea



Highlights of the race, with interviews pre and post-race

LIMBC 2012 - Day 3 - Stage 1

Fresh from his victory in the World Cup test event in China, Fabian Giger stormed to Stage 1 win in the LIMBC 2012, giving him the right to take away the yellow jersey from Florian Vogel.. In the women's open, Lea Davison grabbed the pink jersey. Read http://www.mtbmalaysia.com/news-media/news-media/latest-news/new-leaders-stage-2-limbc-2012 and http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/langkawi-international-mtb-challenge-2012/day-2-round-island/results




Post-race interview



Post-race interview



Stage 1 highlights

Nathalie Schneitter, last year's women's elite category winner, took second place in Stage 1 after surviving the mud, puddles and leeches

Local rider Ahmad Fauzan Lutfi entertains questions from the media

Clean start

Muddy finish

And the winners pose with organiser Datuk Malik Mydin (extreme right) and Tradewinds Corporation Bhd group communications chief, Nor Razman Kassim

Platinum sponsors Yayasan Sime Darby gave away a total of 45 bikes to promote a culture of cycling among students from selected schools and also the Langkawi police for their patrolling unit. Seen here LIMBC honorary patron Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hands over a bike to Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Puad Zarkashi while LADA CEO Tan Sri Khalid Ramli and Kedah Chief of Police, Datuk Ahmad Ibrahim

LIMBC 2012 - Day 2 - Prologue

Following a jamboree that drew 800 over riders, the prologue was a much awaited affair.




Read the reports here








Catch the preview and highlights of the prologue.

Getting sued

What do you do when you get calls saying you will be sued? You press the panic button, of course!

I learnt a big lesson when I wrote a story on sex-for-hire for footballers posted on the FA of Malaysia website for the Malay Mail in 2000. Never mention names on stories that carry serious allegations of misdemeanor.

This story was carried by the Malay Mail in March 2000.

IT was perhaps inevitable. While the national soccer team are in shambles, FA of Malaysia (FAM) will now have to grapple with Internet surfers who have polluted their official website with offers for sex services.

Log on to www.fam.org.my and click the Guestbook icon for feedback from the fans.

Built to enable the fans to engage in intellectual discourse or exchanging views, two, however, have answered to the call of e-commerce by making the site as an avenue to advertise sex, aimed specifically at footballers.

One surfer who identified herself as #####  from Malacca, even went to the extent of implicating one former national striker, saying that he was her regular customer. Another who identified herself as  #### offered sex services, with her boyfriend as the contact person (e-mail address was furnished).

The two, apparently, submitted the so-called feedback on March 7 just before midnight.

I thought the story was sensational enough and warranted the Page 1. But it turned out the two girls really existed and they were victims of pranksters. The then Malay Mail editor (Datuk) Fauzi Omar called me to his office explaining the situation.

Since the story had gone through the normal screening process via the sports editor, the chief sub and the editor himself before seeing print, I was not liable for it. Our mistake was to publish the two names. Out of guilt, I tried to speak to the two girls personally to offer my sincere apologies. Subsequently the matter was settled out of court. But you can imagine the sleepless nights I had to go through for weeks and months.

Getting sued, receiving letters of demand and letters that are thinly-veiled threats have become an occupational hazard for a journalist. But I had always felt the sportswriting fraternity and those related to them have a greater degree of tolerance towards criticism, sporting enough to take everything by their stride and believe in freedom of expression. Sportswriters in general enjoy greater liberties to cross swords with the powers-that-be as long as there is no malicious intent.

In this respect, I offer my former Malay Mail colleague Haresh Deol my deepest sympathies.

Haresh is being sued by a lawyer representing the National Sports Council (NSC) for reproducing two articles that had already been published by two newspapers.

Ex Malay Mail chieftain Rocky has blogged about it here

Ex Malay Mail sports editor Tony Mariadass shares his thoughts here

And I feel disgusted that Government servants who are supposed to serve us, the rakyat, the fans, the NGOs, the industry, have the time to send letters of demand to journalists.

Since the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have issued a statement and clearly making a stand for the authorities not to harass sports journos, the Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) is expected to follow suit.

In the interim, I am also expecting the Sports Minister to advise his underlings!

Syabas Zulfahmi, Hafizh...jom Visit Spain

Syabas kita ucapkan kepada dua mat motor yang mengangkat nama negara di Litar Sepang minggu lalu. Birthday boy Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Moto 3) dan Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah (Moto 2) cipta nama memanaskan trek yang dibasahi hujan rahmat , bersaksikan 70,000 penonton sambil Sepang mengajak audiens dari semua ceruk dunia (kalau ikut statistik 300 juta setiap perlumbaan) untuk Visit Spain.

   

Time code 3:20 minit ke atas

Yang kiri dan kanan tu sekadar menumpang glamour yang tengah - Zulfahmi Khairuddin. Untunglah Akbar Sahari hos Kafe Sukan membuat pakej khas dari London bertajuk Deruman Zulfahmi tahun lalu. Surat pembaca dalam akhbar The Star http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/10/24/focus/12217041&sec=

Seminggu sebelum perlumbaan, Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah tampil dalam Kafe Sukan janji menyelitkan diri dalam kelompok 10 pelumba teratas dalam Moto 2. 

Tahniah kepada semua yang terbabit. Lepas ini jom kita pergi Sepanyol beramai-ramai...http://rizalhashim.blogspot.com/2012/04/2012-malaysian-motogp-visit-spain.html

LIMBC 2012 - Day 1

Covering Gianni Bugno and Andrea Tafi at the 1997 Le Tour de Langkawi for the Malay Mail was a memorable experience. I got to visit my cousin who was a chef at the Berjaya Resort in Langkawi, enjoying a meal on board C130 Hercules as the LTDL juggernaut crossed the South China Seas and putting on weight following a feeding frenzy as a member of the pampered Press.

But for sheer adrenaline-pumping action-cum-adventure around nature, mountain bike is THE sport. Unlike their more glamorous road cousins, MTBers have to negotiate courses where the terrain and surface are constantly changing from earth, grass, stones, tree roots to streams and rivers. Definitely not a sport for the faint-hearted.

The recently concluded Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge was a prescription for fun and adventure surrounded by nature. For the locals, there was the jamboree to look forward to.

As opposed to the jamboree being held on the last day in 2011, the fun ride or officially known as the LIMBC Tradewinds Jamboree 2012 was made the prelude to this year's race. Among the notable participants were actor Esma Danial and entertainer Ezlynn, known for her Hi Hi Bye Bye hit song. The main prize in the lucky draw that followed the race was a brand new Proton Persona 1.6.

The start at Lagenda Park

Tradewinds Corp Bhd, a platinum sponsor for LIMBC 2012

Ezlynn (second from right) an attraction at the start line. She intends to compete in the jamboree on an annual basis

Shapari Sulong from Kuala Ketil drives home the Proton Persona 1.6

Prizes were given away by LIMBC honorary patron, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, LADA chief executive Tan Sri Khalid Ramli and Tradewinds Corporation Berhad Group COO Arief Nasran Abdul Wahab and organiser Datuk Malik Mydin. Read here

Kelebihan buat Kelantan

Aku tidak akan menyaksikan final Era Piala Malaysia di Stadium Shah Alam, malam esok atas tuntutan tugas di Langkawi. Tapi tentu sekali aku akan berusaha menonton perhitungan itu menerusi kaca televisyen.

Sekalipun Utusan Malaysia kata ada masalah agihan tiket di Kota Bharu berasaskan laporan ini, Shah Alam akan dibanjiri warga Kelantan apalagi Ahad cuti umum di semua jajahan negeri tanah rendah sekebun bunga.

ATM memang dari awal dianggap pasukan yang terlalu kuat untuk bermain dalam Liga Perdana.

Nasib B. Sathianathan, atau nama sebenarnya Satiananthan Bhaskaran, nampaknya jauh lebih bersinar daripada pengalamannya selaku jurulatih kebangsaan. Gelaran Pestabola Merdeka 2007 digapainya yang mendorong Sultan Ahmad Shah melantik Sathia selaku jurulatih pasukan senior dalam bilik persalinan di   Stadium Shah Alam, tanggal 29 Ogos 2007. Namun skuad kendaliannya bungkam di luar Kuala Lumpur. Tewas pada pusingan pertama Piala AFF 2008 dan gagal ke pusingan kedua Sukan SEA di Korat pada 2007 menyebabkan Sathia dianggap gagal selaku jurulatih kebangsaan. Tidak hairanlah dia ditunjuk jalan keluar selepas menuturkan kata-kata "M-League is not football".

Membantu kesebelasan Bawah 23 negara pada malam gemilang Pestabola ketika itu Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Daudsu Jamaluddin dan Aidil Zafuan serta Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak. Mereka kembali menjejakkan kaki ke stadium yang sama dalam suasana yang cukup berbeza. Dalam skuad Piala AFF pula ada Hairuddin Omar dan S. Subramaniam, dua individu yang harus bersaing sengit malam esok.

Tentu kalian kenal baju hitam putih sebelah aku kan...Sathia menjadi penolong jurulatih yang setia buat Allan Harris..Sathialah yang menjadi jambatan di antara Allan dengan pemain dan tukang bikin laporan kerana Allan kurang pandai menyediakan laporan

Sathia menyenaraikan Marlon Alex James bekas bintang Kedah selaku hujung tombak, dibantu Hai-O manakala Bruno Martelotto, kunci kekuatan Selangor MPPJ yang menjulang Piala Malaysia pada 2003, menjana jentera tengah. Bayangkan ATM dianggotai beberapa pemain yang pernah menjulang piala kebanggaan negara.

ATM mara ke final pada 1966 ketika Piala HMS Malaya dipertandingkan buat kali terakhir. Jaringan penalti pada minit ke-55 oleh pemain pertahanan, Abdullah Nordin, membolehkan Selangor muncul juara buat kali ke-12 mengalahkan Tentera, 1-0 bersaksikan hanya 12,000 penonton di Stadium Merdeka. Antara yang tewas Nordin Jan dan Dali Omar dalam kesebelasan ATM.

Yang sentimental mahu ATM menang. Yang neutral macam aku tidak kisah siapa menang, asalkan permainan yang dipamerkan mesti bermutu tinggi sejajar dengan standard Piala Malaysia.

Sekalipun Mohammed Ghaddar dan Nor Farhan Muhammad digantung, Kelantan ada kepantasan, pengalaman dan kepakaran mencium peluang. Aku rasa Indra Putra Mahayuddin akan berfungsi sebagai penyerang di sisi Matyo.

Walaupun Sathia tahu luar dalam dan kelemahan kekuatan The Red Warriors setelah membawa pasukan itu menjulang piala pada 2010, sedikit kelebihan buat Kelantan...yang akan menjulang kejuaraan treble sesudah mendakap kejuaraan Liga Super dan menjulang Piala FA! Bojan Hodak yang dulu sekadar pengendali program realiti MyTeam barangkali ada rezeki menjadikan kejuaraan Piala Malaysia satu realiti.

Jangan lupa siaran langsung

Kalau nak tengok Ray era.fm jadi penjaga gol...hah, dipersilakan