FLOOR EATER

Olympics Aye, Thomas Cup, Bye-Bye

2012-01-31T18:13:00.000-08:00

A high powered High Performance Team (HPT) has been formed and by the looks of it, their three-men team is formed to only look out for the Olympics gold medal if today's report in the media is to be digested.

The HPT has in away, downgraded Thomas Cup targets to a secondary level and put Olympic glory at the pedestal. Ok, this is all fine but why waste time in the first place to interview and look for people when Datuk James Selvaraj alluded to his part time job in BAM as not having enough powers and recognition from BAM to make huge decisions which are impactful on the national governing body of badminton? This decision could have been made by the coaching committee earlier by checking with the coaches on the quality of players at their disposal.

Now you hire another two more people and by the looks of it, short-term glory (if we achieve Olympic gold) but then what happens to the second echelon of shuttlers? If it has been stated today that Thomas Cup takes a back seat, then maybe Hafiz Hashim shouldn't have been given a last-minute call-up even if he is better than most players after Lee Chong Wei but now is the time to groom and throw all the young players into the deep end so that we have a strong team for the next Thomas Cup.

Of course, people's lips will say why Zulfadli Zulkifli is not in to gain exposure when Victor Axelsen from Denmark whom he beat in the World Junior Final, has already made it to his senior squad. Putting Hafiz and everyone else in the second and third singles slot is not going to make a huge impact in the Thomas Cup as we slowly see how our badminton slowly head lower and lower intot he abyss.

Badminton is going the same way like women's squash, after Nicol David who is there? After Lee Chong Wei, who?

BAM should have saved everyone the torment and just kept Datuk James, no need to waste time and distract who else to join the HPT and kept on with training and coming up with achieveable objectives rather than flip flopping with major tournament shuttling by, in a jiffy.

Question is if we don't win gold, will the HPT be disbanded?

Tough one for Malaysia in Thomas Cup

2012-01-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

For the first time, Malaysia looks damn shaky in their Thomas Cup Preliminary Asian Zone qualifier (other teams are South Korea and Korea Republic) and if Lee Chong Wei can play all five ties, then I guess we look a very good bet to make the finals.

Whom to blame, I have no idea as Lee Chong Wei looks the only sure bet for a point while Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong's game have plummeted to depths unseen of...I mean remember Razif-Jalani Sidek and later Cheah Soon Kit-Soo Beng Kiang's game were not fantastic but they were steady pairs for points in team events.

That two fellas, hmmm, played so well initially under Rexy Mainaky's guidance but now, hancur! Ask for anything and BAM bends backwards and now, to repay their kindness and generosity by becoming an unsteady first pair.

One thing I am wondering why isn't World Junior Champion, Zulfadli Zulkifli in the team? So far, haven't seen any justification from BAM. When you compare our rather sub-standard second and third singles like Liew Darren and Arif Abdul Latif, the risk is the same - all can't be relied on for point. So, why don't just expose him, in fact he can be like a Theo Walcott for World Cup by just being in the team but not playing.

Why do I smell rivalry between BAM and KLRC? Is it cause it's either you are with us (BAM) or against us policy? Then problematic next time when there is no healthy rivalry if you do better than BAM and they will freeze your participation if your players do better than BAM? Emm... i hope its not like that next time

AFTER CHONG WEI, WHERE IS MALAYSIAN BADMINTON HEADING?

2011-11-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

It has been a damn long time since I ignored my blog since work is taking up too much of my life.

Anyway, want to talk about badminton, our national team, and if you look at the SEA Games squad, the sad truth is no one is good enough to hold a candle to Lee Chong Wei's reign. I seriously don't know what is going to happen to newly crowned World Junior champion Zulfadli Zulkifli since he is KLRC-bred and those BAM fellas, I hope won't get jealous and say cause you are not in the national set-up, bugger off and train on your own.

Since Zulfadli is a champion, its time BAM discard this attitude of 'if you are with us, we are with you and if you are not with us, then go f... off' cause he is after all a Malaysia and he needs all the help he can get.

You look at out singles players and it looks damn sad. No one after Chong Wei are capable of challenging for honours - Liew Darren, my friend Arif Latif seems to have reached a plateau and the team of coaches has to drastically do some amendments and possibly, an overhaul.

Koo Kien Kiet and Tan Boon Heong, I guess Rexy Mainaky must be laughing since he is possibly having the last laugh after they changed coaches. Why they wanted a change is their choice but results have become worse for them and while they thought they were the man at one time, they forgot, everyone have caught up or overtaken them. It doesn't help we no capable second pair or even second singles like back in the days we had Rashid Sidek and Foo Kok Keong and Razif-Jalani Sidek and Cheah Soon Kit and Soo Beng Kiang.

Oh well, in a way lucky we have KLRC in the mix as BAM now has someone to look over their shoulder

Where Do We Go From Here, Malaysia?

2011-01-04T22:29:00.000-08:00

The euphoria and the excitement of the national football team's success at the recent AFF Cup continues unabated. Accolades and bouquets seems to be never ending from fans, media and glory hunters...yes, glory hunters.

Let me admit it, I never was a fan of the national team because of the sub-par performance they always dish out when it matters most. Of course, credit must be always given when it's due and to this, I would like to wish syabas and great perfomance guys (meaning the coaching staff and the players, of course!)

However, is this bunch of glory hunters that sickens my gut and body. Suddenly, you see the local media, other desk sections (the sports desk guys has been through thick and thin with the national team, so they are excluded from this) running stories of the national team. I mean, where were all of you when the chips were down? Many of them were the first to condemn when the team was not doing well but here they are suddenly national team cheerleaders and the number 1 fan.

Of course it is obvious everyone wants to be close to a winner but it just shows how fickle we Malaysians are. When there is a success, everybody wants their photo taken and also be associated. When there is failure, no one wants to own up. Hence when the national team returned from Jakarta, they were many hanger-ons who wanted to be near them, my humble advice to the team's management is to tell them to stay away. Remember, if you fail the next three tournaments at least, people would again condemn you and will stay away from you like a plague.

After the win,what now? It's high time for the players to leave their comfort zone and ply their trade overseas. Despite what Tengku Mahkota of Pahang, our FAM Vice President said recently on our players to only move to leagues such as Korea and Japan, I feel moving to even Indonesia will change their outlook and make them more mature in their game. Even Indonesian teams play in the AFC Champions League while our local team are still playing in the lower ranked AFC Cup and are struggling against teams from the like of Maldives.

We can forget about Korea and Japan as food, language and culture shock would be too much for our players. Maybe they should be looking at Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as possible transfer destinations as the food and religion are similar to here, only they need to learn the Arabic language.

Glory, glory Man United!!!

2010-04-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

(Photo courtesy of Soccernet website)

Excellent, superb, magnificient!

Words cannot describe seeing the Red Devils getting kicked out of the Champions League. What an excellent performance by Arjen Robben and co in showing Alex Ferguson the middle finger. At least, they have avenged their final loss to United aeons ago and now, the Red Devils (I just maintain it as that, as really, they are bloody devils, satan's spawn) know how it feels to be banged when they thought they were home free.

I just hope United's campaign will go in tatters following this defeat and they will finish second, at least, even though I hope Arsenal will overtake them...

Click here to see Robben's wonder goal.

Oh, and also hope Wayne Rooney's season is gone forever and his World Cup will be spent on a vacation in Bahamas rather in South Africa.

Who Is Going To Pay For Their Folly?

2010-04-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

(Photo courtesy of The Malay Mail)

I read the report by Haresh and after reading, I wonder whose fault is it?

Why is the Minister dragging his feet to take action and in the end, will semuanya be ok?

With the deadline to pay tax coming soon, again I wonder, why we, the innocent tax payers' money are always used, wasted on things that were not supposed to be spent on?

I think it's good Malay Mail highlighted it and now, let's see what happens. Judging by past results, I would bet my last Ringgit that the big wigs will go off scot free and somebody lower rank charged or even better, no one is charged.

In the end why is NSC buying property and for whom? For officials to 'lepak' in their free time?

Read the full story below.

NSC chalet purchase: Buyers let of the hook
Sports Ministry says they were just following orders
Haresh Deol [1]

KUALA LUMPUR: National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong and NSC management division director Abdul Rashid Yaakub have been let off the hook after the Sports Ministry decided that the acquisition of two premier chalets by the council in 2004 was not their fault.

The two units of Legend Water Chalets in Port Dickson, which cost RM850,000, were purchased during Datuk Wira Mazlan Ahmad’s tenure as NSC director-general.

Apparently, Mazlan had "verbally" instructed Rashid and Zolkples to buy the units after responding to an advertisement in a newspaper.

Both Zolkples and Rashid were issued warning letters in which they were to appeal within 14 days. Rashid responded earlier while the ministry received Zolkples’s letter days later.

After scrutinising their appeals and discussing the matter with the appeals committee, Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek decided not to take any action against the duo.

This was revealed during a separate meeting after the NSC management board met at Casa 1 in Bukit Jalil last week.

"A decision was made to issue a warning to both Zolkples and Rashid but after gathering the facts, we decided not to pursue the matter," said Shabery.

"The only issue here is the method it was purchased. Both Zolkples and Rashid were merely following orders and there was no loss of money. There were no irregularities in the transaction. They will be handed a caution letter (surat ingatan secara pentadbiran) instead."

The Paper That Cares, in its report headlined "NSC in the soup — again!" on Feb 4, revealed that the council earned a ticking-off from the Auditor-General for the purchase of the chalets — resembling more of a honeymoon suite — which contradicted the Government Contracts Act 1949 (revised 1979) and NSC Act 1971.

It is learnt that the maintenance for the chalets is about RM5,000 a year. Both chalets have not been used since their completion in 2006.

When asked if action would be taken against Mazlan, Shabery added: "We haven’t come to that stage yet." It is believed that action, if any, against Mazlan could be discussed in the next board meeting, the date for which has not been fixed.

Shabery admitted that the ministry may approve the purchase as the value of the property had increased.

"You can give me a bungalow in Pulau Tioman for RM2 and I might not even want it as we have to look at the maintenance costs and other factors involved," he said.

"We will take all factors into consideration (in approving the purchases) but I’ve said this before, buying properties is not the core business of NSC."

Best Male Olympian 2009 Award Should Have Gone to the Football Team

2010-01-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

(Photo courtesy of OCM's official website)

Daniel Bego’s win as the Best Male Olympian 2009 is questionable. No fault of his but how did the Awards Committee of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) arrive at this?

Looking at the possible athletes who may have been a better selection, the U-23 national football team would have made a better winner and story. Why?

Looking at Daniel’s case, winning five gold medals at SEA Games level and breaking four records in the process is nothing to shout about. I mean, we had better swimmers in the past like Nurul Huda, Jeffry Ong and Lim Keng Liat. This is only the SEA Games, not Asian Games where the likes of China, Japan and South Korea are around. Swimming is also not in the doldrums unlike football. We have been producing good swimmers, year in, year out – only at SEA Games level.

On the football team’s gold, yes, nothing to shout about. But then, we have really gone down to the abyss of football, even at the SEA Games level. Winning the SEA Games medal after 20 years is a good start, and probably, a little glimmer of hope for the future. In case you never noticed, many team’s have made inroads at even the SEA Games level like Singapore and Vietnam while we slowly slipped down the pecking order.

Are We Sending Any Aid to Haiti or ...

2010-01-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

(Photo courtesy of AFP)

The speed of aid rushing to Haiti in the wake of the 7.0-magnitude quake is shocking when refer to my beloved country.

Why? Until today, i have not seen any form of aid coming from us to Haiti. I find rather strange when other countries (no need to mention, as everyone knows what countries are they) get immediate attention, corporates running off to have their cheque presentations and some media companies even start sending their staff to cover the catastrophe with human interest stories the main news fodder.

I just wonder when the ball will start rolling for donations to the victims. I always thought we Malaysians are a caring lot but I noticed it only happens to selected countries and people.
In that tiny little corner of my mind, I think I have the answer but I don’t want to share it for fear of offending anybody out there. I think people out there can form their opinions in why Malaysia sends aid (money, NGOs specialising in disaster relief) to certain countries super-fast but Haiti, habuk pun tak da!

Interview with Lim Teong Kim

2010-01-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

(Thomas Muller, one of players in the senior team whom Lim Teong Kim worked with previously - Photo courtesy of www.cdn.bundesligatalk.com)

This a well written interview by Ajitpal Singh of New Straits Times with our former star, Lim Teong Kim who is now the Assistant Coach for the Bayern Munich U-19 squad.

His views are honest and straight to the point and coming from a club with Bayern Munich's stature, it is best we pay heed to his views. I am not going to say anymore but re-produce the interview courtesy of New Straits Times Sports Desk. Of course, let us hope that the "powers-that-be" read, understand and take the proper action rather than follow the 'consultants' advice which hovers around them - always claiming to have the best solutions for what ills Malaysian sports when until today, we are still in the backwaters of international sport save for badminton, squash and bowling.

Here is the interview:

Lim Teong Kim was the first Malaysian footballer to play in Europe when he turned out for German club Hertha Berlin in 1987. A member of the national team that won the 1989 Sea Games gold medal, the Germany-based Teong Kim is on holiday in Malaysia. The 47-year-old shares his thoughts about Malaysian football with Timesports’ AJITPAL SINGH.

Q: What is your opinion on Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek's move on forming a full-time national team?
A: It is not practical if you talk about the technicality of the game. It is pointless to spread the players out to different clubs in Europe as their playing styles will differ when they play as a unit. It will be a huge barrier for the coach and players. Each European country have their own brand of football. The government should not spend millions on this. It is a waste of taxpayers' money. There are other means to develop local football but not like this.

Q: What do you recommend?
A: The national team players should remain in the Malaysian League. I suggest they go on playing tours in Europe three or four times a year. However, they must play with top teams and clubs to learn. Never mind if the team lose 5-0 or 10-0. They should not lose hope if they lose big at the start.
Teong Kim will consider a job here when there are proper facilities. It is a long-term process but it will definitely help in the progress of the team. However, European teams may not be able to accommodate the national team due to their busy international and club-level schedules.

Q: Your opinion on the National Under-23 team's gold medal success in the recent Laos Sea Games?
A: I am not surprised with their achievement as there are often surprises in football. I must congratulate the players and coach K. Rajagobal for their effort. But how do they take their football from here? Proper planning must be made to ensure the team make progress.

Q: Do any of the local players have the ability to make it in Europe?
A: I am not sure of the present team's ability. But the FA of Malaysia (FAM), instead of making big plans, should ask the players whether they want to ply their trade in Europe.The national body and those concerned should not make the decision for the players.In the past, Akmal Rizal and Rudie Ramli had short stints with Bayern Munich at different periods. They stayed and slept in my house in Munich but I noticed that they were getting bored after just three weeks. The duo wanted to go home. A player must have the heart for it or they will fail. However, if a player has the ability, then he should try his luck in Europe.

Q: Is it easy for a footballer to be successful in Europe?
A: It is not easy. When I went there in the late-1980s, I faced many challenges including the language barrier, weather, food, and competition from 'your future' teammates. These factors may affect the player mentally and his confidence level will suffer. The European leagues are very challenging and a person on trial with a club normally gets the cold shoulder from other players. You have no friends in the club as your teammates are thinking about their own importance in the team. They feel you are a threat to them. It was like that when I attended trials with Hertha Berlin, a Division Three Bundesliga team then, in 1987.

Q: Your overall assessment of the infrastructure in Malaysia?
A: How can people talk about football, where there is no proper infrastructure. The current infrastructure is 30 years behind time. Malaysian football will not develop unless the infrastructure here improves. What we have and what I have seen here is not good enough. Maybe it was good enough 20 or 30 years ago but not at the present time.In Bayern Munich, for example, there are seven fields and other facilities are also top class. We have 11 youth teams in age-groups between eight and 23, with more than 100 players. The club allocates E2 million (RM9.7 million) annually for its youths teams. The system is almost the same with other clubs in Europe.We don't have that in Malaysia. Instead, the government and local councils are taking away football fields. I used to play football in my youth days in Bandar Hilir, Malacca. It had three fields but now malls have been built on them. What do we get by building malls? Does it help in the development of a sports culture in Malaysia? We need proper infrastructure in Malaysia. Taxpayers' money, which the government wants to use to send the national team to Europe, should be allocated to building facilities for football. If you want kids to play football then you have to invest in it.

Q: Who should be responsible for developing youth football in Malaysia?
A: The states should play a bigger role in developing youth football. They should do the work and run the programmes but infrastructure must be there first. Sports schools like Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar should be supplementary ingredients in this case.

Q: What do you think of the Malaysian League?
A: It is ridiculous not to have foreign players in the league. It does not help in the development of local players. How are Malaysian teams going to compete against bigger Asian clubs in the Champions League and AFC Cup? A Malaysian team cannot rely on local players against clubs with foreign players. It is a huge loss in revenue as they are not good enough to compete against the best in Asian.Why did FAM decide on barring imports from the league? Is it because some teams could not afford foreign players? The association should allow those who can afford to hire them. One cannot look at all teams in the league as equal. Teams, who do not have money for development and foreign players, should be left out. It should be left to the respective clubs on whether to hire foreign players. This is professional football. You cannot tell Bayern Munich not to have foreign players as they need their services in the domestic league and Champions Leagues. The revenue of the club depends on Bayern's first team's performance in the Bundesliga and Champions League and if they don't do well, the club cannot generate income.

Q: Several club-based teams withdrew from the Malaysian League in the past few years. What are your comments?
A: I believe they were there for personal gains. Teams, owned by private and government entities, just wanted to promote and sell their products. It was more of a publicity venture. In the end, who gains? Not Malaysian football, but the ones who sponsored these teams.

Q: Should local football rely on foreign coaches?
A: Yes, because foreign coaches have comprehensive knowledge about the game. I am not saying that local coaches are no good but we need foreign help to take our football to another level. If our ambition is to develop good players, then we have to hire good coaches. For instance, Japan are now Asian giants because they hired top-notched foreign coaches to develop their game at the start.

Q: Will you consider a coaching job in Malaysia?
A: I have been linked before with FAM and state teams but it was only speculation. I will consider working in Malaysia but first several conditions of mine must be accepted. What I want is infrastructure. I will consider a job here when there are proper facilities. The government should start by developing proper infrastructure for a few state teams before developing the rest. It is a slow process but the nation will gain in the long term.

Q: Are you still with the Bayern Munich youth team?
A: Yes I am. I am attached to the Under-19 team as assistant coach. It is my third season now. I have been with the club since 2000 and then I was the coach of the Under-12 team before moving up the ranks. I have worked with two players, when I was coaching the Under-13 and Under-14 teams before, who are now in the Bayern Munich senior side. They are striker Thomas Muller and centreback Bad Badstuber. The duo were not as gifted as some of their teammates in the youth teams but they made it big because of their dedication to training and matches. Muller could be representing Germany in the World Cup.

Q: Coaching a Bundesliga team is a dream for many people. Do you think you can do it?
A: Why not? It is my ambition to coach a team in Germany. I will definitely take up the challenge if given the opportunity.

Q: Are your children following in your footsteps as a footballer?
A: My son, who is now 16, was in the Under-12 Bayern Munich team but he now represents his school. As for my two daughters, the older one is into rock climbing while the other is involved in athletics.

Can't We Look at Middle East For A Change?

2010-01-11T01:01:00.000-08:00

(Photo courtesy of The Malaysian Insider website)

Everybody has been talking about a full time national team after the SEA Games success. Now, I think i'll give my two cents worth of opinion.

Let's be frank, to send Malaysia players on overseas attachment is not a good idea - just look at past players who went and came back from Europe, Akmal Rizal, Juzaili Sameon and Rudie Ramli to name a few. No matter how much we tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible, look at them now, back at where they started, M-League.

Former AFC supremo, Dato' Peter Velappan, my former Boss, said it right when he reiterated this phrase that has seem to have stuck in my head during my media officer days, "clubs are the nucleus for football development".

Without club football, how can players improve match fitness, tactical awareness and team cohesion. How many competitive matches can a full time national team offer compared to a club? Friendly matches and club matches fighting for a trophy are two different situations. Also, clubs (not Malaysian ones though) put more pressure on a player to perform rather than national teams, who have longer period to axe players if they under perform. Of course, this creates stress for a player but this is the only way to move forward, akin to setting KPI in a corporate setting.

Going back to clubs, sending our players to Europe is another accident waiting to happen. As usual, same reason like food, weather, language. You can't blame them as most of our good players come from kampungs not from Bangsar, TTDI or Bukit Damansara.

For a change, why can't we consider clubs from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait? They are Muslims countries, weather may be hotter, and they speak Arabic. But, we all don't live in a perfect world eh? However, it would suit our players seeing the majority are Muslims, hence the cultural adjustment are not too huge. So, no complaints of food, weather or language either.

If they can make it there, at least, they have a chance to go to Europe in future as a player, not to just warm the bench there due to some higher connection between governments or FAs.

Laos Finishes Ahead of Malaysia - Shameful...

2009-10-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

Laos won the pre-SEA Games football tournament and yes, they used their U-23 squad while Malaysia who used their U-19, finished second behind them but for all intents and purpose, can we measure our national squad's performance with Laos?

I say yes because Laos is an amatuer nation in football and impoverished, economically compared to us. Apparently, Laos has been using Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Vietnam's V-League club as their base. Two points to note on this club, one, their name appears on the A-Boards during EPL matches and number two, Kiatisak Senamuang used to play there - I think he is at Chonburi club now.

Malaysia was quite awful judging by their inability to take on the Laotian in defence. Watching the match, the Laotian strikeforce just forced their way through and surprise, surprise, they looked more skillful than us - who have a professional league!

If this is our future team, then I guess we will continue to rot in the abyss of football dump. You always hear those PR Mat Salleh football experts from overseas, who when visiting here will say Malaysian footballers are skillful - well its a load of crap. Yesterday night's match just confirmed it.

Even though we sent an U-19 team, finishing behind Laos is not an excuse. Of course when they come back, words like "good exposure", "experience", "players showed good commitment but did not play to instructions", " good future ahead" will be spouted out from various FAM officials. You have been warned! :)

Teachers, Please Help SPI To Become A Sports Icon Again

2009-10-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today's Star Metro carried a story titled "Bringing back glory to SPI"

Read the story by copying the link at

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/10/7/central/4824202&sec=central

Being an Old Paulian myself, of course I would read this story first because when you go to a school like St Paul's Instituition (SPI), the spirit remains with you forever, even way after you leave school.

Coming back to this story, the days when SPI was famous for hockey has long gone - now it's school in Tampin and Gemencheh that hogs the limelight in Negeri Sembilan (NS). Why and whatever happened?

I think at the end of the day, its down to dedicated teachers. Yes, the late Ashvin Patel (remembered he taught me Sejarah back in the days) was the inspiration behind the glory hockey days in SPI. Well, for the life of me, I am no hockey player and I hated hockey but when I went to The Sun in the sports desk, Menon, my then Boss and Sports Editor, made hockey as one of my beat when he heard I hated hockey in my interview.

I think I started liking hockey after that - a) because easy to get stories from that beat b) easy to cover the matches even though the national junior league and even the senior league matches was a big yawn, because all the sports writers covering the match will share information on how the goal was scored even though most of us will be chit chatting about matters not related to hockey!

Ok, enough of digressing. To put the short and the long together, teachers play an important role in nurturing our future stars. Today, I think there is not enough of them out there. I don't hear SPI's name anymore excelling in sports. Is it because teachers are more interested to conduct tuition after school? Or pupils are not interested in sports?

It is like the chicken and egg conundrum - blame the teacher or the student?

I think its more the teachers than the students as they are 'supposed' to nurture and impress good values onto the students be it in studies or sports.

So teachers, you better get ya butts moving and put SPI back at where it belongs - the peak of sporting excellence. No excuses, because it is not to say that SPI is producing straight As students who appears on the front pages of the local media come announcement of exam results time!

Help Not One, Help All

2009-10-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature is on a rampage now - well it is to be accepted since we are nicely raping our Earth from its resources.

Well, certain people will benefit from this raping (we know who you are) but then, let us spare a thought for those less fortunate, those who are and will not make money from exploiting the Earth. The poor souls in Indonesia, Phillipines and Samoa.

What irritates me is the the way we Malaysians help people - always double standards. Why are we going all out to help the Indons but we turn a blind eye towards the poor Phillipinos and Samoa? Is it because they are far away and they don't worship a common God?

When helping, we should look at everyone as God's creation, not just because we are of the same religion. This one-sided attitude is a human weakness, not the religion. I am sure all religions' preach Godliness, goodness and kindness to fellow humans. The only sad thing is, nobody wants to do it!

Dr Alban Can’t Cut It Anymore, A Has Been?

2009-09-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Dr Alban used to be a star, well that's what I thought in my schooling days. I mean who could ever forget "It's My Life" booming through the radio in shopping complexs (back in the days in Seremban - where got malls, but complexes...), in school during Teacher’s Day and car stereos, especially those ‘feng-tao’ fellas in their modified cars.

But now, I hear that Dr Alban singing on Hitz.FM with Sasi The Don? What? Yea, you got that right,B! I mean Dr Alban’s star quality has gone down so much that his he has to team-up with our local guy who of course is the reggae man, but from somewhere in Klang or Kajang?

This is like a demotion of Dr Alban, I guess he can’t cut it anymore that he needs to come down to a small country (music-industry wise) like Malaysia to con innocent Asians like us into listening his new track?

Anyway nothing great on the song, just chorus of some local Malaysian girls singing, with reggae rap in between both Dr Alban and Sasi. I don’t know why Hitz.FM is playing it up so much like as if it’s the next big hit in the world!

Of course, our singers tak sedar diri lar, one thinks he is from Jamaica while local rapper Kraft (sounds cheesy if you get what I mean, and also catchy Kraft cheese wrapper?) thinks he is from somewhere in South Central, LA.

1Malaysia F1 Team Going to be A Good1?

2009-09-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today, I don’t know whether to feel happy or sceptical of our new F1 team called 1Malaysia F1 team.

While the funding seems to be coming from both government and private sector, as a tax payer, it would be good to know how much of our (read you and me ) money is going to be contributed towards this venture which our PM says is not merely a sporting activity but an element of marketing for Proton, Malaysia and also, Air Asia and Naza brand names to be popularised.

To me, why do we need an F1 team and also one that has the 1Malaysia to it? To me, the recent things which happened (shall not say it as everyone knows what happened recently) is not 1Malaysia as our PM envisioned. I think, 1Malaysia needs to start working on this at home first and must be successful, before shouting it loud to the whole world.

Ok, back to sports, now, reading today’s reports – looking for a suitable Malaysian driver. Hmm, we all know what happened to Alex Yoong at Minardi, slowest driver and what an embarrassment to us. Remember all the hype of him joining the team and how Mark Webber was treated like the so-called 2nd driver in the team but now, look at where Mark Webber is!

Another name is Fairuz Fauzy but can any our Malaysian drivers hack it? Every time we read in the media, same story, “our drivers has the potential to make it, a star in the making and etc”.

Even Japan for all their technology and history in F1 is struggling to get a world-class driver to regularly win points. Let’s not talk about regular podium finishes. Can we do it?

We have always been know as world-class organisers but having this F1 team made me think what tangible benefits can we gain from it other than being a supporter of F1 sports, marketing Malaysia to the masses and a feel good factor of having an F1 team based away from Europe?

Another interesting point is that our technical and pit crew of 200 will all be Malaysian… can this be done? Also getting UTM and U of Petronas involved to participate – the sceptic in me is questioning getting this local cast involved in this project in a short juncture. I mean, our universities are not really rated highly overseas judging by our rankings which we are even behind Singapore’s NUS.

Can’t we maybe get our people to ‘belajar’ from the Mat Salleh experts first before we go ahead on with a somewhat 100% local flavour?

Well, let us just watch on how our new F1 Lotus team shapes up and I for one would be interested to see, number 1, who is the local driver and number 2, can we perform and not just make up the numbers.

Elia, Oranje's Latest Star

2009-09-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

Elia in full flight

Eljero Elia is a name many football fans do not know but after scoring his first goal for Holland in their 1-0 win over Scotland last week, my guess is, he will be a name teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United will come a calling by next season.

A winner of the Johan Cruyff award which is awarded for the best young player in Holland, Elia is now starring for the Dutch-flavoured Hamburg in the Bundesliga.

Before heading to Hamburg, Elia was with Steve McClaren’s FC Twente before making the move in July which somehow helped him in a way, get a call up for Bert van Marwijk’s national side.

Making his debut against Japan on Sept 5, Elia proved to be an excellent wide player, coming on for Bayern Munchen star Arjen Robben at half time and producing two superb assists to help the Dutch clinch a 3-0 win over the former Asian champions.

His second match though opened many football pundits and fans’ eyes with the only goal in their win against Scotland in a meaningless World Cup qualifier as the Dutch have already qualified for the World Cup.

His Oranje career started with the U-19s in 2005 and with rapid progression, made his U-21 debut in the beginning of 2006. On the club scene, he excelled at ADO Den Haag’s youth team and made his professional debut when he was just 17-years old. Problems in ADO Den Haag’s team saw FC Twente take advantage by signing him and the rest as they say, is history.

Celtic's Asian Stars

2009-09-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

Clockwise : Koki Mizuno, Ki Sung-yong and Zheng Zhi

Shunsuke Nakamura probably paved the way for Asians to make its presence felt in the Scottish Premier League (SPL) and thanks to him, we have Zheng Zhi and Korean starlet Ki Sung-yong making their way to Glasgow Celtics, on top of Japan's Koki Mizuno who has been there since last year.

It also makes interesting reading that as usual, the East Asian are showing the way forward. We wonder when the West Asian players who have the talent and physical attributes, will make a smiliar journey to Europe? Back to home, for all the talk that we performed superbly in that dubious friendly (note friendly) against Man Utd, when are our players going to make moves such as this?

We are not asking them to go to that level, even if they can play in UAE, Saudi, Japan or Korea, it would be great. Ok enough of digressing about our football team, which I am doing out of frustration!

Let's start about Zheng Zhi - China's national team skipper and natural all rounder! The twice China's Player of the Year has a chance to resurrect his career at least in the SPL after Charlton were demoted and he would only be the second player from China to feature in the SPL after Du Wei, who sadly, never found his footing there.

Mizuno on the other hand came in last year from JEF United and is quite comfortable on both sides of the flank and has a few caps on the Japanese national team. However, he hasn't really set Celtic on fire like his compatriot, Nakamura, who happens to be yours truly's favourite Asian player.

Ki is only 20 but I think a move to Celtic now is better to cut his teeth before looking at the more challenging EPL few years down the road. His worth is so great that his ex-club, FC Seoul is reluctant to transfer him now but would only send him in January as his team sits on top of the K-League. This is FC Seoul's second transfer after selling another star Lee Chung-yong to Bolton.

With Celtic out of the Champions League, these Asian players would at least need to ensure the SPL title does head to Rangers since Scotland has only two teams... right!

Time To Get The Bigger Boys

2009-09-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

The National Banks Sports Council (NBSC) had its bienal AGM yesterday as true to some whispers in the background the same team (2007-2009) was retained after yesterday's AGM which looked more like a "Saya Setuju" meeting where every motion was passed without questions.

I may be wrong as the papers for the AGM was done perfect or just the attendees was not too bothered to ask or probe any questions on it. But never mind on that, it's done and dusted.

Looking at the team for the term 2009-2011, the President comes from Exim Bank while the Deputy President comes from Bank Rakyat. The questions that boggles my mind is the pedigree of the financial instituition's sporting background, not the individual.

We all know how rich Maybank's sporting history is while CIMB are hiring people to narrow the gap in inter-bank sports.

Why sports people from Maybank, CIMB or even RHB are not in that high level appointment (meaning the president and deputy president positions) beats the hell out of me. In this era of cost cutting, getting the right people from those financial instituitions can assist NBSC to cut cost, especially hiring venues for the their sports organisation.

In fact, they can probably get those venues for free, and in turn, they can lower the entrance fees and encourage more members to participate in the various sports they organise. Maybank has an excellent sports facility which can house athletes to live and train there, so why nobody ever though of putting a senior Maybank person there?

An insider told me that they have approached many high level (read:senior management) people from various instituition but all declined due to work commitments. If that is the case, I think the committee needs to put in more thought and find out why these key decision makers are not interested to take on this job? What are the reasons? Can somebody tell us? Is there a stumbling block within or outside the organisation that is making things tough for senior management to come in?

Also, a little bird told me that NBSC don't make much cash or normally break even - so it will be a mystery what the new exco or old exco (not much difference?) are going to do about this moving forward? As bankers, can't we think of various way to raise more capital?

In this age where sports are moving towards profesionalism, maybe NBSC can do simple things and not move one step back to please different cliques or factions within the organisation. The first thing to do is to get the right banks at the top and more senior management presence to move it forward in looking at ways to increase its financial status and also keeping the cost of participation low.

Maybe the new committee needs to sit down and brainstorm on getting CEOs and MDs of each bank to be in the exco - that will be a start though....

AFC's West Asian tussle

2009-05-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

This is really interesting times in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Stories of how Mohamed bin Hammam iron fisted reign is slowly but surely coming to an end is a welcome relief.

As a former staff and an Asian football observer and follower, I think karma has a way of showing up to those who do bad unto others. This was a person who was hell bent of getting rid most of the Malaysian staff. Run a check now on people who worked under Dato' Peter Velappan's regime and you will see who many is left now.

Forcing Malaysian staff to go on contract, threatning to move AFC away from KL and treating his fellow West Asians as if they are football Gods in Asia when none of them even reach the quarter finals of a World Cup is some of the things he has done when he took over. The one that takes the cake is asking Malaysians to go for English classes...

Anyhow, my vote is for Sheikh Salman or whoever who goes against Hamamm. My hope for Sheikh Salman to treat all corners of Asia the same and not to always give priority to the West Asian Arab countries.

Whispers were going around that he was out to oust Dr Chung Mong-jung when he took over as AFC chief back then as from a FIFA standpoint, Hamamm is ranked lower in FIFA. So, try and amend the statutes to suit his ambitions...

Anyway, all the best Sheikh Salman and hope Asia makes an informed decision!

BJSS and BPSS shouldn't play in the Junior League

2009-05-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, 2 May, I read my friend Aftar's article in The Star about Bukit Jalil Sports School's going on a local holiday if they do the double in the Junior Hockey League.

The way the coach S. Prakash was quoted as saying, "The pressure is definitely on my boys to live up to their status as the number one team in the junior league."

Please, please lar... this the best team in the country for junior hockey, these boys eat, drink and sleep hockey. Not winning the title would be injustice to the very foundation of this school, read, Sports School or Sekolah Sukan if English is challenging for one to understand.

I also wonder why do they need to compete in the junior league. It is not a level playing field when you consider how bad sports is treated in our national school with academic qualification the utmost priority and sports being treated like a leper in most schools. Is it any wonder why we are still backwards in sports considering the millions we get and the pampering our athletes get?

To be a BJSS coach, even a seasoned player without a coaching cert can coach them to glory so I wonder why this Prakash guy was quoted as he sounded like "Wow, this league is so tough and my players are like achieving success based on my coaching ability versus the more tougher and stronger teams playing us"!

Heard enough of this crap and is it a wonder why we lag far behind in the world of hockey. In fact, just disband BJSS and BPSS for the junior league as they serve no purpose competing other than to dishearten and kill the morale of younger players. The fact that these two teams comprises of only one race is really not pleasing to all but let's leave this to another day.

Malaysian football has always been Like That

2009-01-26T23:13:00.001-08:00

I am quite entertained to see Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) getting rammed by the throat, be it from running the game in the country right up to its poor secretariat staff (pity Saifuddin and Kelly, my ex-colleagues) after that 5-0 shame to UAE.

The rot has been there long time ago and coach B. Sathianathan is a brave man even though I am sure he has one leg already out of FAM's HQ in Kelana Jaya. He just did the right thing of calling a spade, a spade! What wrong did he do?

Tell me, if you are in his position with three fit players, wouldn't you get freaked out, knowing that even if 11 players were fit, media will still roast you...but three...

I like what the jovial Eric Samuel of Star said in his comment piece that everything will be discussed at the all powerful FAM Exco but knowing the members, things will be back to normal in no time, meaning this incident or happening will just continue even when I am 50 unless some sort of power could be clipped from the state affiliates. At the end of the day, the states need to play an important role but when you get half past six players from the states, what can the national coach do?

I think the only thing we can do is to work from down to the top. Let us not stray too far but look at Japan and Korea in terms of development. Why waste time sending our boys for trials or training at EPL clubs? Where is our R.O.I.? How many boys benefited and came back as half decent players?

I think if our players can even play in the J-League, K-League or even in Saudi Arabia or UAE's leagues, then its a major step in football for us. It is a know fact that MSL is crap, full stop. Why do our powers that be pretend its not by hauling up Sathia and even criticizing him in the media? Let's look at the AFC Cup for instance. This is a second tier tournament and til today, has any MSL side gone to the final? Why none of our state teams focus on this tournament, why just be contend with Malaysia Cup, FA Cup and the league title? From the attitude shown here, we know that state teams are the main culprits. When was the last time I heard a Malaysian players was coveted by foreign teams, why no one has moved abroad?

The signs are always there about the sad state of local football but we are of course oblivious to it until a crushing defeat hits our team. All in say is, football needs political will and a massive dose of 'unity' by getting the Chinese and Indians back in the game. Without them, our team will continue this downward spiral. Mark my words, one race teams never succeed!

Sathia is Right to Be Pissed with Losers

2009-01-22T02:45:00.000-08:00

I don't blame national coach B. Sathianathan if he quits officially after the 5-0 thrashing by United Arab Emirates (UAE), I mean who could blame him for coaching a crappy team like Malaysia. Opps, that you and me's national team.

Yea, you read it right. He said prior to the game, only three players are fully fit. You have to be kidding me when you read this kind of statements in the papers. I mean, where is the professionalism in our players, why can't they maintain their own training schedule, why must they be reminded and spoon fed by the coach? Aren't we professional or in a professional-era?

However, as many of us fans know, Malaysian football is in denial. Claims of professionalism but amateur in attitude and everything. As you know, our players are mainly "gaya lebih" with their Nike outfits, MP3s and gelled up hair. I have said it before and I am saying it again, their boots have more talent than the players.

In my AFC days, I visited UAE on work assignment for the AFC U-17 tournament and I was posted in Abu Dhabi for two weeks and my venue was the Al Wahda Stadium which is the home club of their best player back then and now, Ismail Mattar. (He played in that 5-0 match)

One thing I noticed is the passion of the club officials and the squad of course. They have dedicated staff to run the club, from youth until the senior team. Yes, UAE clubs have more money than our state teams but that shouldn't be an excuse for our players lack of initiative and professionalism.

What can't we have our own Ismail Mattar, who was once coveted by teams from Europe and even Brazil? Heck, Al Ain club from UAE also won the first AFC Champions League and UAE's citizen compared to us, is relatively small as you would find more foreigners from Indians (from Kerala mainly), Pakistanis and Filipinos and the Mat Salleh in Dubai, Abu Dhabi areas among the seven (I think) Emirates.

Bit The Dust in Semis

2009-01-22T02:28:00.000-08:00

I played in my company's sports club badminton tournament and sadly I lost in the semis. On the hindsight I would say that was good a result because I haven't played in a long time and put on damn a lot of weight.

But the defeat hurts as we lost a match we could win because of numerous unforced errors, simple shots like hitting out, to the net, half court smashes going astray etc. Not taking away any credit from my opponents but its one of those days that you feel, Shit, I could have done better!

Anyway, my new year resolution is to play regular badminton with my regular group. If I could do that, regain my old form and hopefully, my size, then I guess you guys out there better watch out!

Taxis at KL Tower - where the hell are they?

2009-01-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

I went for the TV9 Rebirth event on an email invite and I must say the event was ok and the food was ok, too.

It was going back to office that irritated me as to my own discovery, Malaysia's own taxi service sucks and is very rotten to the core. Maybe the Tourism Ministry might do their own checking on the service provided at the KL Tower.

Imagine it was raining and no taxi was in sight to head home. Imagine again, what an embarrassment when tourists asked for taxi and none was in sight, what a bloody shame, the main KL tourist spot where all the tourists head to.. no taxi because of rain.

But then again, that's Malaysia for you. When opportunity is presented, they go running. When no opportunity, they will complain and bitch to the powers-that-be.

Chong Wei is Malaysian badminton and Malaysian badminton is Chong Wei

2008-10-28T04:06:00.000-07:00

The Denmark Open confirms something which rankles my mind that Malaysia is just Lee Chong Wei in badminton and vice versa.

My predictions also that Koo Kien Kiet-Tan Boon Heong are slowly moving in a free fall direction couldn’t be further than the truth. After a Macau Open win in a rather weak field the Danish Open once again displayed that the same pair we saw last year is yet to be found.

We don’t know why then can lose to a scratch pair, well maybe, the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) can come up with a better answer.

Oh, back to Chong Wei, no Chong Wei means no semi finalist (minimum benchmark) in any Super League tournament. Look at Hafiz Hashim, not good enough at the international level but better than most back-up players in the country.

This is something BAM must address, a dearth of decent singles players and the continued dismissal form of Kien Keat and Boon Heong. At the rate we are going, we can only watch Chong Wei playing for Malaysia’s glory while the rest are early round casualties.

Ajit the Horseman

2008-10-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

There seems to be few or maybe non-existent Equestrian writers in the local fraternity since the heady days of Mustapha Kamaruddin interviewing a horse after winning a gold at the 2001 SEA Games!

Enter Ajitpal Singh of NST and I think he is slowly becoming a horse specialist and also a tennis specialist writer।

Well keep up the good work and quit horsing around when possible. Other than being a horseman, maybe you should take up tennis since rumour has it you are quite a good badminton player. Only difference is one uses a cock while another uses a ball!

Letter to New Straits Times

2008-10-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

Managed to get my letter out in the New Straits Times, date - 28 October. Not to say that Mohamed bin Hammam will read my letter but probably can get like-minded people like me to protest against this type disrespectful treatment towards AFC which he thinks was formed by Arabs and is for Arabs.

Don't realise AFC belongs to all Asians, not just a select few!

Here is the Letter...

Football quarrel: Let AFC move elsewhere By : GARY MARK NAGAN, Puchong, Selangor
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IT is sad but true that things are slowly turning ugly between the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Malaysia. Sad that they have made unrealistic demands to the point that Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Lt Gen (rtd) Azzudin Ahmad was obliged to point out that "they are not the United Nations".
I am disappointed that AFC President Mohamed Hammam is not giving Malaysia face with his excessive demands and conditions to continue to house the AFC in Malaysia. I see these demands as a good excuse to let the AFC relocate elsewhere.We wonder which country in its right mind would kowtow to the AFC's rather excessive demands, to put it mildly.I think the more pressing need is to improve the standard of Asian football. After all, who cares where the administrative house is located when it should be football development and results that are central to what the AFC is all about.

Merdeka Tournament is Ours!

2008-10-22T04:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I stand corrected. Malaysia has qualified for the last four of the Merdeka tournament and my previous article was all slam bang our national team.

However judging by the quality of the opposition, we should steamroll them. The fact that most of them were either from war torn countries or came here with their junior or reserve team, should not be an excuse but hey, we need to show them how good we are or how bad they suck.
Anyway, since the opposition have turned up to be weak, this is a good chance for us to win the Cup. Anything else is disaster!

AFC should not hold its birthplace – Malaysia, ransom

2008-10-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

It is sad but true that that things are slowly turning ugly between Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Malaysia. Sad that they have made unrealistic demands to the point that Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Sec-Gen Lt Jen (rtd) Azzudin Ahmad labelled them “they are not the United Nations”.

I am quite disappointed that our Qatari friend is not giving Malaysia face with his excessive demands with their terms and conditions to house the AFC House elsewhere. I see this demands as a good excuse to relocate AFC to possibly Middle East, or somewhere in Asia.

In this economic depression, we wonder which country in their right mind would actually ‘kow-tow’ to this rather excessive demands, to put it mildly.

The big question is why AFC have suddenly dislike Malaysia? I mean this is where it all happened since its humble beginnings and it is truly a slap in the face for all our past leaders who have made AFC what it is today – well known and successful.

Why does our Qatari friend is so in hurry to relocate? Since the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Asian football is on the decline after the heights that Japan and Korea Republic achieved.

If you look now, only a big number of Koreans, Japanese and Iranians are successful in Europe, where are the players from Arab countries? Why only the East Asians are doing well while the West Asians are still stuck in their own Gulf world of numerous football tournaments lacking in quality?

Call me Malaysian bias if you like but the previous Malaysian regime under HRH the Sultan of Pahang ensured Asian football was noticed by the rest of the world. Now?

I think the more pressing need is the need to MOVE Asian football standards higher than what was achieved back in 2002 RATHER than worrying about moving AFC House out of Malaysia. After all, who cares where the administrative house is located when it should be football development and results that are central to what the AFC is all about.

Does our National Team think Merdeka tournament is a weak tournament?

2008-10-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

The 40th Merdeka tournament commences from Oct 15-25 and the teams competing in the tournament won’t make any Tom, Dick or Harry jump for joy in terms of team composition other than Malaysia.

READ: Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

But let’s be fair, this tournament will be interesting and a test of sorts. Why? If Malaysia can win this tournament, I will be happy as rankings never tell the true story.

Apparently, Malaysia is ranked higher than Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – according to FIFA rankings. But the last I recall, Vietnam are a handful, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, emm, don’t expect an avalanche of goals from us when we play them.

So, good chance for Malaysia to pacify the long suffering Malaysian loving EPL fans. I hope our coach don’t take it easy and as all our past coaches say, use this tournament, that tournament as preparation for a bigger tournament. When the bigger tournament comes, they stumble and give another round of excuses like they were up against more stronger and well prepared teams.

Based on my own research, Mozambique has players playing in the Greek, Hungarian and Swiss League while Sierra Leone has a mix of journeymen plying their trade around Europe mainly in the lower leagues so if the Malaysian national team thinks this tournament will be a walk in the park, well, they are gravely mistaken.

We hope they will play as well as trying to look good in their Nike outfits together with their gel-ed up punk-type hair, like the Euro football stars around the world. Thank God, the team is mainly made up of Muslims, hence, we won’t see new tattoos on their arms and legs as it is prohibited in their religion.

I mean, we don’t want to say the boots has more talent than the player right? We need more than a good performance to regain our faith in the national team and the only way forward is by winning this tournament. Ignore that once again, we are preparing fro AFF Cup in December. When come AFF, we lose, what ‘s the excuse? Thailand were better prepared? Oh, come on guys!

Winning is a Curse

2008-10-07T03:06:00.000-07:00

I noticed one thing about Malaysian badminton players, the moment success comes to them, the reality of consistency sinks in - which we somehow lack.

Look at Zakry Latif and Fairuzizuan Tazari. They started off in tournaments as unknowns, but a few wins here and they have propelled their career into dizzying heights. Now, they are a marked pair and the results have not been forthcoming.

It seems that success curses us as we somehow thrive being an unknown but wilt when the going gets tough. Could be mental but I guess the measure of a good sports person is Nicol David whom we have to admire as the best sports person to appear from this side of the globe for a long time and trust me, I doubt anymore Nicols will be coming out of our conveyer belts of squash (if any)

Back to Zakry whom I know from Seremban personally. Had to use them as they represent the best upcoming pair but sucked into the spotlight of a marked pair.

I hope they can come back to a decent level, I somehow lost faith in Kien Keat-Boon Heong. Sad but true.

Denmark Open offers a chance for them to put some faith back into me and I think, for the majority of badnintons fans in Malaysia.

Let's see how they fare....

Success Don't Come Easy

2008-10-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

It's a pity that Lee Chong Wei lost in his second final as a world number one but then as they say, shit happens!

Well the first one with Sony Dwi Kuncoro could be attributed to his long absence from competing due to his fame as an Olympic silver medallist and his new Datuk-ship award which distracted him from training, judging by his political appearance in Penang.

But then, the second loss, this time to Taufik Hidayat is probably, arse luck. Everybody knows the mercurial Indonesian is unbeatable on form. Lately, probably by injuries and married life has slowed the skillful Indon but he is not to be underestimated.

Catch him on his day and all I can say is screwed! Of course, Chong Wei found out the hard way. Well, I hope Chong Wei starts winning to justify his world number one tag soon, if not people will remember him a world number one not because of his skill and reputation but because the rankings calculation says so.

Moving to our 'fallen angels' Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong, as a badminton pundit, I am not impressed by their win in this rather weak filed in the Macau Open.

They won, yes, but let's see whether they can convince us Malaysians in the upcoming Denmark Open that they are back in business. As pair slated for greater things, it has been downhill since their invincible run last year and only a stronger field will erase our doubts and fears.

Night Out at Khadijah's

2008-05-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

This Sungai Wang pair making an impression?

They look more than friends judging by the gentle touch on the 'back'.. I wonder

Lets just say I enjoy my Coke, burp! to that

Male models of the Year

Radzi probably let one off while the unsuspecting Rash joins in the smell despite Naser's obvious allergy to Radzi gas - a conction of curries, mee mamak, sambals and teh tarik all rolled into one.

My delicious food, rammed down my throat, mmm...yummy

Bosom buddies and they make a great couple!

Maddy and Lou - the names that was nearly used as camel mascots. Looking at them, not to far off the truth, don't you agree?

Photo of the day - Either the food must be good or George is just trying to pass gas while the Liz smiles despite the aroma permeating from somewhere nearby

As usual Louis tries to talk c@#$ but being a smarter and diplomatic guy, Rash pretends to gulp down his ice lemon tea like it is the best in the world - obviously to shut Louis up!

Flashback to Oranje win in 88'

2008-05-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

Holland at its best

Marco van Basten, my idol and many a wannabe goal scorer's idol

Courtesy of ESPN Soccernet

Host nation: West Germany

Winners: Holland

Brilliant orange: Holland line up before their 2-0 final win over the Soviets.Here was a tournament in which another team ended its long exile in the trophy-winning wilderness. The Dutch had lit up the 1970s with their 'Total Football' but finished potless.

Much of the 1980s had been spent in turmoil after successive failures to qualify for major tournaments. A rebuilding period had begun during that time and Holland had found a new generation which was to dominate European club football for some years to come.

This would perhaps be the sole time the Dutch pulled together as a unit, for their age-old problem of in-fighting would stop this great team dominating the international scene. But they would burn brightly in Germany, where they were to gain revenge for their defeat in the 1974 World Cup Final.

They had waltzed through the qualifying rounds, even surviving having to replay a home game with Cyprus because of crowd trouble. They won the initial game 8-0 but the replay a mere 4-0. In their finals group they faced England, under Bobby Robson, who had stormed their qualifiers with stars like Lineker, Hoddle and Robson in full flow. Sadly for England, only Robson of the three would perform at any level at all in the finals.

Italy had a burgeoning side with young stars like Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini while the Russians were strong, featuring the 1986 European Player of the Year Igor Belanov alongside Alexander Zavarov and striker Igor Protasov. Both had qualified with ease. Spain, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, in their first major championship, had harder progress but all made it.

France, whose ageing team had largely retired after the Mexico World Cup, could only finish third in their group behind the Russians and East Germany. They were to enter their own wilderness period.

The tournament began with the hosts playing Italy and an Andreas Brehme strike was needed to cancel out a Mancini goal. The Dutch began in poor fashion and were beaten by the Soviet Union and a great strike from Vasili Rats. Their next game was with England, themselves nursing the embarassment of losing to Ireland. A Ray Houghton header was never answered by England, for whom Gary Lineker, later diagnosed with hepatitis was noticeably off form.

The Dutch simply blew away England. The Milan trio of Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard were at their very best. Van Basten, before that game never really sure of his place in Rinus Michel's starting eleven, scored one of the best hat-tricks in living memory while Bryan Robson's brave goal was all England had to celebrate. Russia, in Frankfurt, completed the misery as England were again beaten 3-1.

Ireland's draw with the Soviets came after a great volley from Ronnie Whelan was cancelled out by a Protasov strike from a Belanov assist. It was between the Irish and the Dutch, the latter of whom needed a win. Ireland looked to have their draw until a fluke stepped in their way. Koeman's volley looped off substitute Wim Kieft and keeper Packie Bonner was powerless.

The Italians and Germans had qualified on equal points from the other group. The Danes were a shadow of the 1984 vintage and Spain could only beat the Scandinavians as players like Butragueño and Michel failed to find form.

Italy's youth counted against them in the semi with the USSR. Mancini and Vialli flopped badly and even old stager Alessandro Altobelli couldn't find the net. Two ruthless finishes in three minutes from both Sergiy Litovchenko and Protasov finished off the Italians, whose sights were perhaps more firmly set on success in the World Cup they would host in two years.

For the Dutch, the other semi was a mission of vengeance in both historical and footballing terms as goalkeeper Hans Van Breukelen would later admit. It was a bitty first half, littered niggling fouls and attempts to dupe the referee. But the second period was lit up by two penalties, one for Lothar Matthaeus and another equalising one for Ronald Koeman.

Then, with extra time lurking in the background, Van Basten wrapped his leg around a Jan Wouters through ball to direct the ball past Eike Immel. In the stadium, and at home in Holland, there was an amazing outpouring of emotion. It was felt that wrongs, both in football and in other, more political affairs, had been righted for the moment.

It was a final between clearly the best teams in the tournament. And the Soviets looked the stronger side in the opening salvos. But a well-worked corner saw Van Basten nod across to Gullit whose header powered past Rinat Dassaev.

Next came the image the championships will be forever remembered for. Arnold Muhren's looping ball from the left bypassed everyone, save for Van Basten, in what seemed too tight an angle.

But the Milan man's eye was in and he looped a volley of pace, direction and power over Dassaev. It remains one of the best goals in any game in football. Van Basten's fire may have burned for not too long but he will be forever associated with one of the best instances of the striker's art.

The Soviets were not done yet and Dutch keeper Van Breukelen conceded a penalty for fouling Serguei Gotsmanov. But it was to be Holland's day as he saved Belanov's resulting spot-kick. The rest was plainsailing and a celebration as Holland's beautiful game finally succeeded at the highest level.

Hopefully, Holland don't deceive once again

2008-05-29T04:12:00.000-07:00

In them.. I trust
Courtesy of ESPN Soccernet

Once again, Holland looks one of the favourites on paper to win Euro 2008 but.. the big BUTT is whether they can pull it off as always, they have deceived me.. a huge Holland fan. However, loyal as I am I still dream of Holland win in 1988 with Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard leading the way against the Russians.

Let look at the goalkeeping area, without a doubt Man Utd's Edwin van der Sar get the nod as he would be taking part in probably his final Euro championship. Marten Stekelenburg and Henk Timmer has long been playing second fiddle to van der Sar and would be interesting to see who the new Holland coach selects as this would be van Basten's last game in charge.

My only question mark is why pick Mario Melchiot of Wigan who staved off relegation in the EPL? The rest of the cast looks decent, nothing to shout about. However, John Heitinga and Wilfred Bouma catches my eye with their defensive qualities and Heitinga's push forward whenever needed.

In the middle of the park and upfront, Holland has an embarrassing of riches and based on this, my fervent hope is for them to win. Real Madrid's trio of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben together with Hamburg's star playmaker Rafael van der Vaart is enough to make one's team balls shiver.

If all goes well, I will have a happy tournament. If not, well I have to live with another disappointment.

The main thing is, Holland needs to click - the days of racial groupings (remember Kluivert, Davids and Seedorf breaking ranks with the whites) and self destruction are hopefully in the past. As long as they don't press the self destruct button and pretend to be Spain (remember them, always go misisng in big tournaments), a semis is in the offing, of course, it does not help being in the Group of Death!

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord)

Defenders: Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Ajax Amsterdam), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg SV), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers)

Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Orlando Engelaar (Twente Enschede), Nigel de Jong (Hamburg SV), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid), Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg SV), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar)

Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax Amsterdam), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic).

Over rated Biatch!

2008-05-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

This is totally not related to sports. More of commenting on someone I saw at an event a couple of weeks ago.

Let's call this lady Miss X (no not you, my colleague who goes by the same name and who is ultra dependent on Feng Shui). Apparently, she is a celebrity, journo and emcee and what not. But, after seeing her in flesh, I beg to differ and wonder what the hullabaloo about this biatch is all about.

She emcees badly with all the words strung together and rumour in the grapevine is that she is being paid for a day's job of between 4-6k. What a waste of money and a load of crap. In these hard times, I wouldn't trade that much for a dud!

Also some say she is a model but after seeing her posture, hmm, I reserved my comments. Not to say that I got something against people of that nature but the publicity that sorrounds her is irritating and cheap to say the least.

Argentina 5 Malaysia 0, football? NOT!

2008-05-13T04:13:00.000-07:00

Before I begin, I must say been a busy week and did not have time to write. Anyway, there are some interesting sports happenings and of course, I managed to find some time to write about it.

Saw the score of the 5-0 thrashing by Argentina in the Sultan Azlan Shah and was wondering what has happened to our hockey team. Of course, I did not get to catch the game but that was immaterial as the score sums it all up.

I managed to catch the New Zealand game on Sunday and I must say I was slightly impressed by our chaps. Of course, it did not help that the Kiwis made us look good and it seemed peculiar that we actually won the game.

Well, my suspicions are confirmed when Argentina thrashed us. Okay, people would say that Argentina is also a hockey powerhouse but how can we explain that we have fallen behind them in the pecking order?

For crying out loud, Argentina is more known for football rather than hockey as Malaysia is well known for badminton that football. What has happened?

I really don't know, I suspect mentally, the players are not there; no pride in wearing the national colours and of course, inconsistency, the bane of all Malaysian sportsmen except Nicol David.

Once again the coaches will sing the same old praise which I quote when I was reporting "pleased with the boys attitude and bla, bla". Main thing is just admit it. Nothing wrong, the results is obvious. You cannot lie in sports unless the match was fixed as the results explains everything.

CAN LA LIGA CHAMPIONS REAL MADRID WIN IN EUROPE NEXT SEASON?

2008-05-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Madristas. Once again they have shown who is the team to be reckoned with. I for one was hoping that Real win this year's La Liga and they did in style with 3 matches to spare.

Only blot in their whole season is their inability to win the Champions League which now is the domain of English teams with foreign contingents to win. Anyway, hope they will work on this next season as Real Madrid are by far, the best all time team in Europe since the days of Puskas and Gento.

As an avid fan of the Dutch national team, it is nice to see Robben, Sneijder and van Nistelrooy weighing their contributions for the team's benefit, not to mention the rejuvenated Raul and the ever improving Guti, a vital cog to the team even though media coverage about him is not in favour. No idea maybe he is too low profile, but hey I would pencil in his name if I ever (never) manage a football team. We cannot forget the contributions Robinho and Gonzalo Higuain whose skills and flair brought in crucial goals when the odds were stacked against the Madristas.

Bernd Schuster does not really impress me as a coach, what with the talent he has on display to select from but if he can flatter the Real Madrid bosses he could be in for the long run. Maybe a Champions League trophy next season could ensure a longer contract as another trophyless season could spell doom.

Remember Vincente del Bosque? He won the La Liga in 2003 and still had his contract not renewed. The management wanted a more exciting and lively coach to lead them and it took a while before full service was resumed.

On the hindsight, the Spanish media has labelled the league as the league that no one wanted to win and looking at Barca's slide, Valencia flirting with relegation and Sevilla not being the same team as it was last season, it was like a gift on platter. Of course, we should take anything away from Real.

(Pix: Courtesy of www.realmadrid.com)

BLUES TO EXORCISE DEVILS IN RUSSIA?

2008-05-02T03:09:00.000-07:00

What a victory, what glory! Yes, I am so happy that the Red side of Mersey has bit the dust. They deserve it for their over reliance of Torres and their self belief that only Torres and Gerard can lead them to the final.

I am no fan of Chelsea, well also, no fan or any love for Liverpool but I prefer Chelsea anytime to Liverpool and finally, we have a genuine contender to go up against Satan. If Liverpool entered, I suspect we can hand the title to Satan as judging by this season's performance, Liverpool is a bloody huge disappointment when you expect them to deliver the goods against Satan in the EPL.

It is good to see Drogba, finally, delivering and Lampard overcoming grief to lead Chelsea and I would be rooting for Chelsea this coming CL final in Moscow. In fact, I think neutrals would definitely be supporting Chelsea. Drogba is jaguh kampung in EPL and he needs a performance on a big stage like this to show his prowess.

Ok, not to sound biased, we have to give it to MU for a polished display against a sorry Barca and it would be folly to underestimate the hardworking Tevez and the tricky Ronaldo pulling all out stops to deny the Blues.

Another Kodak moment would be Avram Grant letting go his emotions. Now, that's priceless.
Oh, coming back to him Israel - Grant and Tal Ben Haim coming to Malaysia.. wonder why people are making a fuss over it. I mean they are here on sports not politics. Anyway, who are we to judge their role in oppressing Palestine and why are we playing God by judging people? Are we so innocent that we have never done anything bad to our neighbours? Anyway, when I went to local uni, it was so damn obvious racism rearing its head so why make noise about 2 Israelite coming here to play football? Will we boycott Chelsea because of both of them, I really would like to see.

(Pic: Courtesy of www.guardian.co.uk)

IN DHAKA FOR WORK

2008-04-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

On my recent trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh for work, it was an eye opener as I now know why they come here to work, even as a pump attendant and it is considered a noble job. The country is poor and if you look at their buses and taxi, it will be deemed not road worthy here. Noticed pedal power prevails here as the people are strong in cycling their goods for one point to another. When I say goods, it like guni sacks on a special board connected to their bicyle.

At night after 8pm, there is nothing to do as the power is shutdown at public buildings meaning all shopping complexes are shut at 8pm. Was also advised not to step out of the hotel I was staying as it might be dangerous.

One more thing is that there is so much military presence in Dhaka and when I pass a posh hospital which houses VVIP patients, there was like 15-20 soldiers at the entrance.

On the plus sight though, I passed the National Stadium of Bangladesh for foootball, the Bangabandu Stadium and also passed by one fo Asia's oldest football club, the Mohammedan Sporting Club. No frills but I guess that where the football action in South Asia happens.

FLASHBACK TO REXY

2008-04-28T03:39:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a moment with one of my favourite badminton players of all time, Rexy Mainaky. My favourite pair was him and Ricky Subagja.

Here is a pix of my Assumption Church badminton team at the PJ Churches badminton tournament where we finished second quite a while ago :( Sad.

Need a platform to show everyone and I thought this is a good starting point.

Nonetheless quite happy we got a photo taken as I loved his flamboyant and stylish play. Never seen anyone as quick as him and when I saw him play singles for SFX church, the accuracy and power and of course, speed was there. Don't bother that the opponent was a 'fish' but the crux of the matter is that I am witnessing something great from a few cm away. Even if I had half of his skills, I would be freaking happy.

BRING ON THE YOUTH

2008-04-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

BAM's selection of young Arif Latif I think it's a good one for the future as he would be probably shoulder the burden of the nation's hope in the future. Rather than take older players to the Thomas Cup, it is good for us to take a risk (ala Walcott to the World Cup, see some similarities) and who knows, rewarded for it when its time for boys to become men.

Back in my playing days in Seremban, I have seen him play and also his elder brother Zakry who forms the 3rd doubles with Fairuzizuan, and I would say, those boys are good and skillful players, only lacking in power play, I suppose.

We just hope that he doesnt become a dud like Kuan Beng Hong who never recovered after getting whipped in the previous Thomas Cup. Talking about 3rd singles, we never had a solid reliable player in this position. No idea, even though they delivered the goods, like Kwan Yoke Meng and Wong Tat Meng. Looking at their singles career after team events, it never prospered and we hope the jinx on playing 3rd singles will never rub on this teenager.

Badminton other than squash, is our only sport which is world class and we need to maintain our high standards and I suppose everyone need to view the Thomas Cup seriously and not spoil our vision with illusion of grandeur at the Olympics, at least till the Thomas Cup is over.

CHELSEA OR MAN UTD?

2008-04-28T03:07:00.000-07:00

The result of MU's loss in the EPL is a welcome relief to MU haters and neutrals. I for one was happy that they lost finally and more or less throw some life into the league. However, the title is still in MU's hands as all they need to do is win the remaining 2 matches to win the league as the goal difference is just too much for Chelsea to swallow. Also, if Chelsea stumble in their next match, it is as good as a gift to MU.

Well, I for one is looking forward as the race goes down the wire. Pardon me, but I would love to see Chelsea nick it over MU, maybe because a new league champion would be better and definitely shut most of MU's hardcore fans who I dislike. (well, some of them are my buddies so you all are excluded).

Hope to see Ballack pulling the strings and feeding Drogba and Les Sulk to greater glory. Of course, looking at MU objectively, their strength can never be underestimated with the likes of Ronaldo (ho-hum), Rooney and Hargreaves pulling their team from the brink as always.

Anyway, guys, lets enjoy the remainder of the season and hope by a miracle that Chelsea wins it... if they don't well, they did well enough to come close to United.

AT THE OLYMPIC TORCH RUN 2008

2008-04-20T23:21:00.008-07:00

Me thinks I will be part of history today by being at the route of the Olympic torch run. I am just minutes away from this. Well, this will probably be my first and last and I would like to just witness this historic occasion for the country.

My only fear is the protesters but I guess, we, as a peaceful country won't experience this. Saw the list of torchbearers and it reads like a who's who list of the Malaysian sports scene. Anyway, as a former sports journo, kind of excited as you wonder how this ppl would look after many years away from the backpages of the sports pages - that's how I start my day, from the backpages and I think many sports aficionados do the same.

Will update my blog later once I witness this occasion. With so much of good and bad publicity surrounding it, one must be there to comment and feel the occasion.

Sad end to my Teams

2008-04-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

Well, my Arsenal going to end up empty handed this season and its damn freaking sad seeing them fumble at the bloody Red Devils and also at the red colour of Mersey which I don't like. What to do, short on manpower in the squad - Van Persie is back but he is not the player he used to be, Flamini is out, Gilberto is back but it shows why Wenger does not field him regularly as he is crap. Adebayor is not making chances count while Bendtner is not up to mark. Just could go on and on but I guess 3rd spot is alright. Just hope the Kop don't catch up though.

Only hope is Chelsea to deny Satan but they are also fumbling. Looks like Satan's title again. Hope next season would be better and all the young kids would be more matured. Also, hope for better buys next season, does not matter whether English or Rest of the World. Anway, English players suck.. Just look at the national team.

Oh well, here's hoping to a good weekend to Arsenal, Everton, AC Milan and Real Madrid!

Ciao

FAILURE IN HOCKEY

2008-04-18T04:31:00.000-07:00

Good one, courtesy of Rizal Hashim's blog, one of the top sports writers in Malaysia
Read on and be enlightened

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL…Athens Olympics 2004 World Cup 2006 Beijing Olympics 2008Egotistical MHF and Wrong Appointment of CoachesNSC and MHF - Please Help!Received an sms on Thursday 10 April 2008 from a hockey lover, he said Malaysia is down 4-3 to Italy and few minutes to play. I could not believe the news; I assume it is a typo error by the data entry personnel. But my friend checked again on the net and said is confirmed. Lucky Malaysia equalized in the 70th minutes to obtained one point from Italy, a pizza diet nation.Could not believe it because of the following reasons:1 Italy is ranked 37th and Malaysia 14th 2 Spent millions on the Malaysian team preparation till MHF is in debts of 1.71 millions.3 Big Funding from NSC on the Coaches and Team.4 Malaysian team played in an elite tournament i.e. Champions Trophy (Dec 2007) and also went to Australia (Feb/March 2008) for exposure. 5 Two years of preparation i.e. full time training (day in day out).6 Lofty level of benefits – allowances, accommodation and food is free.7 Foreign assistance – Goalkeeper Coach from Pakistan and Advisor from Germany.8 Scientific training – Support from ISN on fitness and nutrition9 Physiotherapy, Medical Officer and Masseurs for the team.Based on the above, what have the other participating teams in the Qualifiers get and done prior to the Qualifiers? But still they managed to perform to certain level and got reasonable results in the tournament. What excuses do the Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) and National Sports Council (NSC) have in their pockets or hats?Played 6 games – 3 win, 2 draws and 1 lost. Scored 16 and let in 14 goals.Does the above points justifies their achievement in their Olympic qualifiers in Japan. Even the blind and deaf but hockey lover would say that the team achieved is an illogical achievement based on the support and benefits.The new MHF office bearers are almost 1 and ½ years old in the office. Most decision and policy made by certain quarters are “FLIP-FLOP”. Nothing is done based on merit and every decision is made on personal interest. The game of hockey is an ancillary to the arrogants. The Federation exists because of the game but due to ego of certain quarters think that they are bigger than the sport. They show and demonstrate their powers as though the game of hockey belongs to them.They control most of the affiliates by giving a chance for the affiliates office bearers (President and Secretary) on a rotation basis to be the Team Manager of the Malaysian Hockey Team. This is done because of their future votes in the BGM shall permit these bigheaded office bearers to sustain power in the office.The members or appointees selected by MHF for various positions must have the following criteria’s:1 Must be a bootlicker and must be a friend of the arrogants2 Every decision is maneuver before a meeting – Decision made before discussing in the meeting. Is like kangaroo courts!3 Listen to the instruction and be a puppet master to the arrogants4 Don’t worry whether you have the qualification to take up the post. 5 Enjoy the get together after every meeting – booze and makan sponsored by the arrogants and then claim from MHF.6 Play the same tune or else you would be out of the system.The Qualifiers in Japan, we heard that about 31 people went to the games to make sure the team performed at its very best – at least a seat in the Finals.There were many officials from the Coaching team, Medical Team, Management team, Trainer, Cooks, Physiotherapist, Masseur, Video-man, NSC officials and others. Only missing link is Weatherman and Cheer Group – no allocation but NSC could consider including them in the next qualifiers, but make sure the cheerleaders are girls to stimulate the coaches and the team. No wonder the Organizers said the hotel rooms are fully booked and Gifu Government also mentioned that the turnover of tourist rise by 10% for the month of April…The coaching department comprise of 4 members - 1 head coach, 2 assistant coaches and 1 Goalkeeper coach. MHF appointed a new assistant coach who hardly only played hockey at University or State level. No coaching background, surprisingly how did NSC allow to slip in this guy into the coaching setup and fully paid for his trip? The other coaches are appointed based on friendship and not on merit. To be a coach in the National setup you need be a friend of the arrogants and follow what they say. Don’t worry whether you are qualified or not and what was you past coaching credentials, all this is not an important yardstick for the evaluation of the appointment. The Coaching Chairman is just a dummy master who just chairs the meeting and endorsed the arrogants decision. The decisions are all made before the meeting. Poor old man! There were rumors that the current coaches have filed in for their salary increment to NSC. The revised salary asked around $15k to $21k. Don’t worry it is possible due to friendship policy between MHF and NSC. Can be done even failed to qualify…There are two Mangers i.e. Manager and Stand-in Manager registered on the bench. But why MHF need to register two managers but only one manager was in action. What to do, just follow instruction. Everything is done based on what the arrogants feel is right. Whether the team needs one or two Manager is secondary “Mahu tolong kawan ma..”Let’s go back to the Qualifiers result.For sure they will be out due to Germany supremacy! But the question is how did the Malaysian team bowed out of the tournament. Not even securing a final seat, which was the MHF and NSC target.For sure all the Media members under the friendship policy was also advised to play a low key and do a marketing job for the arrogants to keep on their posts. Tak payah risau, ada booze and makan waiting… Any MHF media jobs or tender can be considered.After the tournament all the media members started their marketing gimmick to protect their friends by saying keep the same squad and coaches for long-term preparation. They perform accept for the third goal Japan scored? This goal is used as a deflection of the actual fact of the failure. The arrogants and friendship media members need a reason to plot their failure. They forget about the overall summary results! The MHF and NSC could do a through and accurate investigation on the whole set-up and see where it went wrong. But the media boys started to protect their friendship policy.Failures are a familiar story for Malaysia hockey and are common for not making the cut! But the MHF and NSC would still retain the same coaching setup because of the existence of friendship policy between the arrogants of MHF and an official of NSC!NSC needs to intervene because the funding is people’s money – taxpayers. The public needs to know what happened? Please drop this friendship policy in any decision-making, do the right thing based on the merits. NSC is holding the key to the door of the Malaysian hockey future direction.If one has done crime, please arrest and punished, don’t allow the criminal to be free and continue to do more crime. NSC and MHF please arrest these criminals and punished! Tolong tangkap and masukkan dalam ISA!If the same arrogants people are running the game of hockey, don’t have any hope for the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Olympics. By then our ranking would be 30 to 40 in the World hockey.But MHF has also created a history that the team has missed two Olympics in a row. Syabas and the officials of the Malaysia books of record, please dot down this fact into the records book. Don’t worry the third one is coming soon if this arrogants and the coaching setup remains.It is very disturbing the way the coaches have asked the NSC to review their salaries and allowing a University coach to be in Japan is very annoying. Rather than paying these arrogants, please take this budget and appoint a foreign coach. We had Terry Walsh, Paul Lissek and others! Is Paul Lissek still around or gone back to Germany for good.We need a surgeon i.e. foreign coach to curb the cancer that is Stage 2, need to operate and cut the affected area, which are the bigheaded officials and coaches. Please also do an electric shock wave on the dummy master to wake him up to appoint good coaches! NSC and MHF should do chemotherapy on the cancer! Please get the independent parties to perform this exercise. If not the same patient is treating its own recovery method, which most of the Association does after a failure. Please address this issue to save the standard of Malaysian hockey and the game we loved the most…The Implication for not Qualifying:1 Ranking now 14th to 20th (postulation) after Beijing Olympics. Drop too many points to sustain number 14th. Missed 2 Olympics and 1 World Cup.2 The Sports Ministry may consider to revised from Category A to Category B sports.3 No sufficient / allocation of funds for future exposure and oversea stint.4 Future generation hockey players’ benefits jeopardize.5 Top ranking teams (1 to 10) may not invite Malaysia to participate due to the poor standard of international hockey.6 The interest of future generation to be involved in hockey looks very dim.Oops! Forgot that the Alongs and Debt Collectors are looking for the treasurer of MHF to settle the debts. Especially, the hotels and a restaurant owner where these arrogants have abused and misuse their powers during tournaments. More so these are public money that are sponsored by NSC and also Tenaga Nasional Bhd. These arrogants have not even contributed any single penny but they behave as though the sponsored money is belongs to them and not the game.Within 13 months the arrogants have raped the Federation and is in debts now. Their operating account is also freezed like the Qualifiers result.Now they are searching for victims to bailout these debts. NSC please don’t bail them anymore…To End. The hockey fraternity is in dilemma and heartbreaking for the state of hockey in this country.The way forward…Appoint several independent members (Former Coaches, Players and Administrators) with few NSC and MHF genuine officials who have an importance on this matter. The Chairperson shall be a reputable representative from NSC who has no any direct or indirect interest with regards to the game of hockey at any rank.With this, an independent post-mortem with taking into account the “Game of Hockey” is a bigger agenda than these arrogants in the MHF setup.If such remedial action is not taken by NSC and MHF, then we better forget in investing our support and time to the game of hockey that we loved most because of the:“Egotistical MHF And Wrong Appointment of Coaches”Thank you and all the best to NSC and MHF…

My debut today

2008-04-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

Made my debut on this blog today and felt good writing.. been a while since I wrote something about sports, which I used to do when I was with The Sun before we were all retrenched. Sports was and still is a passion. Sadly, I can't make as much from it.. wish I could

Had a blog at 360 yahoo but I guess this blog has a better feel to it. Not really expecting ppl to read my blog but hey, if anyone do.. would be great, especially looking at the comment section.

I don't know what to write but I guess inspiration will come soon.

For now, I lay in wait for the next big thing which crossess my medula oblongata.

Malaysian Hockey, why bother?

2008-04-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Malaysian hockey team is really bad and it is only going to get worse by the day? Why?

Just look at the composition of the team and you wonder where are the Seranis, the Chinese, Indians and the Singhs? The minorities are so miserly represented in the team. What happened? Only MHF can answer, me thinks. Look at the past and you will notice multi racial teams always do the trick for the country.

Anyway, ignoring the race card, how on the earth can we bloody draw with Italy? I mean Italy, Yes, a country known more for their footie, food, historical sites and women. I am surprised the local media did not ram them the glory for their pathetic draw. Blaming Japan at the last min won't do. In my words, nasi sudah menjadi kue tiau!

Let's look at the league. MHL is a league where even its free, you won't see ppl coming in droves to support the team. Anyway, only BSN, Tenaga, Sapura and E and Y are the only teams playing real hockey - likened to a one eyed person in a blind man's world. And we wonder why there are not much sponsors coming around. I don't blame the big teams, it is their right to hire anyone they like as long it follows the tournament regulations.

In MJHL, its always BJSS. What is so great seeing their players win when they are supposed to win? To the uninitiated, BJSS is a sports school meant to place sports above academic excellence. BJSS should not be playing there but instead sent elsewhere for training. Let the newbies from other team perform, at least the pool would be bigger.

But then knowing us, we Malaysians when sent overseas for training, will miss all the comforts of home like teh tarik, nasi lemak, roti kosong...(except for a few athletes who are doing well overseas)