Back-up bolwer Kar Yen given the nod for Asian Games

National back-up bowler Hee Kar Yen after winning the Masters event at the Milo International Junior All-Stars at Sunway Mega Lanes in Sunway Pyramid last year. - File Pic

PETALING JAYA: National back-up bowler Hee Kar Yen has been included in the 12-member squad for next month’s Incheon Asian Games in South Korea.

She joins Shalin Zulkifli, Esther Cheah, Sin Li Jane, Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman and Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi in the women’s team for the Games from Sept 19-Oct 4.

Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Zulmazran Zulkifli, Mohd Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek, Rafiq Ismail and Timmy Tan make up the men’s team.
Kar Yen said she was surprised to learn of her inclusion on Monday.

“I was shocked when they told me I made the team ... great news indeed,” said the 23-year-old Kar Yen, a silver medallist in the girls’ singles at the 2012 World Youth Championships.

National coach Holloway Cheah said Kar Yen shouldn’t be shocked to be included in the team.

“She was our best bowler at last year’s Asian Indoor Games at the Anyang Hogye Gymnasium in Incheon, the same venue we will be competing again at the Asiad. She won a team silver. Apart from one or two South Koreans, she performed really well. So, it is no surprise to me to see her inclusion,” said Holloway.

Kar Yen had a injury-plagued year in 2013, suffering injuries to both her knees. But she bounced back brilliantly to win the Masters title at the Milo International Junior All-Stars and the women’s Open title at the Penang Pesta International Championship in December.

Bad luck again struck her in January this year as a lower back injury forced her to miss the roll-off in January. She also missed the National Championships and Inter-State Championships.

An injury-free Kar Yen is now looking forward to prove her pedigree in Incheon.

“It has been a testing year for me especially with the injuries. But I’m ready for the new challenge,” said Kar Yen.

“I did well at the Asian Indoor Games last year, so I definitely want to prove myself again. Bowling is a very fair game with everyone having a shot at the title. So, I just have to go out there and just do my best.”

At the last Asiad in Guangzhou, China, in 2010, Malaysia bagged four medals - two golds, one silver and one bronze.

ASUM cracks whip on underachievers

THE Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) has taken a tough stand on underperforming swimmers.

The association picked only seven swimmers for next month’s Incheon Asian Games.

Sea Games champion Kevin Yeap, Welson Sim, Lim Ching Hwang, Vernon Lee and reserve member Alywn Tan make up the men’s squad while Khoo Cai Lin and independent swimmer Chui Lai Kwan were the only female swimmers selected for the assignment.

Those dropped were Myanmar Sea Games doubles gold medallist Christina Loh, Erika Kong, Yap Siew Hui, Erika Kong, Nadia Adrianna Redza, Tern Jian Han, Shaun Yap and the injured Daniel Bego.

Kevin, Ching Hwang, Welson and Vernon were given the nod after breaking the national record twice en route to reaching the 4x200m freestyle final in Glasgow.

They finished seventh in the final ahead of arch rivals Singapore.
ASUM secretary Edwin Chong said all the seven will go under Category A.

“All of them met the sixth-placed times of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games,” said Edwin yesterday.
“Cai Lin qualified on merit for the 400m and 800m freestyle while Lai Kwan was included as she did well in Glasgow by reaching the semi-finals in the 50m freestyle and improving on her own national record.

“All were reminded to meet the qualifying mark in Glasgow but most failed to come near their personal best times.”

In diving, newly crowned Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ooi Tze Liang leads the men’s squad also comprising Chew Yi Wei and Ahmad Amsya Azman.

World No 4 platform diver Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong, Leong Mun Yee, Wendy Ng, Loh Zhiayi and Nur Dhabitah Sabri make up the women’s team.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia also gave the green light to ASUM to send Katrina Ann Hadi, Tasha Jane and Lee Yhing Huey for the duet event in synchronised swimming.

Biting the bullet

PISTOL shooter Choo Wen Yan is so passionate about the sport that all he cares about is training and competitions. So much so that he hasn’t even had time to get his upper tooth repaired.
The bespectacled shooter suffered facial injuries when he fell from a bicycle after training in Bukit Jalil.

Wen Yan, 21, however, plans to see a dentist before he heads for the Asian Games in Incheon next month.

The Batu Pahat-born is one of four shooters given the nod by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) to compete in the Asian Games under Category B.
“I will see a dentist tomorrow to repair my teeth. I don’t want to head to Incheon with my partially chipped tooth,” said Wen Yan yesterday.

“I hope the dentist can do something about it as I want to look good for the photographers when I take aim in the Asian Games.”
Rifle shooter Zubair Muhammad with double trap specialist Edward Khor and his son, Benjamin, make up the 12-member shooting squad.

Those heading to Incheon under Category A are Sea Games pistol champion Eddy Chew, Johnathan Wong, Mohd Ezuan Nasir, Hadafi Jaafar (men), Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi, Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul Halim, Muslifah Zulkifli and Alia Sazana Azahari (women).

Former World Cup silver medallist Joseline Cheah, with veterans Bibiana Ng, Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan and Khalel Abdullah were dropped following their poor performances in Glasgow.

Wen Yan, who made his Commonwealth Games debut in Glasgow last month, hopes to steal the limelight from his more illustrious rivals in the 10m air pistol and 50m free pistol events in Incheon.
“I broke the 10m air pistol national record at a local meet in April by posting 581 points while I have a personal best of 548 in the free pistol event.

“I am posting better scores in training and hopefully, I can do better than in Glasgow.
“I did not prepare well for the Commonwealth Games and as a result, finished only 10th in the free pistol event,” Wen Yan added.

The National Shooting Association of Malaysia is not setting a target for its Asian Games-bound shooters.

“The shooting competition is very tough in the Asian Games. However, our shooters must at least finish in the top eight bracket in their respective events,” said team manager Adam Tee.

MNCF rather not send a team at all

DESPITE their surprise exclusion from next month’s Asian Games, the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) has decided not to send the track endurance squad under Category B.

While disappointed with their exclusion from Category A which would have seen the team fully funded to compete in the Asian Games, the MNCF has left it to coach Harnizam on the next course of action, And he has accepted the decision.

“We will support and complement, based on the athletes’ centred, coach-driven philosophy, so it is up to the coach,” said MNCF track committee chairman Datuk Naim Mohamad.

Harnizam, on Saturday, stated the team had accepted the sports ministry’s decision to exclude them from the Asian Games because of the lack of potential to deliver medals.

The track endurance squad have now shifted focus to racing in road events to prepare for an assault on the 2015 Sea Games team time trial.

“In this case, if Harnizam has already accepted the decision, then we will not fight the case. There is nothing we can do,” said Naim.

Wen Yan to see dentist ahead of Asiad

Choo Wen Yan is hoping to steal the show from his more illustrious rivals in the 10m air pistol and 50m free pistol events in Incheon.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pistol shooter Choo Wen Yan will make a trip to the dentist now that he is making the trip to the Incheon Asian Games in South Korea.

Wen Yan, Zubair Muhammad and double trap specialist Edward Khor and his son Benjamin Khor were the four extra shooters given the nod by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) on Tuesday to compete in the Games from Sept 19-Oct 4.

They will go under Category B, meaning their expenses will be borne by the National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM).

With the inclusion of the four, shooting will have 12 participants.

The shooters going under Category A are SEA Games pistol champion Eddy Chew, Johnathan Wong, Mohd Ezuan Nasir, Hadafi Jaafar (men), Nur Suryani Taibi, Nur Ayuni Farhana Halim, Muslifah Zulkifli and Alia Sazana Azahari (women).

Former World Cup silver medallist Joseline Cheah, Bibiana Ng, Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan and Khalel Abdullah were dropped following their poor performances at the recent Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The 21-year-old Wen Yan was delighted when he heard that he was included for the Asiad.

“I didn’t have the time to fix my two teeth since I fell from a bicycle after training in January.

“I will see a dentist tomorrow (Wednesday). I don’t want to head to Incheon with my partially-chipped teeth.

“I hope the dentist can do something about it as I want to look good for the photographers when I take aim during the competition.

“I thought I had no chance of going for the Asiad after the Commonwealth Games as I only finished 10th in the free pistol. I am so happy with the news,” he said.

Wen Yan is hoping to steal the show from his more illustrious rivals in the 10m air pistol and 50m free pistol events in Incheon.

“I broke the 10m air pistol at a local meet in April by posting 581 points while I have a personal best of 548 in the free pistol event.

“I am posting better scores in training now. Hopefully, I can do better than in Glasgow,” said Wen Yan.

At the last Asian Games in Guangzhou, Malaysia only managed to win a bronze through Nur Suryani in the 10m air rifle event.

 

Only seven swimmers picked for Asiad

Kevin Yeap is among the seven selected for the five-man 4x200m freestyle relay squad.

KUALA LUMPUR: Only seven swimmers will compete in next month’s Incheon Asian Games in South Korea.

The seven selected are five members of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay squad – Kevin Yeap, Lim Ching Hwang, Welson Sim, Vernon Lee and reserve Alywn Tan. The two women picked are Khoo Cai Lin and Chui Lai Kwan.

Kevin, Ching Hwang, Welson and Vernon broke the national record twice en route to reaching the 4x200m freestyle final in Glasgow. They finished seventh and were ahead of rivals Singapore.

The seven will go under Category A, meaning the expenses will be borne by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong said the six juniors – double SEA Games champion Christina Loh, Yap Siew Hui, Erika Kong, Nadia Adrianna Redza, Shaun Yap and Tern Jian Han – who competed in the Commonwealth Games failed to make the cut.

“They did not swim anywhere near their personal best times, so we cannot consider them for the Asiad,” added Edwin.

For diving, Malaysia will be entering nine competitors.

Commonwealth Games 3m springboard champion Ooi Tze Liang will lead the men’s squad. The others are Chew Yi Wei and Ahmad Amsyar.

The women divers picked are Pandelela Rinong, Leong Mun Yee, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, Cheong Jun Hoong, Loh Zhiayi and Nur Dhabitah Sabri.

Malaysia will also be represented in the duet event in synchronised swimming. The three selected are Tasha Jane, Katrina Ann Hadi and Lee Yhing Huey.

“We are not expecting a medal from them. We are sending a team as they need to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympic qualifiers. Many of the judges will be on duty at the Asiad and we need to expose our synchronised swimmers to them,” said Edwin.

Danyal jamin aksi buruk tak berulang

Kuala Lumpur: Persembahan ‘suam-suam kuku’ kontinjen negara di temasya Sukan Komanwel Glasgow menyebabkan Chef de Mission (CDM) Datuk Danyal Balagopal (gambar) memberi jaminan episod memalukan di bumi Scotland itu tidak akan berulang di Sukan Asia Incheon dari 19 September hingga 4 Oktober ini.

Justeru Danyal menegaskan pemilihan atlet dan pasukan yang akan dihantar kali ini yang terbaik berdasarkan prestasi semasa dan bukannya hadir sekadar mencari pendedahan atau melengkapkan penyertaan semata-mata.

“Nama-nama atlet yang akan bertanding sudah diserahkan kepada saya, namun jika ada sebarang perubahan, persatuan terbabit perlu melakukannya sebelum 21 Ogos ini kerana pada tarikh itu undian bagi semua acara individu mahupun berpasukan akan dilakukan.

“Selain itu, saya masih tidak boleh menyatakan sasaran pingat waktu ini kerana selepas ini akan ada Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Penilaian yang membabitkan MSN (Majlis Sukan Negara), ISN (Institut Sukan Negara) dan agensi berkaitan untuk duduk berbincang mengenai perkara ini.

“Jika kita rasa tidak realistik kita akan ubah kerana kita juga tahu mengenai prestasi semasa atlet negara. Lagipun, kita tidak mahu mendedahkan sasaran terlalu awal kerana kita enggan memberi tekanan kepada atlet. Mungkin pada 11 September nanti, Menteri Sukan (Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar) akan umumkan sasaran pingat buat kontinjen.

“Suka saya ingatkan di sini, kehadiran atlet kita ke sana berdasarkan prestasi semasa dan bukannya kerana ingin memperbaharui rekod kutipan pingat pada edisi lalu saja,” katanya ketika ditemui pada Mesyuarat Pengurus-pengurus Pasukan di Pejabat Majlis Olimpik Malaysia semalam.

Dalam mesyuarat yang turut dihadiri Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) ISN Datuk Dr Ramlan Abdul Aziz itu, kontijen negara akan menjalani kem latihan pusat di IOI Palm Garden di Putrajaya, pada 8 hingga 12 September ini.

Not Easy To Be Selected For National Duty - CDM

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) will not easily recognise any category B athlete listed by sport associations to join the national contingent to the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea if the athlete's performance can tarnish the image of the country.

Asian Games chef-de-mission (CDM) Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah stressed that the selection of athletes, including in category B, undergo a stringent selection process to ensure there are no 'passengers' in the contingent.

"Even if they agree to pay or willing to pay, we will not necessarily give the green light and endorsement if their presence there would smear the national image.

"We don't want them to go there and get thrashed. Like boxing, if they are knocked down in the first round, it's not exposure anymore," he told reporters after chairing the Asian Games selection committee meeting here on Monday.

At the post-mortem meeting last week, OCM agreed not to list athletes in several sport events and changed the status of several sports to category B from category A, following their dismal performances at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, recently.

Following the OCM decision, several sports associations had submitted appeals to increase the number of athletes and retain their status in category A before the final date for appeal (Aug 21).

According to Danyal, among the associations which had submitted appeals included rugby and hockey which were previously in category A but downgraded to category B, plus archery and shooting.

Meanwhile, Danyal said 288 athletes and 133 officials would join the national contingent to the Asian Games this time.

He said, all athletes and officials including team managers would join the final centralised training camp from Sept 8-12 at the IOI Palm Garden Resort in Serdang and the handing over of the Jalur Gemilang would be held on Sept 11.

"This time, it is compulsory for all team managers to attend. We want to create a spirit of love for the nation. We want, upon our arrival in Incheon, to have one spirit of being Malaysians.

"The team or athletes abroad will mostly head direct to Incheon, and the first group will depart from Malaysia on Sept 12," he said.

As for the medal target, Danyal said all sport associations and athletes were given a form to fill up their target before being submitted to the selection committee to be analysed, following which an announcement on the medal target would be made.

Rafiq and Timmy going to Incheon

BOWLERS Rafiq Ismail and Timmy Tan have justified their spots for next month’s Asian Games in Incheon after both impressed national coach Holloway Cheah in the just-concluded World Youth Championships in Hong Kong.

Rafiq and Timmy, who were members of last year’s World Championships squad, helped Malaysia clinch a silver medal in the team event in that competition.
The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) is expected to finalise its 12-member squad for the Asian Games this week.

Guangzhou Asian Games double gold medallist Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Zulmazran Zulkifli, Syimir Abdul Razak, Jonathan Ding Sagan and former AMF World Cup champion Syafiq Ridhwan Malek are those in contention for the assignment in Incheon.

Holloway will likely opt for Alex Liew, Adrian Ang, Zulmazran Zulkifli and Syafiq Ridhwan along with Rafiq and Timmy to make up the six-member team.

Shalin Zulkifli, Sin Li Jane and Esther Cheah are expected to lead the women’s team while Siti Safiyah Amirah Abdul Rahman, Syaidatul Afifah Badrul Hamidi, Radin Nur Najwa Arifah Radin Dzulfakar, Natasha Roslan and Victoria Chin will battle for the other three spots.

Holloway, who is currently testing his bowlers on the tournament’s short and long oiling patterns, said: “Based on my assessment, the long oil is easier than the short oil. The Asian Games will be using the ‘Fire’ oiling patterns, which is more slick and durable. My bowlers are responding well but are focusing more on short oil.

“It will be my last Asian Games as at 72, I don’t think I will be coaching the national team in the next edition. It is going to be tough as South Korea, the reigning world champions, would want to clean sweep the 12 gold medals on offer.

“Malaysia, as the second best in Asia, are capable of stopping them. Our best bet for gold will be in the opening events, where normally most teams will struggle on the lanes. Of course, we are also targeting the men’s and women’s team events.”

On the selection of bowlers for the Asian Games, MTBC secretary Cheah Ban Cheng said those who bowled in the world youth meet will be considered for the competition.

“The boys’ team comprising Rafiq, Timmy, Jonathan and back-up bowler Ahmad Muaz Fishol did very well in Hong Kong and we are seriously looking at them. We will also assess the bowlers in the girls’ team.”

Ban Cheng said those selected will be grounded from competitions until the Asian Games.
“We want them to focus solely on making an impact in Incheon. We will also hold a team-building camp for those selected.”

Asian Games

THE Olympic Council of Malaysia’s (OCM) decision to drastically reduce the national contingent to the Incheon Asian Games has affected sports expected to contribute medals, like karate, which will not be able to field its full complement of athletes.

The Malaysian Karate Federation (Makaf) has only been allowed to send six exponents despite the competition rules allowing for each country to compete in eight events.

Makaf has, nonetheless, asked OCM to register eight athletes before it decides on which six to send to Incheon, where the karate competition takes place on Oct 2-4.

The eight registered athletes will compete at the KOI World Cup meet in Okinawa on Aug 30-31 which Makaf will use as its final selection ground.

“All those we have registered for the Asian Games will go to Okinawa and there, we will get an indication of how we will fare in Incheon,” said Makaf secretary-general Vincent Chen.
“This is because we expect all the countries who will be competing in the Asian Games to send their best exponents to Okinawa.

“So from the eight, we will drop two athletes and the rest will go on to Turkey and Egypt for more tournaments in the final phase of preparation for the Asian Games.”
Makaf has registered four men and four women, all Asian Games rookies.

They are 2013 Sea Games gold medallists Lim Chee Wei (men’s kata), S. Senthil Kumaran (men’s kumite -60kg), A. Nisha (women’s -55kg), Syakila Salni (women’s -61kg) and S. Shree Sharmini (women’s +67kg).

Sea Games silver medallist R. Shamendran (men’s -67kg), J. Sharma (men’s -75kg) and Nur Eleena Anis Ab Malek (women’s -60kg) are the others.

Malaysia won two gold medals in Guangzhou four years ago through R. Puvaneswaran (men’s -55kg) and Ku Jin Keat (men’s kata) but both have since retired.

G. Yamini and Jamaliah Jamaluddin won silver medals and Lim Lee Lee bronze in the women’s kata as Malaysia finished second in the karate medal tally behind Japan but that achievement will be tough to emulate this time.