Category: Sports

KUALA LUMPUR, High determination and sheer perseverance has kept young goalkeeper Che Shahrul Azmi Che Saufi on track, allaying fears of early premature retirement until now, finally getting a chance to earn his stripes with the national men’s hockey team.

The 23-year-old player from Negeri Sembilan revealed that he once felt hopelessly adrift when he could not get a national call-up despite helping the country’s under-18 hockey 5-a-side (Hockey 5s) squad win the gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“There are many who would have quit, but I know what my standard is, so I kept looking forward to the next tournaments,” he said during a training session with the ‘Speedy Tigers’ at Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium today.

Sticking to that grit, Che Shahrul continued his passion to help Malaysia win the silver medal at the World Cup Hockey 5s in Oman earlier this year, in addition to a sterling run in his 2024 Malaysian Hockey League debut to help Nurinsafi (Sporting) finis
h in fourth place.

This managed to hook the heart of manager Sarjit Singh to finally call him to join the Speedy Tigers training camp last month.

Although this is the first time he has been called up to the senior training squad, Che Shahrul believes he can make it to the final 18-player list for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup (May 4-11) squad in Ipoh, Perak, out of 30 players who are in training camp now.

He faces stiff competition from experienced players such as Muhammad Hafizuddin Othman, Muhamad Zaimi Mat Deris and Adrian Andy Albert to grab two goalkeeper positions for the invitational tournament.

Sarjit will announce the squad to defend the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on May 1, after the friendly match against New Zealand in Ipoh.

Malaysia, ranked 13th in the world, will start the campaign against three-time champions Pakistan on May 4, followed by action against Canada (May 5), two-time champions New Zealand (May 7), Japan (May 8) and three-time champions South Korea (May 10).

Based on the format of the to
urnament, the top two teams in each round of the league will challenge for the championship, while the teams in third and fourth place will play in the third-place playoff.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The national Under-23 (U-23) football squad plans to do their best against Uzbekistan in their first match of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup in Qatar tomorrow, despite being the underdogs.

Head coach Juan Torres Garrido said Uzbekistan may be known as a strong and favourite team but his players are more than ready to meet any challenge.

“We know that facing this opponent is challenging but we are in our very best spirits after going through a long period of training.

“So we are happy to be here representing Malaysia and we are looking forward to improve our results,” he said at a virtual pre-match press conference today.

The Harimau Muda squad have been drawn in Group D, and will face Uzbekistan tomorrow, and then Vietnam on April 20, and finally Kuwait on April 23, after qualifying for the tournament for the third time, having played in 2018 and 2022.

The national squad’s best achievement in this tournament was reaching the quarterfinals in 2018 under Datuk Ong
Kim Swee.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Three national track cyclists led by Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang have unofficially qualified for the Paris Olympic Games in the sprint and keirin events, according to Asean Cycling Federation (ACF) secretary-general Datuk Amarjit Singh Gill.

He said the other two cyclists are Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri.

‘This is based on the points collected. Nurul Izzah competed in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Track Nations Cup in Canada yesterday and UCI will issue the latest rankings list this afternoon or tonight.

‘On April 22, the International Olympic Committee will send an official list (of qualifiers) to all National Olympic Committees,’ Amarjit, who is also a UCI committee member, told Bernama today.

So far, six Malaysians – Bertrand Rhodict Lises (diving), Nur Shazrin Mohd Latif (sailing), Johnathan Wong (shooting), Ariana Nur Dania Mohd Zairi (archery), Nur Aisyah Mohd Zubir (road cycling) and Mohamad Aniq Kasdan (weightlifting) – have confirmed thei
r places in the Paris Olympics, which will be held from July 26 to Aug 11.

If Nurul Izzah Izzati, 20, confirms her slot in the Olympics, the Kedahan will be joining Bertrand Rhodict and Ariana Nur Dania, both 19; Mohamad Aniq, 22; and Nur Shazrin and Nur Aisyah, both 26 – in making their Olympics debut.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

SERDANG, The country’s seven-a-side (7s) rugby squad have big dreams of accomplishing two important missions at the Southeast Asian 7s (SEA 7s) Championship that will take place in Singapore this May 2-3.

The head coach of the national 7s men’s rugby squad Nik Safuan Ismade Nik Man said his men must show encouraging performances to book a final slot as stipulated by the National Sports Council and Malaysia Rugby (MR).

In addition, they also need to run up as many game minutes as possible to improve their stamina before going to the Asia Rugby Seven Series Championship this September and November.

“We want to reach the final and at the same time need to pack in playing minutes for the main tournament which is the Asia Rugby Seven Series in South Korea and China in September while in Bangkok in November.

“(After all, this is) a combination between (six) new players and old players. If all goes according to script, there is no problem because the majority of them have at least played once in the local leagu
e,” he told Bernama after a training session at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) pitch here today.

Nik Safuan reminded his men not to take the international challenge lightly, which will see action by seven other countries namely Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia and the invited team of Taiwan.

He said at this time, it is important that the national players are free from injuries to ensure they are in fighting mood, starting with the friendly match with the Singapore team this Saturday (April 20) at the Mount Austin Rugby Stadium in Johor Bahru.

‘There are three countries that we need to be wary of, which are Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines, while the friendly match will be more about maintaining the bond between players and seeing what our weaknesses are.

‘Even Singapore will not settle for the main players. They are also trying to find core players in that (friendly match) so I have not set any KPI (key performance indicator),’ he said.

Nik Safuan, 43, who is a
former national player, said voting for the group draw will most likely only be known next week.

The Southeast Asian 7s tournament will take place at Jurong Stadium in Singapore except for the final which will be held at the Singapore National Stadium.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The national track cycling camp endured another poor show as they finished empty-handed at the 2024 UCI (International Cycling Union) Track Nations Cup campaign in Milton, Canada, on Sunday.

In the men’s sprint event, Muhammad Ridwan Sahrom crashed out early in the qualifying round at the Mattamy National Track Cycling Centre.

The gold medal went to Dutch rider Harrie Lavresyen who edged out Surinamese rider Jair Tjon En Fa who had to settle for silver.

Meanwhile, national female cyclist Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri had to settle for eighth place in the keirin event.

Kedah-born Nurul Izzah had previously raced in the repechage round before finishing sixth in the second round thus qualifying for the final.

The gold medal went to New Zealand cyclist Ellesse Andrews.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

Hanoi: The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has announced the final list of 23 players for Vietnam’s U23 team to participate in the upcoming AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 in Qatar.

Accordingly, four players will miss out on the trip to the Asian tournament. They are goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, defenders Nguyen Thanh Khai and Nguyen Duc Anh, and midfielder Ha Van Phuong.

Coach Hoang Anh Tuan stated that the selection was carefully made after detailed discussions and evaluations based on the players’ recent training and friendly matches. The main criteria were technical skills, current form, and the ability to meet the tactical requirements of the team.

Vietnam, drawn in Group D, will face Kuwait, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan in the final stage. The team has been in Qatar since April 8, undergoing intensive training, which included a warm-up match against Jordan.

Vietnam will start their campaign against Kuwait on April 17, followed by matches against Malaysia on April 20 and Uzbekistan on April 23./.

Source: Vietn
am News Agency

Hanoi: The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) announced on April 15 that its President Tran Quoc Tuan has been appointed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as head of the AFC delegation at the ongoing U23 Asian Football Championship finals in Qatar.

Tuan is now Chairman of the AFC Competition Committee for the 2023-2027 tenure, member of the Organising Committee for the Asian Cup for the 2023-2027 tenure, Chairman of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) Competition Committee for the 2022-2026 term, and member of the AFF Finance Committee.

He was appointed by the AFC as the Football Manager for the Incheon 2014 ASIAD and the Hangzhou 2023 ASIAD, and he is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Asian Cup 2024 finals in Qatar.

In the 2024 U23 Asian Championship finals, the Vietnam U23 team is in Group D along with Kuwait, Malaysia and Uzbekistan. They will face U23 Kuwait on April 17, Malaysia on April 20 and Uzbekistan on April 23./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency