Category: Sports

SINGAPORE, Singapore’s only Olympic gold medallist, Joseph Schooling, has announced his retirement from competitive swimming on Tuesday.

Schooling, who made history for the republic by winning a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in the 100m butterfly event, thanked his family, coaches, teammates, and supporters for their encouragement throughout his career.

‘I am filled with gratitude for every experience that swimming has brought into my life. The victories were exhilarating, the defeats humbling, and together, they have forged a resilience in me that I will carry forward into my next chapter,’ he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Schooling said he is eager to explore new passions and face new challenges in the next phase of his life.

‘Thank you to my supporters for standing by me every step of the way. I hope you will join me as I embark on this new adventure,’ he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has refuted claims that it did not assist Harimau Malaya in the squad’s preparation for the two Group D matches of the second round of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers against Oman last month.

Its president, Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said the ‘less-than-ideal preparation’ by the squad under coach Kim Pan Gon was due to unavoidable technical problems.

He said the issue then was not being able to gather the players faced at that time was that the players could not be gathered as it was outside the International Football Federation (FIFA) international match calendar.

Hence, he said, it affected the original plan to send the national squad to a central training camp and play two friendly matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“Kim Pan Gon requested to go to the UAE or anywhere to play two friendly matches with a club. We looked for it, but when we were negotiating, some (local) clubs refused to release their players. How can we go with f
ive people…we did want to go early (to the UAE).

‘I also spoke to Kim Pan Gon if it was possible not to fight with a club, (but) with a country, but at that time it was outside the FIFA international match calendar… (and) because of that we went to Oman early,” he told a press conference after the FAM’s 60th annual congress in Subang Jaya, yesterday.

He said this in response to the allegation that Harimau Malaya’s two defeats to Oman were due to Pan Gon’s requests not being fulfilled by FAM.

When asked about Pan Gon’s request for the 2024/2025 Malaysia League to be played earlier instead of in May, Hamidin said the request could not be accommodated as it could slow down all the preparations made by the Malaysian Football League (MFL).

Based on FIFA’s regulations on the status and transfer of players, it is not compulsory to release players outside the international match calendar, and this resulted in some of the 33 national players going to the national squad’s central training camp at Wisma FAM, Kel
ana Jaya, which started on March 8, about a week later due to commitments with their respective clubs.

Harimau Malaya’s two consecutive 0-2 defeats to Oman in the Group D action of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers last month, dropped the squad to third position with six points, three points behind Kyrgyzstan and Oman who collected nine points in the top two positions.

The situation requires Malaysia to win in the remaining two matches against Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan in June to qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers and secure an early spot for the 2027 Asian Cup as the top two teams in the group.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin confirmed not receiving any letter from Harimau Malaya head coach Kim Pan Gon, who is rumoured to be leaving the team.

According to Hamidin, the rumours were an attempt to create controversy following two consecutive 0-2 defeats to Oman in the Group D action of the 2026 World Cup/2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers last month, dropping to third position with six points after having topped the group.

“Pan Gon himself has denied news reports which cited sources as saying that he has sent a letter to FAM and is ready to leave the Harimau Malaya squad,” he told a press conference after the 60th FAM Annual Congress in Subang Jaya, yesterday.

Recently, the national football arena was rocked by news reports that Pan Gon and his coaching staff had sent a letter to FAM and were prepared to leave the national team if their services were no longer needed.

However, in a statement on FAM’s official Facebook the same day, the 54-year-old coach from
South Korea denied the news report and expressed his commitment to the team until his contract ends at the end of next year.

Pan Gon said his main mission is to get Malaysia to qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers and secure an early spot for the 2027 Asian Cup.

Meanwhile, Hamidin also denied that Pan Gon’s assistant coach, Pau Marti Vicente, had left the team as he was not seen on the bench during the match against Oman at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last March 26.

“He was admitted to a hospital on March 23, which is a day after the national squad returned from Muscat, Oman, for health problems.

“He was warded for six days and was only discharged on March 28. Pau Marti is still with the Harimau Malaya squad,” said Hamidin.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, National squash queen S. Sivasangari made history after emerging as the champion of the inaugural edition of the London Classic Squash by knocking out world number two Hania El Hammamy of Egypt in the final stage on Monday.

The 2022 Asian Games champion, however, had to sweat before creating a surprise with a 3-2 result over El Hammamy at the gold-standard Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour at Alexandra Palace, London.

Sivasangari, ranked 13th in the world, started well when she managed to win 11-9 in the first set before El Hammamy came back to record an 11-5 victory in the second set.

In the third set, the control of the game turned out to be more in Sivasangari’s favour when she came back in front with a 13-11 third-set victory, but El Hammamy was not ready to wave the white flag again to close the score with a 14-12 victory.

In the deciding set, armed with the momentum of two surprising victories over world number one Nour El Sherbini from Egypt (quarter-final) and world n
umber four Nele Gilis from Belgium (semi-final), the 25-year-old player proved that she is more than worthy of winning the championship when scoring an 11-8 victory over El Hammamy.

It was Sivasangari’s second win over El Hammamy in six meetings.

“There’s no word to summarise it but I’m very pleased with how I handled myself this week by beating the top ten players three times. They’re all really good players.

“Just happy with the way I managed to win the tournament actually,” she said.

The victory allowed Sivasangari to take home a cash prize of US$17,598 (RM83,141).

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Perbadanan Padang Golf Subang (PPGS), a Federal Statutory Body under the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) in collaboration with iDataRaya Sdn Bhd launched a Golf Simulator at the Menara KBS here tonight.

PPGS Chief Executive Officer, Megat Mohd Shahrin Mohamed Hamdan said the project is in line with the ‘Sports for All’ initiative, providing access to civil servants and the public to experience the game of golf themselves.

He said the golf simulator is also in line with the Rakan Muda initiative, namely Rakan Aktif and Rakan Digital which are being actively promoted by KBS.

“My hope is that the stigma of golf being an elitist sport in this country can be dispelled with projects like this under PPGS and KBS with the assistance of the private sector,” he told reporters.

Megat Mohd Shahrin said the simulator can only be used after Hari Raya Aidilfitri as it is still waiting for some equipment.

He explained that it can be used free of charge for the first six months to encourage public particip
ation but there will be reasonable charges after that period.

“…outside might be RM70 to RM80 but here (maybe charge) RM10 for half an hour,” he said.

Earlier, Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh officiated the launch of the Golf Simulator. Also present was her deputy Adam Adli Abd Halim.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, He is a busy man but Kuala Lumpur (KL) City FC patron Fahmi Fadzil’s priority is to help the City Boys go through the pre-season build-up perfectly, ahead of the 2024/2025 Malaysia League competition which is scheduled to start next month.

Fahmi said he wants to ensure that all KL City’s needs are managed well so that the 2021 Malaysia Cup champions would be ready to kick off the new season.

The Minister of Communications said that he recently met Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Seri Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh to discuss the commercial agreement between Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and KL City.

“I want to ensure that issues such as salaries, the level of readiness of this stadium (Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium), so we focus a lot on some basic things,” he said at the squad’s training session at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras here tonight.

He said this when asked if he was ready to lead the Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) following its former president Khalid Abdul Samad’s resig
nation last month.

He said he is willing to consider leading the KLFA in the future, to ensure that it is steered well besides helping affiliated members and the teams under his umbrella.

In the meantime, Fahmi said the presence of Harimau Malaya star midfielder Brendan Gan, who has just joined KL City, can inject positive elements into the team.

‘I believe he (Brendan) will add fuel to the spirit of my friends in the team in preparation for the start of the season in May,’ he said.

Brendan joined KL City after being with Selangor FC for three years from 2020 until last season.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The sterling success of national squash queen S. Sivasangari winning the London Classic Squash Championship has given a new sheen to the national hunt for the sport’s inaugural gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to national squash legend Datuk Nicol Ann David.

The country’s former squash queen described Sivasangari’s outstanding performance as her additional tonic to hunt for gold at the prestigious quadrennial Games, not to mention that she managed to sweep aside three players in the world’s top 10 in one tournament.

‘I think it is amazing what Sivasangari has accomplished, she is working very hard, she was able to beat the number one, two and four in the world all in one tournament. It is really a great achievement and I’m glad she could use that momentum from the quarter-finals right up to the final, I’m very proud of her.

‘I’m wishing her all the best because we know what it takes to get that point and moving forward with a positive boost for the next tournament,’ she told
Bernama today.

In the meantime, Nicol said Sivasangari should plan carefully, given that the Los Angeles Olympics is still far ahead.

She said the 24-year-old athlete should use the available time to prepare thoroughly.

‘I think everyone has a goal for gold, I think for Sivasangari, she still has four years to go, we are all here supporting her, a lot of things can happen, and it is up to her what she wants to do,’ Nicol said.

Meanwhile, another former national squash player, Sharon Wee, described the excellent display by Sivasangari as being able to restore Malaysia’s glory days for squash.

‘Sivasangari is ranked 13th in the world, so the top 10 is definitely in hand, top 5 highly possible, and number one is possible, but to get to that process, we have to give her space to grow bigger, she has already done well to win a gold medal, the opportunity is definitely there,’ Sharon said.

In the meantime, Sharon, who is also the deputy president of the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM), describe
d Sivasangari as a fighter, for rising and creating history following a horrific road accident she suffered in June 2022.

‘She is very strong mentally and, at the same time, working hard to achieve the mission, and the way she plays is very aggressive and smart, she really deserves to receive incentives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) for her success,’ Sharon said.

Sivasangari made history after emerging as the champion of the inaugural edition of the London Classic Squash Championship by knocking out world number two Hania El Hammamy of Egypt in the final on Monday.

In the tournament, she also eliminated world number four Nele Gilis in the semi-finals on Sunday, after shocking world number one Nour El Sherbini in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Sivasangari also created a sensation when she gave the Malaysian contingent a gold medal in the women’s singles at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games (held in September 2023) by defeating Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency