Maniam continues to shine as he receives honorary membership with WSF
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
14 hours ago
- The Star
Stern China test awaits Pearly-Thinaah in semi-finals
National women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah in action against China's Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian in the semi-final match of Malaysian Masters at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil on Saturday. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's fine form this year will be put to the test when they face home pair Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian in the China Open semi-finals today. Pearly-Thinaah booked their spot in the last four with a commanding 21-16, 21-12 win in over Japan's world No. 9 Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in just 39 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou yesterday. The world No. 3 are now just one victory away from reaching back-to-back finals after finishing runners-up in the Japan Open in Tokyo last week. World No. 7 Yifan-Shuxian though have proved to be a tough pair to get past for Pearly-Thinaah before this. The Malaysians have only beaten the Chinese duo once in their past four meetings but are hoping to continue their strong form by overcoming the latter. "Everything worked well for both of us today (yesterday)," said Thinaah in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF). "There were times when we were under pressure but the support that Pearly and the coaches gave really helped and we hope to continue this momentum tomorrow (today). Pearly said: "We knew their attack is quite strong, so we were well prepared with our defence. "I think we did well on this, so I'm very happy with today's (yesterday) match. "There's still room for improvement and we are working on getting better. We are trying to improve our consistency." Yifan-Shuxian were also impressive in the last eight, easily overcoming another Malaysian duo, world No. 22 Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee 21-7, 21-15 in only 34 minutes. Mei Xing said that Yifan-Shuxian have improved after playing together for nearly a year. "Our opponents played very well today (yesterday). We could not cope with their speed," Mei Xing told the Badminton World Federation (BWF). "Their combination is very smooth compared to when they started playing together. Now, their shots and rotation are difficult to play against. "We can learn a lot from their speed, power and tactics." Now, it's Pearly-Thinaah's turn to try to stop Yifan-Shuxian, who will also have the home support behind them. Women's doubles coach Rosman Razak has an important task - come up with a winning strategy for his charges. Pearly-Thinaah will be attempting to reach their fifth final of the year after capturing the Thailand Open and finishing second in the Indonesian Open and Masters to go with their runners-up finish in Japan. The pair are also looking to maintain their form ahead of the World Championships from Aug 25-31 in Paris.
The Star
16 hours ago
- The Star
Junior shuttlers end up empty-handed at Asian C'ships
Women's double Dania Sofea Zaidi and Low Zi Yu in action during the Petronas Under 18 Championship.(25th Apirl 2025)--RONNIE CHIN/The Star PETALING JAYA: Malaysia endured a disappointing campaign in the Asian Junior Championships after the shuttlers failed to win any medals. Dania Sofea Zaidi-Low Zi Yu, who were the country's best hope for a medal, could not get past China's Cao Zihan-Chen Fan Shutian in the girls' doubles quarter-finals, losing 19-21, 12-21 in Solo, Indonesia yesterday. The defeat was a bitter pill to swallow for Dania-Zi Yu, who captured silver in the World Junior Championships last year and have emerged as one of the most promising doubles pairs in the country. It was also heartbreak in the mixed doubles for Dania and Datu Anif Isaac and Loh Ziheng-Nuraqilah Maisarah Ramdan. Anif-Dania were on course for a win over China's Chen Junting-Zihan after narrowly winning the first game 23-21 but could not maintain their form and lost 7-21, 13-21 in the next two games. Earlier, Malaysian Junior International Challenge champions Ziheng-Nuraqilah also could not raise their game against Indonesia's Ikhsan Pramudya-Rinjani Nastine and suffered an 18-21, 12-21 defeat in 39 minutes. The defeats were especially painful as reaching the last four will have guaranteed at least a bronze. The shuttlers also missed out on a medal in the mixed team event after losing to eventual champions China in the quarter-finals. The poor outing was a far cry from last year's edition where Malaysia won a silver through Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing (boys' doubles), and three bronzes through Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting (girls' doubles) Siti Zulaikha Azmi (girls' singles) and the mixed team. The junior coaches have to urgently raise the standards of their charges before the World Junior Championships from Oct 6-19 in Guwahati, India.
The Star
18 hours ago
- The Star
Young track cyclists hopeful of making history at World Juniors in Holland
National track cyclist Sawda Hasbullah in action during the Women Junior Category Time Trial Final at Asian Track Championship 2025 at the National Velodrome in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.— MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star PETALING JAYA: The time is right for the track cyclists to make history at the World Junior Championships in Apeldoorn, Holland, from Aug 20-24. At the last edition of the championships in China, Herman Terryn guided budding track cyclist Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid to a historic feat by qualifying for the keirin final. However, she crashed after taking the lead in the final stretch of the race. The French coach is now banking on former world record holder and double Asian junior champion Sawda Hasbullah, Nur Umairah Qhaisara Zulfikha Razak, Luqman Haqim Ali Badrun and Yu Jing Liang to deliver a podium finish. The French coach said preparations for Apeldoorn are in their final stretch and the riders have shown improvement since the Asian Cycling Championships in Nilai in February. "The riders have been showing good progress, especially in July. We had to negotiate with their schools to get more training time. Umairah and Sawda are less fatigued after training now compared to the March to June period," said Terryn. "We are tapering down the training towards the competition. We can't work on the riders' physique anymore — the focus now is on fast recovery. We don't want them to be exhausted during the World Junior Championships. "We want the riders to have the best possible recovery. Training in the final weeks will be very specific, focusing on replicating race cadence. I hope we can return with a medal this time." Sawda, who was the standout performer at the Asian meet in February with gold medals in the women's sprint and time trial, as well as silver in the team sprint, will be Malaysia's main medal hope. The Melaka lass had set a world record of 1:10.818s in the 1km time trial in February but the mark has since been surpassed by Erin Boothman of Britain, who clocked 1:08.092s at the European Junior Championships in Portugal last week.
