Latest news with #RTG
The Star
a day ago
- Sport
- The Star
BAM open for pros Sze Fei-Izzuddin to train under Herry
Duo on a mission: Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani will be defending their China Open title in the tourney starting today in Changzhou. PETALING JAYA: Independent men's doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani can train under coach Herry Iman Pierngadi through a win-win arrangement with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). If both sides are agreeable, pros Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who are currently under the Road to Gold (RTG) Olympic programme, can work with BAM to arrange scheduled joint training sessions under Herry. BAM secretary-general Kenny Goh said that the national body had always been open for professionals to train at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) on a scheduled basis. 'We have no problems to accept them to train with us, perhaps on a scheduled basis. At the moment, there isn't any request from them,' said Kenny. Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who left BAM at the end of August last year to turn independent, seemed interested to return to the national fold a few months ago but they did not follow through. The possibility may have been more attractive for the duo due to the presence of Herry, who replaced Tan Bin Shen as the men's doubles head coach in February. The legendary Indonesian has already made his mark, guiding Aaron-Wooi Yik to the Asian Championships, Singapore Open and Thailand Open titles and helped Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun triumph in the Malaysian Masters. Sze Fei-Izzuddin also had praised Herry's coaching after taking part in joint training sessions in the lead-up to the Sudirman Cup in April. After a dip in form, the pair seem to have regained some of their best performances in the Japan Open where they finished runners-up to South Korea's Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho in Tokyo on Sunday. It was Sze Fei-Izzuddin's first final since capturing the Indian Open in January. The pair are next attempting to defend their China Open title in the tourney starting today in Changzhou. Sze Fei-Izzuddin have a tricky opening match against South Korea's Kang Min-hyuk-Ki Dong-ju. Meanwhile, Aaron-Wooi Yik will face Denmark's Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard in the first round and will be out to make amends after a shock opening round exit at the hands of fellow Malaysians Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in Japan. The other Malaysians in the fray in the men's doubles are Wei Chong-Kai Wun, Yew Sin-Ee Yi, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian.
The Star
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Star
BAM are open for pros Sze Fei-Izzuddin to train under Herry
PETALING JAYA: Independent men's doubles shuttlers Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani can train under coach Herry Iman Piengadi through a win-win arrangement with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). If both sides are agreeable, pros Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who are currently under the Road to Gold (RTG) Olympic programme, can work with BAM to arrange scheduled joint training sessions under Herry. BAM secretary general Kenny Goh said that the national body had always been open for professionals to train at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) on a scheduled basis. "We have no problems to accept them to train with us, perhaps on a schedule basis. At the moment, there isn't any request from them," said Kenny. Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who left BAM at the end of August last year to turn independent, it seems had expressed an interest to return to the national fold a few months ago but they did not follow through. The possibility may have been more attractive for the duo due to the presence of Herry, who replaced Tan Bin Shen as the men's doubles head coach in February. The legendary Indonesian has already made his mark, guiding Aaron-Wooi Yik to the Asian Championships, Singapore Open and Thailand Open titles and helped Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun triumph in the Malaysian Masters. Sze Fei-Izzuddin also had praised Herry's coaching after taking part in joint training sessions in the lead-up to the Sudirman Cup in April. After a dip in form, the pair seem to have regained some of their best in the Japan Open where they finished runners-up to South Korea's Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho in Tokyo on Sunday. It was Sze Fei-Izzuddin's first final since capturing the Indian Open in January. The pair are next attempting to defend their China Open title in the tourney starting today in Changzhou. Sze Fei-Izzuddin have a tricky opening match against Korea's Kang Min-hyuk-Ki Dong-ju. Meanwhile, Aaron-Wooi Yik will face Denmark's Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard in the first round and will be out to make amends after a shock opening round exit at the hands of fellow Malaysians Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi in Japan. The other Malaysians in the fray in the men's doubles are Wei Chong-Kai Wun, Yew Sin-Ee Yi, Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian.
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Alstom report blamed soft tracks, design flaws for LRT derailment
The consortium that oversees Ottawa's LRT system and the French subcontractor that built its trains have long disagreed over a simple issue: Why did a train derail four years ago? They agree that a wheel hub assembly, which joins the axle to the wheel, failed. Bearings wore down too quickly. A nut came undone. In August 2021, that caused the assembly to fall apart. But they have differed over why this is happening. Publicly, their disagreements have been muted, aired only in the form of hints dropped during transit commission meetings. Alstom said forces from the rails were overloading the assemblies, and it recommended changes to the tracks. RTG resisted that, saying some changes needed further study. Now, after a year and a half of fighting through the freedom of information process, CBC has obtained a May 2023 report that reveals the true depth of that divide — a report in which Alstom clearly places the blame on the tracks, claiming they fall short of industry standards. Alstom says the tracks are softer than the wheels. It says restraining rails are incapable of preventing derailments, and might even be worsening rail kinks at critical spots. It says the rails were designed for the wrong temperature, and unexpectedly shift to the side. RTG has questioned the report, which was long withheld from the media and even city councillors, and urged Alstom to pursue a different solution: a full redesign of the wheel hub assembly. But the Alstom report casts doubt on that. It says fully redesigning the wheel hub assembly on its trains is neither necessary nor viable. Patrick Dumond, an engineering professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the monitoring and diagnosis of bearing faults, said the conclusions in the report aren't really surprising. "Alstom obviously has a vested interest in it not being their problem," Dumond said, noting that redesigning the axle hub would cost the company money, while changing the tracks would not. Still, he called the Alstom report thorough and said the problems it raises appear serious. He said they should be fixed, though doing so would be a costly proposition. "Ripping up rail is expensive," said Dumond. OC Transpo and RTG deferred questions about the report to an upcoming technical briefing on the status of current measures and next steps. Contentious recommendations Alstom's report, entitled "Ottawa LRT Recommendations for a Sustainable Solution," draws on a long list of earlier studies and the company's own testing. It says the failure that caused the 2021 derailment didn't stem from a manufacturing error, nor from the design of the axle hub assembly itself, but from excessive forces coming from the rails. The company said its testing found forces exceeded design limits by as much as 41 per cent on one curve. The report says adding lubricant could help relieve those forces. It also recommends making minute adjustments to improperly placed restraining rails, which run along the inner track at curves to prevent derailment, to stop them from striking the wheels. RTG agreed to those measures in October 2023, when a summary of the report was presented to city councillors. It resisted other recommendations that were mentioned in passing, though their full rationale was not spelled out. The report says the rails are much softer than standard industry rails, and even softer than the train wheels, which "is not standard industry practice." That results in greater rail wear, especially at curves, according to the report. That wear includes corrugation, a wavy pattern along the surface of the rail that can cause vibrations and increase friction, putting added forces on the trains. As a result, Alstom recommends replacing the soft rail with harder rail at curves, stations and other key areas. It recommends yet another change to the restraining them to the side might stop them from contacting the wheels, but it won't fix another problem. According to the report, the rails are also too short. They start and end within the curve of the rail, rather than extending into the straight portion of the track beyond. That's also contrary to industry practice, according to the report. "In its current configuration, the restraining rail is not capable of fulfilling its function of preventing a vehicle from derailing," the report says. Restraining rails also act like a splint, reinforcing the sections of track they run along. Ending them right at the entrance to a curve results in "an abrupt reduction in the stiffness of the track" and can cause kinks at a crucial spot. "A rail kink immediately before a curve spiral aggravates the increased stresses imposed on the vehicle by the curve," it says. Those kinks were in fact observed at five curves, according to the report. Alstom recommends that the restraining rails should be extended beyond the curve into the straight portions. As of the last update in May 2024, there were no plans to carry out those two recommendations. Assembly redesign questioned At that time, RTG said it had its own report casting doubt on Alstom's findings. It told a transit commission meeting that Ottawa's LRT "has no unique features and is currently maintained within the applicable standards." The report found nothing unusual that could damage the trains. Unlike in October 2023, Alstom did not attend last year's meeting. RTG CEO Nicholas Truchon said rail lubrication is more important than harder rail in reducing wear and controlling forces on the wheels. He said it's better to wait and see how it works "before jumping to conclusions and stripping down track." Truchon said RTG will consider harder rail, but only when rail comes up for normal replacement. He said the rail on Ottawa's LRT is allowed under RTG's contract and "is also part of the industry standard." If the problem stems from hard wheels and soft track, Truchon said it might also be easier to replace the wheels than to replace the track. Both RTG and OC Transpo have asked Alstom to design a new wheel hub assembly. Alstom later halted the work, but RTG later directed it to renew it. But in the 2023 report, Alstom said the current design will work fine if its recommendations for changes to the track infrastructure are completed. "While Alstom continues to investigate, new axle hub assembly concepts do not appear to be a viable sustainable solution for deployment across the Ottawa fleet," it said. "A full component redesign is a significant engineering undertaking, requiring extensive testing and validation, before production can even begin." It said a new design might sustain higher loads, but "would likely still be unable to sustain the most critical loads, as recorded during the instrumented axle tests." Dumond said fixing the tracks or fixing the trains shouldn't be an either/or choice. While it appears the tracks do have issues, there are also questions about the trains. The City of Ottawa asked Alstom to move 24,000 passengers per hour on a light rail system, Dumond noted. Those are subway-level volumes, pushing the limits of the vehicles and putting added pressure on the bearings. "I think if you're going to design a new train that's bigger and heavier and you're seeing problems, then I think you probably do want to fix it at the source of the problem, which is the wheel hub assembly," he said. "Make that robust enough to handle all loads that we're seeing in the train." Who blocked report's release? A short summary of the report was attached to a transit committee agenda in October 2023. At the time, Dumond said it was so vague that it shed little light on the actual root cause of the derailment. Alstom and RTG then appeared at council's transit commission that month to present elements of the report and to answer questions. They focused mainly on top-of-rail lubrication and preventing restraining rails from contacting wheels, largely glossing over the more contentious recommendations. Councillors did not receive the actual report, though many of the issues it raised had shown up in earlier studies. The city told CBC at the time that it was "working with Rideau Transit Group (RTG) and its partners to determine next steps regarding requests for documentation." CBC requested the original report through a freedom of information request in late 2023. The city soon agreed to provide several dozen key pages, though not the entire 1,000-page report. But a third party objected even to that, and appealed the decision to Ontario's information and privacy commissioner, saying the documents contain "sensitive technical and commercial information." The dispute went to mediation and then to an adjudicator, who found in CBC's favour. The third party's name was redacted throughout the process, though its submissions do reveal some clues to its identity. The party is a contractual partner of Alstom and is involved in ongoing legal disputes with the city.
The Star
7 days ago
- Sport
- The Star
Nicol urges caution over placing too high hopes on Sangari, Eain Yow at 2028 Olympics
Malaysia's S. Sivasangari defeated Japan's world N0. 7 Satomi Watanabe to reach the quarter-finals of the British Open squash championships for the first time. PETALING JAYA: It would be folly to put too high hopes on squash players S. Sivasangari and Ng Eain Yow to deliver the goods in the sport's Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028. National squash legend Datuk Nicol David warned that it is still too early to expect too much from Sivasangari and Eain Yow, adding that anything can happen in the next three years, including fiercer competition from other countries. World No. 8 Sivasangari has been placed in the Road to Gold programme this year while Eain Yow, by virtue of his current 12th position in the men's world rankings, is under the Fast Track programme. "It is too early. In three years, many things can happen. We don't want to put pressure on our athletes to win anything because squash is a new sport in Los Angeles,'' said Nicoll, who is also the founder of Nicol David Organisation (NDO). "Countries such as China and South Korea have also started investing aggressively in squash development knowing that the sport is going to be played in the Olympics for the first time. "The competition for LA28 is going to be more challenging with new dynamics coming into play. "Many countries are now spending big funds and aim to bring up many athletes to compete in the Olympics. We need to be fully prepared because the competition will only get tougher. "Malaysia cannot take anything for granted just because we also have players like Sivasangari and Eain Yow who are able to contend on the world stage.'' The former world No. 1 described the RTG and Fast Track initiatives as the best platform to help Sivasangari and Eain Yow compete with international players. "I am proud that squash is now standing in line with other elite sports when two of our country's representatives are selected to participate in this programme. RTG and Fast Track are the best form of support to help them reach a higher level."
New Straits Times
08-07-2025
- Health
- New Straits Times
Get the pros to exorcise your inner demons
This is part 2 of a three-part series on mental health of Malaysian athletes by Timesport KUALA LUMPUR: National athletes should not hesitate to seek help for mental health issues and there is no stigma in seeking professional support, said National Sports Institute (NSI) chief executive officer P. Vellapandian. Vellapandian, who is a trained sports psychologist, said mental health issues — including performance-related pressure, anxiety, depression or burnout — are becoming common in elite athletes. "If an athlete is struggling, I strongly encourage them to come forward and speak to us," he said. "The doors at NSI are always open. They can come directly to me or consult our sports psychologists. All sessions are confidential, and we will ensure they get the help they need." NSI offers a range of services related to both performance psychology and mental health. Vellapandian said NSI's psychologists usually work on areas such as goal setting, arousal control, injury recovery, confidence building and emotional regulation. These services are regularly used by athletes under the Podium Programme, Pelapis and Road to Gold (RTG) initiatives. However, in cases where an athlete's condition appears clinical — such as signs of depression or extreme anxiety — NSI will refer them to certified mental health specialists for a formal diagnosis and further treatment. "We have the tools and partnerships in place. If the issue is clinical, we will carry out an evaluation and refer them to a licensed mental health expert for proper treatment, including diagnosis and follow-up care." Vellapandian said global figures indicate that approximately 34 per cent of current elite athletes show symptoms of anxiety and depression, while the figures for retired athletes stand at around 26 per cent. Malaysian athletes, he added, are no exception. "Anxiety, depression, burnout, eating disorders — these are real issues. And they are common in high-performance sports, even if they are not often discussed." He said while most athletes are comfortable seeking help for performance-related matters, there is still some reluctance when it comes to addressing mental health from a clinical perspective. "There's still a stigma, especially when it comes to depression or anxiety. Athletes may feel like it's a weakness or worry about people think of them. "But mental health is just as important as physical health. In other countries, athletes walk into the mental health support rooms without hesitation. We want that same openness here." To help create a supportive environment, NSI psychologists also conduct field observations during training, in addition to one-on-one and group consultations. This allows them to detect behavioural changes that may not surface in formal sessions. "Mental health isn't only about performance. It involves an athlete's lifestyle, environment, personal experiences, even their spiritual grounding. We take all of that into account. "We have medical officers, recovery programmes, sports nutritionists, performance analysts, biomechanists — all working together. Vellapandian.
