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Daily Express
4 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Express
500 paddlers competing at State Championship
Published on: Friday, May 30, 2025 Published on: Fri, May 30, 2025 By: Wu Vui Tek Text Size: (Seated from second left) Edward, Roland and Chua together with the Kota Kinabalu team. Kota Kinabalu: About 500 paddlers representing 15 districts will compete at the Sabah state-level table tennis championship this weekend at Maksak Hall, Likas, here. The competition, running from May 30 to June 1, will be officiated by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ellron Alfred Angin. The paddlers will compete in the men's and women's team events, as well as the Under-10, 13, 15 and 19 categories for both boys and girls, said Sabah Table Tennis Association president Edward Chua. 'This is a big event hosted by Kota Kinabalu, who have won for three consecutive years so far. We are calling all ping pong supporters to come and watch the games,' said Edward after the presentation of team uniforms to the Kota Kinabalu team at its clubhouse at Wisma Hakka, here. The ceremony was officiated by the Chief Minister's Political Secretary Datuk Dr Roland Chia. The uniforms were sponsored by Kota Kinabalu Table Tennis Association (KKTTA) Advisor Datuk Chua Soon Ping. The championship also serves as a platform to select state players for the national under-10, 12, 15 and 19 tournaments, said Edward. Advertisement 'Every year we have three events to compete in, including the National Hopes, Youth, and Open Championships,' he said, adding that the national championship will be held in Penang in September 2025. This state championship is also an opportunity to gauge the potential of players for next year's Sabah Games, he added. In addition, he said they will hold the Table Tennis Clubs Championship, featuring between 30 and 40 clubs from Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, which will offer prize money of RM10,000 to the winning clubs. On the development of table tennis, he said so far, so good, as Kota Kinabalu has about five training centres, which are enough to cater to training and development programmes. 'We run development programmes to produce coaches and umpires. Every year, we conduct a Level 1 coaching course recognised by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), while every two years we hold a Level 2 coaching course,' he said. To date, he said Sabah has produced one female national player who is based in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. 'We will try to select promising young players from the state championship, and we hope to get strong support from parents to let their children be based in Bukit Jalil. 'Once selected, the players will be relocated to study from Form 1 to 5 in Bukit Jalil, but parents won't let them go, that is our main challenge,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia


Daily Express
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Express
Preparations progressing well: Kota Kinabalu head coach
Published on: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 Published on: Wed, May 14, 2025 Text Size: Rosly said they will emphasise more on the players' fitness and combination in the next three weeks. Kota Kinabalu: Team Kota Kinabalu are progressing well in their preparation for the Sabah Games (Saga) qualifying matches scheduled early next month. Head coach Rosly Jamal said they will emphasise more on the players' fitness and combination in the next three weeks. 'Our preparation is going well at the moment. There are no injury worries and we will arrange several friendly matches before finalising the team before the start of the qualifying ties next month,' he said on Monday. Meanwhile, Nuhafiza Badar has been appointed as the team manager. Rosly, who will be assisted by Ismail Tudiki and former Rhino Sabri Sahar, also thanked Safa Bandaraya for the trust in him as head coach. 'For me, it's a big challenge, but with the support from Ismail and Sabri, we will try to do our best for the sake of Kota Kinabalu,' he said. * Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss. * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia