Golden finish

WOW....golden finished by the Malaysian Under 23 football team in Laos. The squad under the command of coach, K.Rajagobal won gold at the 25th SEA Games after defeating Vietnam 1-0 in the final.
Great job boys and should keep it up in our efforts to bring glory to Malaysian football. Malaysia have been waiting for 20 years to win gold at the SEA Games and on Thursday (18 Dec), it was delivered in a fantastic manner.

This is not the end of the road, there's still along way to go. We already did it at the SEA Games and next should be at Asian level....then Olympic...and then think of stepping into the World Cup. And to FAM, please beef up development programmes from as early as 12 years old...Our Under 23 team has been together for quite sometimes and only now they produced result. There should be more international exposures for the team after this and don't just keep them at home. I think, international exposures gone through by the Under 23 team throughout 2009 help them to excel. They displayed confidence and look a bit more matured with their game.
I can say that this is the best achievement (though SEA Games I considered as lower class event compared to Asian Cup) by our national football team. They outplayed two South East Asian giants in Laos - Vietnam and Thailand.
I also have the feeling that, incentives announced by FAM earlier before the final, boosted the spirit of the players (I hope i'm wrong). If incentives works.....and boosted the morale of the players, so why not do it as long as Malaysian football achieve success. Sometimes cash incentives help...hahahaha...( just like civil servants when they cashed out their yearly bonus from the goverment, and their productivity increased.....is it right?)
Anyway....congratulation to the Malaysian Under 23 football team who really done a great job to win the 20 years wait gold medal. Strive harder boys....and should look forward at Asian level after this. The last time we achieved victory at Asian level was way back in 1960s which saw our national team won bronze in Tehran, Iran.

'Year-end holiday in Vientiane'

 YESTERDAY, Malaysia's Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek voiced out his anger at certain Malaysian sports officials at Laos SEA Games. He launched a warning - " This is not a place for holiday."
Officials appointed as team managers had their task and their trip to Laos were fully taken care by the goverment and that's what he had to say when he found out there were officials reported to sneak out from their duties. Some managers were found 'playing around' without taking full responsibilities of their athletes needs.
Well Datuk....this is not a new story with Malaysia contingent. Same old stories actually. To avoid this in future - get the right people to get things done. No room anymore please for these kind of officials. Get the warning implemented. No point talking with out any action.

Hmmm...making money

 KELANTAN FA 'contributed' million$ of 'fund' to Football Accosiation of Malaysia to date. That only from Kelantan. The contribution was mainly from fined and at the end of the day, FAM will be laughing all the way to the bank. FAM now have the potential to  'make' money from the local league instead of developing the game. Maybe that why FAM do not want to go hard against Kelantan for their fans behaviour because they might 'losing income'...hehehehe. Going hard meant that Kelantan fans will be more behave and FAM cant' make money from there. If all the team's supporters in the league go wild in every match, FAM will be the richest association with more money coming in from fines....Well...go hard on this isues please, otherwise Malaysian  football will collapse... 

Bola sepak buatan Malaysia...

MEMANG seronok bila bercakap tentang bola sepak. Tidak hairan kenapa ia dilabel acara sukan No.1 di muka bumi.
Bila bab bola sepak, pastinya kehebatan Manchester United menjadi topik hangat untuk dibicarakan walau di mana sekali pun.
Bila United tewas pada perlawanan Liga Perdana England, satu dunia kecewa. Saya ingatkan hanya masyarakat Manchester sahaja yang kecewa, rupa-rupanya seantero dunia termasuk di Malaysia.United kalah, penyokongnya mahu pun di Malaysia, tidak akan mengutuk prestasi skuad dari Old Trafford itu sebaliknya sanggup memuji dan mengungkapkan kata-kata penuh semangat. Begitu hebat pengaruh United di kalangan peminat bola sepak global.
Bagaimana pula dengan bola sepak Malaysia? Adakah peminat tempatan akan berbuat sedemikian seperti mana mereka menyanjungi United.Yang pasti, bola sepak Malaysia sekadar menjadi bahan kritikan dan kutukan.
Pujian memang tiada langsung. Andai tewas pada pertandingan, 'sebakul' maki hamun dilemparkan kepada pemain dan FAM.
Mungkin Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) perlu menerima maki hamun daripada peminat tempatan ini secara terbuka. Maki hamun ini membawa maksud yang sangat jelas - peminat mahu melihat bola sepak Malaysia sehebat United agar mereka bangga apabila menjadi penyokong.
FAM peru mengakui bahawa mereka telah gagal dengan tanggungjawab untuk membangunkan bola sepak ke tahap yang paling cemerlang. ( Sukan SEA pun tak lepas...). Sepanjang saya membabitkan diri dalam kewartawanan sukan, saya belum lagi melihat skuad bola sepak negara meraih kejayaan di persada antarabangsa. Jurulatih bersilih ganti, program pembangunan sudah 1001 satu macam, liga memasuki era profesional tetapi prestasi masih di takuk lama. Adakah program yang dijalankan itu untuk kebaikan bola sepak atau untuk kebaikan peribadi?
Projek skuad Barcelona92, projek Piala Dunia Remaja 1997 dan pelbagai lagi...semuanya tidak membuahkan hasil. Pemain yang dilahirkan daripada projek-projek ini bagaikan masih belum faham apa itu bola sepak. Rentak permainan mereka tidak ubah seperti orang yang baru mengenal sukan No. 1 negara itu.
Terbaru, Harimau Muda pula diperkenalkan. Hala tujunya masih menjadi persoalan...tetapi yang pasti ia satu pembaziran masa dan wang....mungkin ia diwujudkan bagi menunjukkan FAM buat kerja. Percayalah, masa depan skuad Harimau Muda ini akan mengalami masalah yang sama seperti mana projek-projek terdahulu.
Mereka juga bakal menemui kegagalan dalam karier masing-masing seperti mana nasib pemain-pemain dalam skuad projek terdahulu.
Kita banyak meniru gaya program pembangunan bola sepak Eropah, tetapi mentaliti pemain tidak dididik ke arah itu.
Mungkin FAM perlu tanya diri sendiri, ke mana haluan pemain asuhan mereka selepas ini? Beraksi dalam Liga Perdana England atau Liga Perdana Malaysia? Kalau setakat Liga Perdana Malaysia, tidak perlu program pembangunan, Liga Piala Menteri Pelajaran 100Plus sudah cukup untuk mendedahkan mereka.
Pemilihan skuad kebangsaan pula satu hal. Senarai pemain sudah ada dan langkah ini mematikan terus bakat lain dalam Liga Malaysia untuk menonjolkan bakat masing-masing.
Ketika zaman kegemilangan bola sepak negara satu ketika dulu, cara pemilihannya berbeza. Pemain yang dipilih akan diumum sebaik pertandingan Piala Malaysia berakhir. Yang dipanggil hanya yang terbaik daripada pertandigan tersebut. (Dulu hanya Piala Malaysia sahaja yang ada tidak seperti sekarang, sepanjang tahun ada pertandingan - Liga M tetapi pemain berkualiti semakin sukar dikesan). Sebab itulah zaman dulu, semua pemain bekerja keras untuk menonjolkan bakat masing-masing dengan harapan dipilih menganggotai skuad negara. Sekarang, siapa yang bakal menyarung jersi skuad kebangsaan sudah diketahui dan akibatnya, bakat yang lain tidak mendapat tempat. Walaupun pemain yang sudah tersenarai dalam skuad kebangsaan itu beraksi hambar dalam liga tempatan tetapi dia tetap dipanggil. Begitulah trend pemilihan sekarang dan budaya ini dilihat telah mematikan minat bakat lain untuk bekerja keras. Aibatnya, persaingan liga tempatan kurang seronok kerana pemain lain tiada matlamat tertentu untuk diburu.
Mungkin elok FAM kembali dengan cara pemilihan zaman dulu agar semua pemain yang terlibat dalam liga tempatan sentiasa bekerja keras untuk meningkatkan prestasi masing-masing bagi merebut tempat dalam skuad negara. Mentaliti pemain sudah tidak meletakkan sasaran untuk menyarung jersi kebangsaan kerana mereka tahu sudah tiada tempat bagi mereka dalam skuad negara. Bila skuad kebangsaan mencatat kegagalan pada pertandingan peringkat antarabangsa, alasan yang sering diutarakan ialah Malaysia tidak memiliki pemain. Sebenanrya, semangat pemain itu sudah mati dengan gaya pemilihan yang diamalkan sekarang. Mereka fikirkan tidak perlu bekerja keras kerana tiada sasaran untuk diburu. Cukup sekadar mengekalkan prestasi yang bersesuaian dengan mutu liga tempatan. Bila FAM perkenalkan projek baru pula, kenyataan mereka terhadap sasaran, sama sahaja. "Kita tidak boleh mengharapkan 'instant result' , beri kami masa lima tahun untuk memantapkan skuad ini." Begitulah yang sering diutarakan dan 20 tahun dulu, kenyataan yang sama juga dinyatakan dan sekarang hasilnya masih belum kelihatan. Yang pasti, rugi wang dan masa. Jika beginilah trendnya, bola sepak Malaysia akan terus berada di takuk lama. Usah mimpi untuk menjejak kaki ke Piala Dunia jika program yang dijalankan terus menerus menemui kebuntuan. Hasrat beraksi dalam Piala Dunia hanya akan tercapai SEKIRANYA MALAYSIA MENJADI TUAN RUMAH. Ayuh FAM, kembalikanlah kegemilangan bola sepak negara.

Respect our privacy please...

THE Bagan Pinang by election is heating up. Campaigning is going on very aggresive - be it through meet the people sessions, blogs, emails as well as through SMS.  Well, there's nothing wrong with the campaigning and how they are going to do it, as long as it was organised in a peacefull manner. But at the same time, please respect our privacy especially giving infomation to votters through SMS. I don't really like the way they sent information through SMS. (and i got no idea from where they get all our hp numbers)..the worst things is that they even sent it to me after midnight which i consider as - NOT A VERY HEALTY MOVE. I taught, it's only me who received the SMS but also few of my friends.. they also received the same SMS after mdnight. One of my friends said, the SMS disturbed their privacy. "I got shocked to receive informations on Bagan Pinang by election at 2.30am in the morning. I was in deep sleep because need to wake up early the next day to go to work...but those SMS came in at that hour and disturbed my 'resting hours. I woke up because I taught it's emergency cases," said one of my friends who hailed from Port Dickson. He said, it's almost every night and he doesn't know how to block the sender. "Disturbed my privacylah..," he added.
Yesterday, we received same SMS after midnight and it really make us 'naik angin'. Then, one of my friends made up his mind not to turn up during the polling day. (reason is because he got feed up with the SMS which dusturbed his 'resting hours').."I don't mind what they are going to do throughout the campaining period but do not disturbed with midnight SMS," said my friend.
Well, nothing wrong sending SMS to heat up the campaign (to update us on the latest news) but please get it done at the right time. Not after midnight please...simple mistake can spoilt the whole things. Respect people sensitivity and most important thing, get the right time to get the job done. Learned how to respect people's privacy....No more such SMS after midnight please!!!.  

Piala Malaysia 2009

SAINGAN Piala Malaysia bagi musim 2009 semakin rancak. Tiga perlawanan sudah berlalu.Pada Sabtu lalu, beberapa keputusan menarik dicatat dan yang menarik perhatian saya ialah keputusan di Kangar, Perlis yang menyaksikan kemenangan berpihak kepada pasukan berstatus kelab, KL Plus. Bukan mudah untuk melakar kemenangan di gelanggang Singa Utara itu tetapi KL Plus mampu melakukannya apabila menang 2-1. Apa sudah jadi dengan anak-anak buah Irfan Bakti? Kemenangan itu turut meletakkan Kl Plus berada di puncak Kumpulan A dengan tujuh mata. Mereka masih ada baki tiga perlawanan lagi untuk diharungi dan skuad bimbingan Mat Zan Mat Aris itu dilihat tidak mempunyai masalah untuk melangkah ke psuingan suku akhir. Begitupun, mereka perlu mengekalkan momentum cemerlang untuk terus selesa memimpin kedudukan. Jika leka, padah akan menimpa mereka. Perlis hilang rentak pada perlawanan itu dan Irfan menganggap ia sebagai malam yang serba tidak menjadi.
Negeri Sembilan pula mendahului saingan Kumpulan B dengan sembilan mata selepas mencatat tiga kemenangan berturut-turut. Johor FC yang dikejutkan oleh Perak di halaman sendiri Sabtu lalu, mengetuai kedudukan dalam Kumpulan C dengan enam mata. Perak yang berada di tangga kedua turut meraih enam mata.
Kumpulan D menyaksikan Selangor terus mempamerkan  reputasi sebagai juara Liga Super. Skuad kendalian K. Devan itu kini mendahului kedudukan dengan sembilan mata diikuti KM Naza yang meraih tiga mata. Saingan dalam kumpulan ini masih terbuka memandangkan Sabah dan PDRM turut meraih tiga mata.Perebutan untuk tempat kedua kumpulan akan menjadi persaingan antara tiga pasukan terbabit.
Kelantan nampaknya terus garang. Sentuhan bekas jurulatih kebangsaan, B. Sathianathan telah membawa nafas baru kepada skuad yang mendapat jolokan Wira Merah itu. Kelantan kini selesa di puncak kumpulan dengan sembilan mata sementara Pulau Pinang di tempat kedua dengan empat mata. Apa yang mengejutkan saya pada saingan kali ini ialah prestasi Kedah, selaku juara treble. Kedah nampaknya masih belum menemui rentak sebenar. Prestasi mereka merudum dengan ketara lebih-lebih lagi selepas kehilangan penggempur utama mereka,  Khyril Muhymeen yang terpaksa melupakan terus saingan Piala Malaysia akibat kecederaan. Penggantinya masih belum mampu untuk memegang watak sebagai penggempur. Ia jelas memeningkan jurulatih, Mohd. Azraai Khor Abdullah kerana setiap percaturan yang dilakukannya tidak menampakkan sebarang kesan. Ada juga yang mengatakan, sengat Kedah hilang selepas khidmat pemain import dimansuhkan oleh Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia (FAM) musim ini. Peminat mereka kata, Kedah sebelum ini terlalu mengharapkan sentuhan Marlon Alex James dan tanpa Marlon, pemain tempatan bagaikan hilang arah. Mungkin padangan itu betul atau sebaliknya. Apa yang pasti, Kedah musim ini mengalami kesukaran untuk mendapatkan pemain baru bagi memenuhi perancangan jurulatih. Harapan Azraai untuk meminjam pemain daripada kelab lain pada siangan Piala Malaysia juga menemui kegagalan. Dia tiada pilihan selain meneruskan saingan dengan pemain yang ada dalam pasukan. Semalam, MB Kedah dilaporkan kecewa dengan prestasi skuad Kedah. Persoalannya, adakah dia mengetahui masalah yang dihadapi dalam skuad bimbingan Azraai itu sekarang? Kedah kekurangan pemain dan Azraai telah memohon untuk mendapatkan pemain pinjaman tetapi tak dipenuhi. Kalau kecewa, kena turun padang dan tanya Azraai apa yang sedang melanda pasukan sekarang. Kalau kecewa, kena bertindak segera untuk mengatasinya.  

Champion of the day (Sunday)

FORMULA One race saw Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel stepped to the main podium after an outstanding performance at China Grand Prix. He won the race ahead of Italian, Jarno Trulli (Toyota). McLaren's Lewis Hamilton who stood tall at Singapore GP last week, finished third.
THE Malaysia Open Tennis Championship title was grabbed by Russian, Nikolay Davydenko.
IN the local scene, veteran rider, Ahmad Zamani Baharuddin stamped his mark at the Malaysia Super Series (MSS) Race in Sepang. He won the Superbike category.
THE Malaysian junior hockey team also brought cheers to the country. They emerged champion at the South east Asian (SEA) Championship which ended in Bangkok yesterday. That a good sign for hockey.

Event of the month

THE Bagan Pinang by election in Negeri Sembilan will be the main event of the month.
Veteran and experienced politician, Tan Sri Mohd. Isa Abdul Samad (picture) is making a comeback. He will be facing PAS candidate, Zulkefly Mohamad Omar in a 'one-to-one' fight. Is Isa going to win? I think, it's going to be a 50-50 chances. My fellow friends in the constituency told me that it's going to be a tough affair. Both have followers and the winner will mostly be decided by young voters. According to an old friend there, UMNO seems to neglect the interest of the youngsters lately. He said youngsters doesn't care what the rulling party are doing for the country, but the trend now is they (youngsters) need attention. (I don't know what type of attention these youngsters needed...). Opposition are tackling the youngsters well because they felt that at the end of the day, these are the group who will decide the winner. Maybe, 'orang lama' in the constituency will go for UMNO, but the population of the 'orang lama' votters has been decreasing. Youngsters (mostly young votters) are increasing and they can anytime switch their votes to the candidate they want to. Bared in mind, youngsters mind are unpredictable. Today they said this, tomorrow, they will said that. So, those concerned (especially UMNO) need to find ways to influence these group to be loyal because they are the future votters. Good example is that, one 'mat rempit' will say: I don't want to go for street racing anymore. But two days later, he changed his mind and started doing it again. These are common attitude amongst our youngsters now. They are also votters and they can always do the same thing when they turned up to cast their votes. Did UMNO ever think of these - bringing youngsters together and installed them with the right attitude to be loyal to the party.

Recenltly, when I was in Port Dickson, I stopped at a food stall near the Petronas Petrol Station there. I have a quick teh tarik with my friends accompanied with few pieces of keropok lekor. There's a group of youngsters on the next table (about 15 of them). One of their conversations caught my attention and i put on my ears. They said: "Apa lah Malaysia ni, asyik ada pilihan raya kecil sahaja. Tapi best juga kita boleh buat kerja part time pasang poster. Sapa bagi gaji lebih kita undi dia lah...(their conversation sound more interesting and I keep listening). They continued: "Kau sudah mendaftar tak? (the A guy asked his fellow friends). His friends replied: Kita semua sudah mendaftar lah....Kita undi lah orang yang bagi kita kerja pasang poster." Then one guy 'mencelah': "Dulu pun aku pasang poster untuk BN, tapi 'towkay' kita orang tipu lah. Janji nak bagi 25 ringgit, tapi lepas tu dia bagi kita orang 10 ringgit. 'Towkay' tu kata, BN dah potong peruntukan awal untuk gaji. BN kah 'towkay' yang potong, said another guy. The guy said he don't know and during the votting day he said, they gave their votes to the opposition. It's really sound interesting and i was thinking either the BN leaders are aware of these ' dirty play' by the person they entrusted to do the job. Then we left Port Dickson. On our way back to Kuala Lumpur, i told my firend, even a group of 'Mat rempit' also talked about politic when it comes to election. They also aware about 'dirty play' by third parties entrusted by BN candidates to do a small job. I feel that these kind of 'dirty play' by 'orang kanan' BN candidates can also spoilt the reputation of the candidates and it will lead to a defeat.
If these happened again in Bagan Pinang by election, Isa can say good bye to his political career. Isa need to monitor the activities of his 'orang kanan' througout the campaining period. Wrong move will spoilt the whole party. If isa win, that mean there's room for UMNO to regain trust from the people. If Isa lost, its time to do rebranding. Past by election saw all the BN candidates failed. Bagan Pinang?....just wait and see...

Champions of the day

DATUK Nicol Ann David did Malaysian proud. She stamped her mark at the World Women Squash Championship in Amsterdam, Holland yesterday. She grabbed the title to be the champion once again. It's her fourth title at the championship. Her victory strengthened her reputation as the world No. 1. Well...hope to see more Malaysian athletes stand tall at the world scene. Anyway...keep up the good job SRAM but need to produce more players of Nicol's ability.
In Formula One, Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren dominated the Singapore Grand Prix. Despite going through tough time from the beggining of the season, Hamilton came back strongly and he still have the guts to be a champion. A champion will never give up anyway although been going through difficult times. This served a good lesson for Lotus 1Malaysia Formula One Team.
Japan Open Badminton championship entered its final day today. Bao Chunlai of China walked away with the title in the men's single after demolishing Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in the final. Chunlai won 21-15, 21-12. The women singles title went to Wang Yihan also of China. She brushed aside teamate, Wang Xin 21-8, 21-9 in the final.
Men’s doubles final title went to Indonesia's Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan wo defeated teamate Yonathan Suryatama Dasuki-Rian Sukmawan 21-19, 24-22 in the final.
China's Ma Jin-Wang Xiaoli took the weomen's double title after a 21-19, 21-18 win over Japan's Miyuki Maeda-Satoko Suetsuna.
Mixed doubles champion was Songphon Anugritayawon-Kulchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand who demolished Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen 13-21, 21-16, 22-20 of Denmark in the final.
Huh...where are the Malaysia players?....all were sent packing as early as the second round and i think the worst outing for the national shuttlers. Time to wake up BAM..

Malaysian slogans

1MALAYSIA
Success yet to be seen. (still very new in the 'market' anyway and now RTM is promoting the slogan very hard with their Salam 1Malaysia at the end of their prime news.(it sound so weird). But why before this RTM news casters never said Salam Malaysia Boleh at the end of their prime news...huh!) Anyway the message of 1MALAYSIA is very clear - to unite various races in the country. Meant that to make this country a very peacefull place to stay. No more robbery at 24 hrs outlet, bank or kedai emas, no more snatch thieves, no more house breaking, no more killing in the street, no more 'merempit' on the highways, no more 'mercun' blown up during festive season ( if no more mercun blown up, that showed our enforcement are doing their job to stop the activity. If there's still sound of mercun in town, meant that our enforcement are not doing their job, not only stop smuggling of mercun plese, but also stop the drug activities as well - the number ONE 'racun' in the country which destroyed the lifestyle of our youngsters.) That the objective of 1MALAYSIA, to teach the rakyat to be well behaved. Get it done to ensure a more disciplined Malaysian. What ever it is, I still hope we still feel proud with our lagu Negaraku.

MALAYSIA BOLEH
I think, this is the best slogan. MALAYSIA BOLEH tell everything. The world recognised us through MALAYSIA BOLEH. We excel in sports, economic and this is the time when Malaysia built the tallest twin building in the world. Malaysia is the only country in the wolrd to have twin building - the tallest twin. MALAYSIA BOLEH also put us in the Formula One map with the establishment of Sepang Circuit (may be i'm wrong), the new high class international airport (KLIA), crossing the English Channel by Datuk Malik Mydin), organisng the Commonwealth Games just to name a few. We also have a well respected leader, Tun Mahathir (a leader i respect most who saved our country from being victimised by IMF. If not, we will suffer now). I think MALAYSIA BOLEH is still the best battle cry for Malaysian to achieve greater success.

CEMERLANG, GEMILANG TERBILANG

I got no idea with this slogan. Nothing much being seen except the rulling party lost few states to opposition. Is it sound CEMERLANG?

A 1Malaysia friend...

YESTERDAY (Saturday) I received a phone call from an old friend. He said: “ Hey Hanz!, is it sound crazy our 1M Formula One team got a yearly budget of RM308 million.” I asked him, from where do you heard the news? He said: “ I read in our local newspaper today. It’s sound crazy isn’t it?. Hmmmm…I replied. I told him, as long as it doesn’t involved rakyat money, then it should be okay. He doesn’t agree with me. He said: “ Why so easy to approve such a big amount of budget for the team? When it comes to bonus for civil servants, the government find it so difficult to approve.” I told him, that none of my business, as long as it doesn’t affect people’s money. I told him that the move may be part of the so called 1Malaysia strategies to sell Malaysia to the top of the world map as well as to strengthen Malaysia's reputation at international scene. He replied: “ Yes I agree, but the amount is too much especially when the economic situation is still in a yo-yo… “
I told that old friend, not to worry much about it. Let wait and see what do we gained from it in the future. I further told him that, if the government find it not worth, they can anytime postponed the project. Before my friend hung up, he told me this: “ I hope the government learned from past mistakes when we involved with Minardi F1 team but in the end we gained nothing. But, I still think that the money should spent wisely for something else because we are not ready yet to compete in F1. We still need foreign expert. Then I told him: “ Just give a try and if not now, we will never have the chance to prove our skills in such a high tech racing competition.

Malaysian sports

1. Football (FAM)
Format of the league gave headache. Keep on changing but the standard still not up to expectation. The no.1 sports in Malaysia played in an empthy stadium..i think the only professional league attended by less than 1,000 spectators. World class stadium throughout the country but not fully utilised to develop the game to world standard. There's news about FAM president to quit. I think he should do so to give way for new blood to lead the association in an effort to bring the standard of Malaysian football to a greater height. Some credit to the sultan for leading FAM but nothing outstanding has been achieved since he held the post, except changing of the league format which gave no different to Malaysian football.

2. Athletic (MAAU)
Only good at SEA Games level. The governing body for this sport create thousands and one kind of internal 'dramas'. Officials attacking each other and there's so many politicking. Nothing extra ordinary been done so far to produce quality athletes who can walk tall at Asian level. They should now find way to produce athletes who can run below 10 second in 100m event.

3. Taekwondo (MTA)
The officials also showed their talent in 'fighting', like the athletes did against their opponent in tournaments. But, if the athlete 'fight' and win, they brought pride to the country. If the official 'fight' it led the association to be punished. In the end the governing body will be barred and the athletes will suffer. How to develop the sports if officials also 'fight' for the sake of personal interest.

4. Sepak takraw (PSM)
Use standard ball please! Otherwise PSM will withdraw from the SEA Games. I taught, the officials who are going to play. Huh..and that what happened during the last SEA Games in Korat. Ball isue led to the withdrawal. The players suffer, they trained throughout the year but missed the boat to Korat due to internal politicking. What's wrong with the ball...its not the officials who are going to play, but the players. Professional players can play with any type of ball and I see no problem with it. I hope this wouldn't happen again at Laos SEA Games end of this year.

5. Hockey (MHF)
Once held the reputation as giant of Asia. Never failed to qualify to Olympic. But now, they seems to struggle to get back to the top. Not a secured place for coaches. If they failed, they will not be given a second chance to prove their worth.  Sacking of coaches seems to be a 'normal game' in PHM. (maybe i'm wrong)...

6. Badminton (BAM)
Not brave enough yet to expose younger players at high level tournament. Depending too much on world No. 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei to deliver the goods. To date, no back up players yet being produced. Hope to see one or two players stamped their mark at world level before Chong Wei quit.

Chong Wei, don't give up yet

WORLD No. 1 player, Datuk Lee Chong Wei failed at Japan Open Badminton Championship. He lost to Simon Santoso in the second round on Thursday. Not a surprised to me. I don't expect Chong Wei to win. He has been too tired. I'm not siding the Penangites, because the fact is - he has been going thru tough time throughout the year. I think, he don't have enough room to rest and only Chong Wei knew it. He felt the pressure and the result he produced in some of the tournaments tell all. There's so many tournaments for him throughout the year and sometimes he don't have time for recovery. His defeat at Japan Open should be looked seriously by BAM. Chong Wei should be given more time to rest or only sent him to five star tournament. Lower ranked tournament should be given to back-up players who need exposure. We cannot put too much pressure on Chong Wei. Just pick the best tournament for him, I meant five star championship.The Chinese BA did that and Lin Dan also skipped less glamour tournament to ensure he had more time for recovery. I think, that why Lin Dan always produced outstanding performance in most of the tournament he compete, and on top of that, China also had thousand of potential players who can anytime control world badminton. To date, we had yet to see our youngsters can match the Chinese except BAM give them more room for exposure. I think its time for BAM to give more chance to the youngsters as an effort to produce another Lee Chong Wei. Chong Wei already reached his peak and now, his momentum is going down - and no surprised he lost in China recently as well as at Japan Open. So, BAM need to react and for Chong Wei, not the right time to give up.

A reminder to us

Huh...really sad. Our squash queen and world No. 1, Datuk Nicol Ann David crashed out at British Open on Saturday. I think it served as a reminder to us that we need to develop more players of her calibre. We cannot depend on Nicole alone to carry our Jalur Gemilang at high level competition...we need to develop more to ease burden on our squash queen..she has been going all alone to carry Malaysia's proud at world level. I believe if there's two or three more players of her calibre, Nicol will have less burden and she will have more time for recovery. Well SRAM, you all did a good job actually, but we want to see more players like Nicol who can dominate world squash forever....we want only malaysian to be on the top of the world squash. Bare in mind, Nicol will not stay on top forever and we want replacement....

SALAM

Salam sejahtera dan selamat datang....

Inilah gelanggang saya untuk berkongsi idea dengan sesiapa berkenaan apa juga topik yang boleh mengembangkan minda. Untuk makluman, saya lebih berminat dengan topik yang berkaitan sukan dan juga general isues. I don't really like politic...but still keep track on it to equipe myself with the latest happening. anyone dropping by gelanggang ini, you all are most welcome to be part of the team. Cheers and keep blogging..