The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Khairy wants to set realistic target for Thomas Cup Posted: 29 Apr 2014 07:51 AM PDT Khairy (pic) said both the Thomas and Uber Cup teams would be facing tough competition in the finals which are scheduled to take place in New Delhi from May 18 to 25. "We understand the situation well as the country's shuttlers will be facing tough opposition from the best teams in the world. I do not want to set a lofty target for the time being," he said after launching the "Malaysia Purple League", a professional badminton league at the Sentosa Sports Arena today. Meanwhile, Badminton Association of Malaysia's (BAM) deputy president Datuk Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the association would be responsible for sending a balanced team to compete in the Thomas Cup. "Our hope is to see the team qualify for the semifinals stage because the expectations of the fans are high. We will take one step at a time. The first task will be to win the group," he said. Speaking of the final slot for the men's singles which has yet to be decided, Mohamad Norza said the status of Goh Soon Huat has not been confirmed although he has earned himself a shot at a place in the team. Soon Huat had crossed the first and second tests in the trials by beating Tan Chun Seang and Mohd Arif Latif, respectively. "We will evaluate the players from every aspect and take into account their current performance, fitness and achievements plus a fitness report from the National Sports Institute. "However, world number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei has chosen Misbun Ramdan Misbun ahead of Goh Soon Huat despite the former losing to the latter in the final selection match today," he said. Soon Huat beat Misbun Ramdan 21-19, 21-15 today. – Bernama, April 29, 2014. |
| Wimbledon seedings boost for champion Murray Posted: 29 Apr 2014 06:57 AM PDT "We have a surfaced-based seeding system here at Wimbledon," All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) chairman Philip Brook told a press conference at the tournament venue in south London. "So we take the ranking points of each player, and add to that the ranking points they hypothetically received last year on grass, and we add to that 75% of the best-performing tournament in the previous year. "So to put it into context for Andy Murray, as winner of Queen's last year and winner here last year, and a finalist here in 2012, there will be a significant impact on him. "There will also be quite a significant impact on (Roger) Federer and (Novak) Djokovic. There will be some adjustment." Organisers also defended a move to increase the prize money for first-round losers by nearly 15% to £27,000 (RM147,850). Total prize money has gone up 10.8% to £25 million, with the winners of the men's and women's singles finals each in line to take home £1.76 million, compared to £1.6 million in 2013. "I slightly take issue with the notion that players will turn up and lose," said AELTC chief executive Richard Lewis. "I have to make the point that the players have worked hard to get there. Either they have have got into the championships through their ranking, so that's 12 months of play before, or there are some wild cards. "So to portray it as £27,000 for turning up and doing nothing, I don't think that's valid." Lewis also said that there were no plans to make alterations to any of the courts, despite a number of leading players having complained that they were too slippery during last year's tournament. "I think in hindsight that was more of an anecdotal problem over a couple of days, and only one or two players took issue with it," he said. "Wimbledon is played on a natural surface and of course the conditions change over the duration of the tournament. So we don't feel there are any issues to address on that." Wimbledon this year runs from June 23 to July 6. – AFP, April 29, 2014. |
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