Monday, June 25, 2001

Hockey - GPPS and Temburong emerge champions

By K. Jafni H. Ali

GPPS and Temburong emerged the champions in the Men's Open and Women's Open respectively of the first National Hockey League tournament organised by the Brunei Darussalam National Hockey Association held last night at the National Hockey Stadium, Berakas.

GPPS defeated Combined Stars 1-0 while Temburong also won by a solitary goal against Mixed Girls in the finals. Asmat Omar struck the only goal of the game for GPPS, Tutong in the 40th minute after a brilliant surging run at the centre.

In the Women's Open final, Mariam Ulat was the toast of Temburong when she scored the only goal in the 32nd minute. Chaos were third in the Men's Open while Prison Department came out third in the Women's Open.

The best player throughout the tournament was Temburong's Mariam Ulat (Women's) and GPPS's Hj Jamalulair for the men's category.

The top scorers for the men were Combined Stars Ali Hj Adam (10 goals) and for women Norjanah Mohiddin (Mixed Girls) with 13 goals. The prizes were given away by the guest of honour, Dato Paduka Talip Hj Baharuddin, the Director of the Department of Youth and Sports.

Source: Borneo Bulletin Sunday

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Saturday, June 23, 2001

Football - Sabah FA boss in the dark over resignation

By Catherine Ong

KOTA KINABALU - Sabah Football Association (Sabah FA) President Datuk Anifah Aman is in the dark over the resignation of Lawrence Gimbang as team manager of the Rhinos. "I have not heard of it and I haven't received any letter (Gimbang's resignation)," said the FA boss when contacted yesterday.

"Nobody informed me about it yet," added Anifah: "I will talk to him. I think he has done a good job so far." He said that if Gimbang's resignation is due to pressure of not being able to secure financial sources to settle the players' salary on time, then it is not his (Gimbang's) fault.

"Sabah is not the only association that is facing financial constraints. "But anyway we are still working on that," he pointed out. On Wednesday, Gimbang made a shock announcement that he had already resigned as the Rhinos' team manager.

He cited health as his main reason for quitting (the post) and at the same time he felt responsible for Sabah's failure to make the FA Cup final, which Sabah lost 1-2 on aggregate to the eventual champions Selangor in the semi-finals.

Selangor lifted the crown after defeating Sarawak through a golden goal in the final. Gimbang, who took over the hot seat from previous manager Osman Jamal early in the season, also said that it is high time for him to step down as team manager.

He revealed that he had already tendered his resignation letter on June 6, a day after the Rhinos made their exit in the FA Cup.

Coach Ken Worden, who just returned from a two-week break, meanwhile opted not to comment on Gimbang's resignation, pointing out that he knows nothing about it.

Worden said Gimbang never discussed or talked to him about his intention to resign from the post.

With half the season gone, they qualified for the semi-finals of the FA Cup to pocket the RM10,000 Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) newly introduced cash incentive. At the same time, they also grabbed the RM17,500 cash incentive for finishing second in the Premier II standings.

With 11 more matches left to play in the second round, the chances are pretty good for the Rhinos to make a quick return to Premier I next season.

Anifah also declined to comment on a newspaper report querying the non-payment of salaries to the players. He said if there is anything to be said, the players would get to know about it first.

A national newspaper claimed that the Sabah players are again demanding their long overdue back pay. Some of them are owed as much as six months' salary. The players were last paid a month's salary about six weeks ago after they made a complaint to the FA of Malaysia's (FAM) Players Status Committee.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Swimming - Golden haul by Brunei swimmers

By Azaraimy H Hasib

The Brunei Amateur Swimming Association were proud of its swimmers when they returned with 18 gold medals, 25 silvers and 21 bronze medals from the just concluded Borneo Inter-Club Swimming Championship in the Gymkhana Swimming Club in Miri, Sarawak.

Brunei were second only to the Gymkhana Swimming Club who took 21 gold, 17 silvers and 11 bronze medals at the first-ever Borneo amateur swimming club challenge.

A total of 13 Borneo swimming clubs comprising 161 swimmers between the age group of seven to 17 competed for honours in the June 16-17 championship.

Dzairenny PDPD Hj Muslim was the toast of Brunei when he grabbed a total of seven gold medals and is poised to join the national squad for the upcoming SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur in September.

Other Brunei gold medallists were Norhana Stipic with five gold medals, Amy Cheong Sui Ying, Iwan Kortono and Chan Ching Yee all with two gold medals each.

According to Harjimmey Zainal, the Brunei national coach, the swimmers have been improving over the year and a few young swimmers might be selected to represent Brunei in the September SEA Games.

Meanwhile, the Brunei International School took the ninth spot when they bagged one gold, four silvers and 12 bronze medals.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Swimming - Swimmer Leong is Sabah's hero with nine gold

By Catherine Ong

KOTA KINABALU - Clement Leong was Sabah's hero when he grabbed a total of nine gold medals from all nine events he competed in at the just concluded Borneo Inter-Club Swimming Championship, Group Three (under-11) category held in Miri, Sarawak.

Clement was among eight swimmers who competed under the Sabah Sports Board (SSB) banner forking out their own expenses for the swim meet through their respective parents.

Liew Chung Lian, a relatively newcomer returned with a commendable four gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal. Alfred Chu won the gold medal in the boy's group four under-10 category.

Suzain Osman won two silver medals and two bronze medals, Wong Ka Sheng - two silver medals and two bronze medals, Aron Lee bagged two silver medals and one bronze medal and Christine Yong collected two silver medals.

A total of 161 swimmers from 12 swimming clubs from Sarawak, a team each from Brunei

and Sabah, competed for honours in the championship.

When contacted yesterday, coach Johnny Wong said the championship disallowed Sukma trainees to compete, but Brunei, however, sent all their top national junior and senior swimmers, thus dominating the older age-group events.

These are among the 35-odd swimmers apart from Clement, who are freshies training under Johnny since he started his lessons at the Penampang Sports Complex Swimming Pool in November last year after the Likas pool was closed.

He was happy with the results despite it being their first competition outside the State and believes that with their commitment shown during training, they would become notable Sabah swimmers in the future.

But Sabah's swimming circles received bad news when breaststroke specialist Leung Chii Wen pulled out from the 2002 Malaysia Games training squad, causing a big blow to Sabah's golden hopes. The national swimmer has decided to move to Kuala Lumpur.

The 18-year-old, a gold medal contender when Sabah hosts the Sukma in September, has enrolled herself at the Tengku Abdul Rahman College in Kuala Lumpur, to take up a quantity surveyor course.

In an interview yesterday, the soft spoken swimmer, who also missed the last Sukma in Penang to concentrate on her SPM (Grade One), said she has no choice but to pursue her studies and take up her favourite subject. Asked on whether she would be continuing with her training she said: "I might consider swimming at club level or at my college just to keep fit but competitive swimming is out of the question, because I have promised my parents to complete my course with flying colours, like I did in the SPM."

After pulling out from the Bukit Jalil National Project Training Scheme, and contemplating on pulling out from the Sukma squad to concentrate on her SPM last year, Chii Wen was coaxed by coach Tie Mee Kiong and teammates to reconsider splashing for the Sukma in Penang.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Friday, June 22, 2001

M-League - Subhi new Brunei hotshot

By Benny Ang

Amidst the success that Brunei have enjoyed in Premier Two of the Malaysian League this season, one player has emerged from the shadows and has surprised almost everyone en route to leading the Wasps in goals scored this season.

After a tough debut season last year, Mohd Subhi Abdillah Bakir has finally fulfilled the potential he has shown for some years now and has been an instrumental figure in Brunei's success this year.

Subhi has scored four goals already with five other players on two goals and three others on one each but no one is as taken aback by the success he has had than the midfielder himself.

Still eligible for the SEA Games at 22 years old, Subhi remains a figure of modesty saying, "The team has done well in creating chances and luckily I have taken them. At the end of the day, as long as the team continues to win, it doesn't matter who scores.

"The main aim this season is to gain promotion and it doesn't matter if I score 10 goals or one goal. If we get promoted than we will have accomplished what we set out to achieve."

Subhi's potential has never been in question but his development process was sped up rather abruptly last season when he was forced to deputise for the injury-plagued Rosli Liman.

Replacing the man-of-the-match in the Malaysia Cup final was never going to be an easy task, especially for one so young as Subhi and at times he looked out of his depth.

Now with a permanent place in the midfield alongside Irwan Mohammad and Azmanuddin Gillen, Subhi has had a breakthrough year and has no intention of letting up yet.

Added Subhi, "There is still a long way to go yet and I have to continue to play my part. There are good players waiting in the wings and I cannot be complacent about my spot in the team." National coach Mick Jones was the first to pay tribute to Subhi's improvement and is also hopeful of more good things to come from the youngster.

"At the start of the season, I told him I expected more of him this season and we talked about a target of how many goals he could score. He's well on the way towards achieving that target.

"The pattern of play that I have laid out is geared towards him getting in the box more and supporting the strikers so he's had his opportunities and he's taken them," said Jones.

According to the Brunei coach also, it's not the amount of goals that has pleased him but the fact that Subhi has scored some crucial goals.

"The goals he has scored have been crucial ones like the last one against Kelantan TNB to give us the lead. Subhi is hardly the biggest player but his sense of positioning and scoring instinct is such that he will always score goals.

"He times his runs well and is well on course to being a good player for us. I expect a lot more to come from Subhi and I think he expects it himself as well," added Jones.

Jones also said that the pressure put on him by Rosmin Hj Khamis, another star of the next generation has pushed him to work harder and has helped Subhi's game dramatically.

"Rosmin is a gifted player, has two great feet, is tough and strong and is the complete player. He somehow lacks the self-belief at this point and is probably one year behind Subhi in terms of development.

"If he can develop the same killer instinct that his brother (Hj Rosaidi Hj Khamis) had, then he will become a fantastic player for the country."

With the midfield virtually set and playing well, there is no hurry to rush Rosmin along but Jones is confident that at some point during the season, Rosmin will play a part with suspensions and injuries to come.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Football - Rhinos hit by more woes before second round

JOHOR BARU: Sabah football has been rocked yet again when another team manager Datuk Lawrence Gimbang quit his post--just two weeks before the M-League resumes with the second round matches.

Lawrence, who is the Sabah FA (Safa) deputy president, is the second manager to quit the team this season. The first was Osman Jamal, who quit before the season began in March.

And that is not all. The Sabah players are again demanding their long overdue back pay. Some of them are owed as much as six months' salary. The, players were last paid a month's salary about six weeks ago after they made a complaint to the FA of Malaysia's (FAM) Players Status Committee.

The players are now looking at taking their case to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and also to Fifa if nothing is resolved.

It is also learnt that Safa have also failed to reimburse their physiotherapist for medical paraphernalia bought by him to treat the players for their injuries.

The Safa executive secretary, Harry Baking, confirmed that Lawrence submitted his "quit letter" on Monday, citing "work commitments" as his reason.

Sabah resumed training last Saturday but several players stayed away. More than half of the team did not travel to Sandakan for a friendly match because "they have no money in their pockets".

It is learnt that some players are "hiding" to avoid car repossesers as they have not paid their instalments for between five and six months.

One player already had his car auctioned off by a finance company last week after defaulting on his instalments.

Despite the setbacks, the Sabah players have delivered and showed their total commitment and dedication to the team.

Sabah are in second place in Premier II with 24 points, four points behind leaders Johor FC. In the FA Cup, the Rhinos were beaten by eventual champions Selangor in the semi-finals.

Sabah have the target to finish among the top three in Premier II to gain promotion to Premier I. Last season, they were placed 11th in the 12-team Premier I and were relegated to the lower division.

Source: The Star

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Thursday, June 21, 2001

M-League - Sabah players to share RM27,500 bonus

By Catherine Ong

KOTA KINABALU - With a bonus of RM27,500 in the kitty, thanks to finishing second in the Premier II after the first round as well as being a losing semifinalist in the FA Cup, the Sabah FA are considering rewarding the players by sharing the money between them.

Nothing is finalised yet but a senior team official said he would be recommending to the FA to reward the players for their fine efforts so far. "It is not much, but it will mean something to the players," he said.

Sabah collected RM17,500 for its second place and another RM10,000 for being among the semifinalists in the FA Cup competition.

They lost out to Selangor in the semis.

Meanwhile, Sabah Premier II team resumed training after a two-week break, minus coach Ken Worden.

The Aussie is currently in Australia and is only expected to be back this weekend.

The Rhinos started with fitness training which would last for at least a week before they switch to serious business in preparation for the second round of the Premier Two campaign, which would kick off on July 1.

Yesterday morning, the Rhinos resumed training at the Tun Fuad Park in Bukit Padang under the watchful eyes of assistant coach Justin Ganai, but the training could only last half an hour due to rain.

All the players were present on the first day of training session.

"Our training will go on as usual from now. We'll try to regain back our fitness level after about a week break.

"The second round would definitely be a tough one, but I hope we can maintain our first round performance," said assistant team manager Annuar Datuk Ayub.

Starting from today, the Rhinos will undergo two training sessions daily, Annuar added. "We have got to improve ourselves, as other teams are catching up," he said.

For the record, Sabah are lying in second in the 12-team behind league leaders Johor FC, while Brunei are third.

They won eight and lost three times out of the 11 first round fixtures to collect 24 points, four points behind the pacesetters.

Sabah scored a convincing 20 goals and conceding nine.

New signings Shahrin Majid is the team's leading scorer with seven goals, followed by Suharmin Yusof (five), Zainizam Marjan (three), Henry Soimpon (two) while Rizal Sukiman, Shahril Arsat and Madzalan Emoi scored a goal apiece each.

Sabah also made a commendable performance in the FA Cup, as they marched into the semifinals, but only to lose to Selangor by an aggregate of 1-2, but no thanks to a Rusdi Suparman's golden goal.

In the FA Cup, Suharmin is the team's top scorer with three goals to his credit, followed by Henry and Shahrin with two goals each while K. Sanbagamaran, Jelius Ating, Rizal Awang Jad and Rizal Sukiman and Gilbert Junior has one goal to their credit.

Sabah will kick off the second round by playing two away matches against Kelantan TNB and Kelantan JKR on July 1 and 6 respectively.

The top three teams from the Premier Two will be promoted to the Premier One next season.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Hockey - Brunei hockey trials

By Rosli Abidin Yahya

The Brunei Darussalam Hockey Association (BDHA) will be conducting trials from June 25-28 at the Hassanal Bolkiah Sports Complex in Berakas starting at 4.45pm and are calling all those who are interested to represent the country to attend the trials.

Brunei national hockey coach Alan Sinclair said it would take several years to develop the depth required to make Brunei more competitive in the international arena and he is targetting players who are willing to commit themselves for the long-term objective.

"The primary focus will be on younger players and those more seasoned players willing to commit themselves to working for the better of hockey in Brunei."

"The programmes will be very demanding physically and mentally and it is hoped a new generation of elite players will take Brunei hockey to be on par with the more established teams," he said.

"All male and female players wishing to represent Brunei are invited for the trials and after the trials, they will be placed in either the U-21 team or the senior team."

Players under 21 years of age will be eligible for both teams and the senior squad will begin intensive training for the Borneo Cup Tournament in August.

Sinclair said Brunei has several potential world class players like the talented Berandai Dadong.

"But unfortunately the players here lack the depth and fitness to compete effectively in the international stage.

"The women team is especially depleted due to the retirement of several long serving members. Currently, an under-18 girls squad is training hard under my guidance and national player Ornah Lupat."

The staff are concentrating solely on basic skills as this area is most lacking at present.

"These young women are unaccustomed to over-exerting themselves and are in for a very physically and mentally demanding time as they prepare for their first tournament in July 2002," says Sinclair.

The association is also planning to form a veteran team to represent Brunei at future veterans meet.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Wednesday, June 20, 2001

Sukma - Pledge by Sabah on Malaysia Games

By Catherine Ong

KOTA KINABALU - Construction and renovation works at the Likas Sports Complex, where the 2002 Malaysia Games (Sukma) is to be held, is at a standstill but the Sabah Sports Board (SSB) has ensured of the state government's preparations to host the event.

General Manager of the Board, Herman Tiongsoh said they are not facing any sort of financial constraints, and their Sukma kitty is in a healthy state.

"We have got no say about the infrastructure other than giving our recommendations to the State Sukma Committee, headed by the Chief Minister (Datuk Chong Kah Kiat) and the Culture, Youth and Sports Development Ministry," he said.

When asked about the standstill and put-on-hold works at the Likas Sports Complex and Stadium, Herman said all would be fine in no time, but preferred not to make any comment about the project.

Of late, several sport officials have voiced their reservations as to whether the infrastructure preparations would be completed in time, as for the last month, all work has come to a standstill. In fact, the renovation costs, which was estimated at more than RM100 million at one stage, has been drastically reduced.

"While once it was proposed that the old grandstand at the Likas Stadium be renovated and upgraded to seat another 15,000 people, it is understood that the plans have been shelved to just accommodate another 5,000 people, bringing the capacity to 25,000.

But works at the swimming pool, indoor stadium, hostel, tennis courts, and the building of floodlights for the dessoturf hockey stadium and another green for lawn bowls have been put on hold, and senior officials at the sports ministry are refusing to talk about the purported delay.

Herman meanwhile said the Board was more concerned of the athletes' preparations. To date they have not been bugged by a shortage of funds.

There are no drastic cutbacks when it comes to financing all the 27 sporting disciplines in their preparations for the September Games.

But Herman advised all associations' officials to be prudent and thrifty in their spending, so that their preparations would not be hampered.

"As far as the team preparations are concerned, we have no problem with funds but of course we need to do proper and careful planing in terms of dishing out allocations to certain sports associations, whose requests are usually scrutinised like any other requests coming from their counterparts," said Herman.

"We have the funds to sponsor Sukma trainees to compete outside the state (twice this year), but associations must first give their co-operation to us by submitting requests earlier and not at the eleventh hour so that we would be able to evaluate and make our assessment accordingly.

"We encourage associations to send their Sukma athletes or teams to national level championships this year and also early next year as part of their preparations, and to date we have given out a large sum to athletes to compete outside Sabah," he added.

Herman, however, was a little disappointed over a few associations whose training programmes fall short of the required duration of five times a week for their athletes, and called on them to buck up and get into full swing instead.

The difference among these associations varies, where some associations have been serious with their preparations and at the moment have earmarked their athletes who have shown good prospects in this year's national meets, which was very commendable.

When pressed further, Herman urged all associations to try not to hire foreign coaches because they are trying to save costs as far as possible, but this does not mean the door is closed.

The Board would try their best to assist them by giving their recommendations to the Ministry and the Committee to approve their (associations') requests for foreign coaches. Several associations have published their intentions in the local newspapers.

Herman admitted that the presence of high quality foreign coaches would make a lot of difference. He however said associations should understand the Government's policy in trying to cut costs.

Referring to the Sabah Shooting Association's (SSA) plight, he reassured them that they are in the final stages of finalising the indoor ranges with the National Sports Council (NSC), who has promised to release the sum of RM1.5 million soon.

Training equipment too would be looked into seriously so that SSA would be able to carry out their talent search and training programme.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Silat - Brunei silat exponents rewarded

By Rena Aliuddin

Eight Brunei silat exponents and their coaches who did well in a world silat tournament in Jakarta last November were rewarded yesterday at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Brunei won seven bronze medals at this prestigious meet participated by 23 countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Surinam.

Brunei won their bronze medals through Ak Kairul Alimin Pg Hj Mohammad (Class A), Awg Ramlee Hj Jaluddin (Class C), Awg Rudy Hj Adinin (Class D), Norhayati Hj Othman (Class A), Umi Katltum Abd Karim (Class B) and Rosidah Hj Lamit (Single). They were each rewarded with $4,000.

Noraisah Hj Aji and Dk Rosmahwati Pg Badaruddin were also rewarded with $2,000 each when they won a bronze medal in the women's double.

Coaches Mohammad Nasri and Pg Hj Tajuddin Pg Hj Mohd Salleh were also rewarded with $4,000 and $ 1,600 respectively while the Brunei Silat Association got $5,600.

The awards were presented by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Pehin Dato Seri Paduka Haji Awg Hussain.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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