Malaysia to send 193 athletes and 72 officials to Commonwealth Games

The Malaysian contingent to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi from Oct 3-14, will comprise 193 athletes and 72 officials.

The men's and women's hockey teams made up of 32 players, will be the biggest squad in the contingent while aquatics with 27 athletes (13 swimming, 11 diving, 3 synchronized), and shooting with 23 make up the biggest three teams to New Delhi.

Commonwealth Games general manager Jefri Ngadirin said the boxing team with seven boxers would be the smallest team in the contingent.

"Overall the Malaysian contingent will be made up of 193 athletes and 72 officials," he told Bernama here Wednesday.

The other teams that make up the contingent are cycling (22), weightlifting (14), gymnastics (12), lawn bowls (12), archery (12), badminton (10), squash (10), table tennis (8), athletics (7), boxing (7) and 8 paralympics athletes (swimming 2, athletics 2, powerlifting-4.

Jefri said the lawn bowls team would be the first to leave for New Delhi (Sept 24) while the last batch of athletes to arrive in New Delhi (Oct 5) would be the cycling (road race), shooting (full bore), diving and powerlifting athletes.

Malaysian contingent by 15-June

The Malaysian athletes to the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October will be named by Tuesday, chef de mission Tan Sri Abdul Halil Abd Mutalib said.

He said at least 180 athletes and officials were expected to be named for the games, scheduled from Oct 3 to 14.

The athletes would vie for honours in 15 of 17 events, except seven-a-side rugby and tennis, he told reporters after attending the Queen's Baton Relay at Dataran Merdeka in conjunction with the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

About 300 participants of the baton relay covered a distance of five kilometres through roads in the federal capital to raise awareness among the public on the games.

Malaysia is the 66th destination of the baton relay, which will continue on to the Maldives (June 14), Sri Lanka (June 17), Bangladesh (June 20) and Pakistan (June 23) before ending in New Delhi (June 25).

"The selection of athletes is based on their performance beyond the standard set," Abdul Halil said, adding that the list of athletes would be announced by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).

On the medals target, he said he expected the Malaysian contingent to bring back between eight and 12 medals.

"We have not set any medals target on specific athletes so as to prevent any pressure on them," he said.

3 Malaysian shooters book Commonwealth Games berth

3 Malaysian shooters- Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan, Bibiana Ng and Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi – are assured of participation in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in October.

Although the National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM) have listed 28 shooters who had beaten the qualifying mark of at least the sixth-place at the previous Games, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) have made it clear to them that only medal prospects will be given the nod.

The NSAM secretary, Jasni Shaari, said: “We only recommended shooters who qualified on merit. The OCM, however, want quality instead of quantity.

“I think it is a good thing but it will be unfair to those who have qualified on merit.” Jasni added that pistol shooter Hasli, Bibiana and Nur Suryani Taibi were the only ones assured of places in the team. The trio were medal winners at the last Games in Melbourne in 2006.

Bibiana partnered Joseline Cheah to take silver in the 10m air pistol pairs while Hasli and Nur Suryani took bronze in the 25m rapid fire pistol and 50m rifle three-position events respectively.

Nur Suryani also won a historic silver medal for Malaysia in the 10m air rifle event in the Melbourne leg of the ISSF World Cup earlier this year.

“They are the most consistent shooters in the national team. They have also been doing well in both international and local meets,” said Jasni.

Malaysia prepares blueprint for 2010 CWG

Malaysia is expected to send 159 athletes and officials to participate in 13 of 17 events to be staged for the 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi from Oct 3-14.

Malaysian contingent chief, Tan Sri Abdul Halil Mutalib, said Malaysia initially wanted to participate in 15 events but had to relinquish net ball as the country did not qualify. Also, Malaysia will not be represented in wrestling as they do not have an association and governing body for the sport.

"The number of events to be participated in have been determined but the number of athletes may increase or be less based on qualification," he told reporters after attending a meeting with sports managers to the Commonwealth Games at Bukit Jalil here Tuesday.

Abdul Halil said the National Sports Council (NSC) will issue guidelines for sports managers and athletes to maintain discipline. Also, the selection process will be as per the international norms and will be aimed at winning as many medals as possible.

"Each team manager has been informed to ensure safety that is a focus of the New Delhi games organizers," he said.

He said for purposes of health, Malaysia will take along three doctors, three therapists and several others to provide support services to aid athletes who were injured.

Rugby C'ship: Malaysia emerge winners, India finishes 4th

After a roaring start, India stumbled against Sri Lanka in the semifinals and Malaysia emerged champions on the second and the last day of the Asian Rugby Sevens Championship at the Delhi University here Saturday.

India, who topped Group B by winning all their three matches Friday, were beaten 19-34 by the under-21 Sri Lankan side Saturday. The hosts, lacking the fizz, then lost to Kazakhstan 7-33 in the match for third place.

In the final, Group A toppers and the top-ranked team here, Malaysia, outclassed the Sri Lankans 38-5 to win the trophy.
Earlier, India continued from where they had left on Friday by beating Pakistan 38-5, displaying a near-flawless game in the quarterfinals for their fourth successive win in the tournament. The only low point for the hosts, ranked second in the tournament, was the one try Pakistan managed to eke out.
Against Sri Lanka, India led 12-10 at half time, but an error-strewn second half saw them losing the plot.

A dejected India captain Nasser Hussain said a few 'silly mistakes' cost them the match.

'We made some mistakes. In rugby, every error will cost you seven points. It is demoralising when you lose after putting in so much of hard work. Some silly mistakes spoiled it for us. Sri Lankans never had to work to win the points, they did nothing fanciful, it is we who gave away the match,' Hussain said.

'The strategy against the Sri Lankans was to keep it close and to keep the ball possession as they are faster and like to spin the ball. We stuck to the gameplan in the first half which we dominated. It is unfortunate that we could not execute things in the second session.
'In Sri Lanka, Rugby is quite popular and their infrastructure is also very strong. Even their school games are a sell out. So naturally, they are a formidable unit,' Hussain said. 'But we went with a positive frame of mind, but it is just those couple of mistakes took the game away from us.'
Reflecting on his boys' performance, Hussain said they are a far more confident lot now.
'If one thing, that we would be taking back from this competition is the confidence. Every player now has the confidence that the team can lift their game and do better. This was our most successful tournament as we have never won four matches in a row. Also, this was the closest we have come against the Sri Lankans. We will continue to work hard and improve,' Hussain said.
Sri Lankan team admitted that Indians have shown remarkable progress.

'When we played them last year and we found most of the players lacked in skills. This time they gave us a good fight. They have indeed improved a lot,' said Ishan Noor, the island nation's most promising ruggerite.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Malaysia, Brunei, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, besides hosts India, took part in the championship which was essentially to test the facilities for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games rugby competition.
The Indian team will fly back to Auckland April 20 to resume their training which they found highly useful during their three-week stint there before the championship.

BAM faces cash crunch, makes CWG highest priority

Badminton Association of Malaysia is facing unprecedented cash crunch and hence recommended playes to focus only on big events in 2010. Commonwealth Games to be held in October this year is amongst the most important events as per the association.

Because of the financial constraints, currently the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has only had its budget approved up to the All England tournament in March.

"We have to reduce the allocation for competitions due to budget constraints and the focus should be on the four major events," sports council director general Datuk Zolkples Embong told the New Straits Times newspaper.

There are more than the usual number of big international events this year, with the world championships in Paris in August, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October and November's Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Malaysia also hosts the international men's and women's team events, the Thomas and Uber Cups, in Kuala Lumpur in May and Zolkples said he wanted the top players, most notably men's number one Lee Chong Wei, to focus on winning the major titles.

"Winning gold in the world championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games is the priority and as hosts, we must also do well in the Thomas Cup.".

Fiji to appeal Commonwealth Games ban

Fiji officials on Tuesday said that they would appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sports for their exclusion from 2010 Common wealth Games in India. Fiji was barred from the games in September after the country’s military regime ignored international demands to restore democracy following the 2006 coup.

The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) expressed its disappointment on decision taken at Commonwealth Heads of Government summit to uphold Fiji's suspension from the games.

FASANOC president Vidhya Lakhan said,"We totally disagree with this decision. In our view it is tantamount to political interference in sports. As such we will now be taking the matter up to the Court of Arbitration for Sports for a resolution."

Fiji‘s exclusion from games was confirmed in October by the Commonwealth Games Federation following its suspension from the Commonwealth.

The heads of government meeting in Trinidad confirmed Fiji’s expulsion from the games in Delhi, with only Malaysia offering support. Fiji will appeal against the ban in Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, an independent body which settles sports-related disputes.

More funds requested by Commonwealth Games 2010

Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Dr. M S Gill on Monday said he will ask the government to release more funds for the Commonwealth Games.

Addressing a gathering of delegates from the 71 member nations of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at the CGF General Assembly meet here, Gill said that the games committee is facing some shortfall in the already proposed budget and so they would ask the Central Goverment to release more funds. Gill said he is certain that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet would not hesitate to make all arrangements required for smooth process of the games.

He said New Delhi is bracing up to live up to the expectations of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

“We have to give you arrangements which are worthwhile, which are acceptable and which are seen to be good. Therefore Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit is working day and night. We are working as hard as we can on that,” Gill said.

Meanwhile, Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games Federation said the upcoming games village is even better than the one in Beijing Olympics.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be India’s first major international sports event after the 1982 Asian Games. New Delhi hosted the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 and again in 1982.

The Games will be staged in India for the first time and in Asia for the second time. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held the Commonwealth Games in 1998.