(Football) Malaysia U-16 must bounce from 7-1 thrashing by

Australia

KUALA LUMPUR: The 7-1 thrashing by Australia on Monday

has left national Under-16 coach P. Somasumdram perplexed
but he is confident his team will be prepared for the AFC
Under-16 Championships India in September. Malaysia
needed to beat Australia to advance from Group A into the
semi-finals of the AFF Championships in Phnom Penh. The
team did promisingly in the first half to hold Australia only
to concede six goals after the breather. Somasumdram said
Australia were technically better than his team.

They were well-built and were also very physical. My

players could not compete with them. Some players were
also still feeling the effects of food poisoning, said
Somasundram when contacted in Phnom Penh today. The
coach said his players need more exposure against top
teams. We need to polish our tactical game and also work
on fitness before the AFC Championship, he said.

Somasumdrams side will get plenty of match practice

before the AFC Championship as several teams will be in
Kuala Lumpur to prepare for the competition. We will play
Saudi Arabia on Aug 9, North Korea (Aug 16 and Sept 5),
UAE (Aug 27) and Uzbekistan (Aug 31), all in KL,
Somasundram added. Malaysia have been drawn in Group C
with South Korea, Oman and Iraq in the AFC Championship
in India on Sept 15-Oct 2. The top four teams will qualify for
the Under-17 World Cup next year, also in India.

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(Olympics) IOC reveals 45 new doping failures from Beijing,
London Games

GENEVA: The International Olympic Committee reported 45

new doping failures on Friday from the 2008 Games in
Beijing and London 2012, bringing the total number of
positive drug test to 98 since a retesting programme was
launched. The IOC, facing one of its worst ever doping crises
that could see sporting powerhouse Russia banned from the
Rio Games, has reanalysed more than 1,200 samples, with
the emphasis on medal winners. Reporting results from its
second wave of retests.the IOC said there were 30
Provisional Adverse Analytical Findings from competitors
in Beijing 2008 and 15 Adverse Analytical Findings among
London 2012 Olympians.

Within the Beijing group, 23 were medallists, the IOC said.

The 30 positive results came from eight countries and four
sports. The second wave of retests from London included
138 samples. The 15 positive tests were from nine countries
and two sports. The IOC said it was not able to identify the
athletes concerned, citing legal reasons. The new
reanalysis once again shows the commitment of the IOC in
the fight against doping, Olympics president Thomas Bach
said in a statement. The IOC has said the retesting
programme followed intelligence-gathering that began
last year.

The new results may pile more pressure on the IOC as it

faces making the unprecedented move of banning an entire
country from a Games over doping. Two reports from the
World Anti Doping Agency have detailed rampant, state-run
drug cheating by Russia, affecting 30 sports. Russias track
and field team has already been banned from Rio by
governing body IAAF. But a dozen global anti-doping
agencies and several national Olympic committees have
urged the IOC to take exemplary action and rule all Russian
competitors ineligible for the Rio Games, which start in two
weeks. The IOC said a decision could be made on Sunday.

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--AFP

Khairy announces separate dates for 2017 Sea Games and

Asean Para Games

KUALA LUMPUR: Its now official. The 2017 Sea Games will
be held on Aug 19-31 while the 2017 Asean Para Games will
take place on Sept 17-23. Youth and Sports Minister Khairy
Jamaluddin today announced that both events will not run
concurrently as initially planned following the rejection from
the Sea Games Federation (SEAGF) last week.
Unfortunately, the idea was not endorsed by the SEAGF at
its meeting last week.

Although as the host country we are disappointed by the

lack of vision and courage shown by the SEAGF, we respect
the decision and will move on to organise the best ever Sea
Games and Asean Para Games during separate dates," said
Khairy in a statement. Khairy, who is the chairman for the
Malaysian Sea Games Organising Committee (MASOC) also
announced that both Games will be officially known as
KL2017. Meanwhile, Khairy urged volunteers to sign up
quickly as only 12,000 people have signed up so far. The
target is to reach 20,000 volunteers. Those interested can
register on the official KL2017 website .

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(Malaysia Cup) Kelantan leaves it late to snatch 3-3 draw
with Selangor

KUALA LUMPUR: Kelantan snatched a 3-3 draw against

defending champions Selangor after Manaf Mamat scored
deep into stoppage-time in a Malaysia Cup Group B match at
the Shah Alam Stadium on Wednesday. Substitute Manaf's
tame shot, after seven minutes were added on, trickled
under Selangor goalkeeper Norazlan Razali to leave both
teams tied on four points, one ahead of Kuala Lumpur, who
defeated Pahang 2-0 on Wednesday.

Patrick Wleh scored twice to seemingly put Selangor on

course for the win with a 3-1 lead but Kelantan's power of
recovery proved too much for Selangor. Kedah are also
comfortably perched on top of Group A after a 2-0 win over
Kuala Terengganu T-Team put them four points clear of
Premier League side Johor. Terengganu, with caretaker
coach Mustafa Kamal Wahab in charge after Mike Mulvey
was relieved of his duties, ended a 10-match unbeaten run
for Felda United since they moved to the Tun Razak Stadium
in Jengka thanks to Norshahrul Idlan Talaha's goal in a 1-0
win.

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The result left all four teams in Group D, including Malacca
and Negri Sembilan, level on three points. After routing
Terengganu 6-1 in a Super League match last weekend,
Kelantan oozed confidence and should have gone ahead in
the 13th minute. Baze Ilijoski, who scored four goals in the
last match, blazed over from close range with the goal
gaping after Brendan Gan's attempt was only parried by
Norazlan Razali, who minutes earlier had a punched away a
drive by Wander Luiz.

Darul Ta'zim held by Police

KUALA LUMPUR: Darul Ta'zim's decision to field only locals

proved costly as they were held 1-1 by Police in a Malaysia
Cup Group C match at Hang Jebat Stadium today. Darul
Ta'zim led in the 70th after Police defender K.Reuben
deflected Amri Yahyah's shot into his own net. However,
Safuwan Baharuddin cancelled out the lead with a goal two
minutes into stoppage time. Last week, Darul Ta'zim were
held 2-2 by PKNS at Larkin Stadium. Police now lead Group C
with four points while Perak, who demolished PKNS 4-1 in
Ipoh, are second with three points, followed by Darul Ta'zim
(two points) and PKNS (one point).

In Paroi, Negri Sembilan stayed on course for the quarter-

finals with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Malacca in a
Group D match. Alex Smith scored a brace for Negri in the
27th and 37th minutes while Henrique added the other goal
in the 40th minute. Malacca replied through Yasir Pinto in
the 13th minute while Ferris Daniel added the second in the

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60th minute. Pahangs hopes suffered a dent after losing for
the second straight time. Razip Ismail's side were edged 2-0
by Premier League side Kuala Lumpur in a Group B match at
Selayang Stadium.

(Olympics) Russian sports minister Mutko in doping

controversy spotlight

MONTREAL: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has

called on FIFA to investigate Russias sports minister Vitaly
Mutko, a member of the football world bodys executive,
over drug failures in football. A bombshell report on state-
dictated doping in Russia, which will host the 2018 World
Cup, said the manipulation of tainted Russian samples was
controlled by Mutkos ministry.

The investigation by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren,

released on Monday, did not provide evidence of a detailed
implication by Mutko in decisions to protect drug-cheat
athletes. But it said Mutko, president of the Russian football
federation and chief organiser of the 2018 World Cup, took
the decision to hide the doping case of a foreign player in
the Russian football league. McLaren quoted Russian
whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov as saying it was

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 inconceivable that Mutko did not know about the whole
doping system.

WADA called on FIFA to act on Mutko, a 57-year-old ally of

President Vladimir Putin and sports minister since 2008.
Another notable finding within the (McLaren) report is the
role that one of FIFAs executive committee members,
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, played within the
system, said a WADA statement. Accordingly, WADA urges
the FIFA ethics committee to look into the allegations
concerning football and the role played by this member.

(Rugby Commentary) Super Rugby: What a Super Saturday,

especially in New Zealand

WITH Super Rugby in its 17th and final round this week,
questions have again being raised about the competitions
format, especially whether all teams are being treated fairly.
Four of New Zealands five franchises have qualified for the
playoffs but only one gets to host a quarter-final, compared
to two home quarter-finals in South Africa, which has two
franchises. Two South African teams are in the playoffs, as is
one team confirmed from Australia.

The remaining slot will be filled by a team from either

Australia or South Africa. Now that the competitions regular
season is coming to its finale, the NZ franchises have
reaffirmed the dominance that began as the five-month
competition reached its halfway stage. Most aspects of the
statistics are in their favour tries, line-breaks, offloads and
running metres, amongst others. They are also ahead in
terms of overall competition points. The best of the five
Australian sides, which would be either the Waratahs or

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Brumbies, who play their last regular match Saturday, has
scored several points less than the third and fourth NZ
teams, the Highlanders and Hurricanes, with 48 points each.

The story is the same when a comparison is made between

the NZ and SA franchises. The Stormers, one of the
conference leaders, have 46 points up to Friday while the
Sharks, the second-placed team in the other conference,
have 39 points with one game to play. Only the Lions are
ahead of everyone in the competition with 52 points. The
competitions organising body SANZAAR however has
defended the format, saying what is seen as unfairness to
the NZ franchises this season is due to the exceptional
quality of their teams.