Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Terry Fox Run 2009 for Kuala Lumpur

Thanks to Jasmin Melan from Couch Surfing for highlighting on Terry Fox Run 2009 for Kuala Lumpur. Terry Fox Run is being done to raise fund for cancer research.

I have participated in this twice, so definitely am looking forward to it!

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Address: Lake Gardens aka Taman Tasik Perdana
Start: November 1st, 2009 - 8:30 am

You can run, skate, rollerblade, cycle, walk, jog or whatever at Terry Fox Run. No entrance fee but purchase of limited edition t-shirt is optional at RM25 each. Proceeds will go towards cure for cancer research.

Get your t-shirts here:
1) Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (CARIF), 2nd Floor, Outpatient Centre, Sime Darby Medical Centre (From 15th Oct, Mon to Fri, 9.00am to 5.00pm)

2) Canadian High Commission, Menara Tan & Tan, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur (From 15th Oct, Mon to Thurs, 8.30am to 12.00pm, 2.00pm to 4.00pm, Fridays 8.30am to 12.00pm)

3) Foyer, Menara Citibank, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur (from 26th Oct to 30th Oct 12.00 to 2.00pm)

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Chen Chow's Other Posts
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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009

KL International Marathon will be held on 28th June 2009, and Standard Chartered will be the main sponsor this year, and hence, we will join Singapore in having huge marathon. (Hopefully!)

I have just signed up for the 10km and also have pledged my support to one of the 5 causes that KL International Marathon is championing for.

The 5 causes are:-
1. Standard Chartered Trust Fund
2. Shelter Home for Children
3. Development of Human Resources in Rural Area
4. National Autism Society of Malaysia
5. Malaysia Nature Society.

Hope that you can join the marathon (for health and fun sake) and also sign up for one of the charity causes! If not, do go there and donate/support! To donate, go here . Very simple and it is tax exempted too.

To join the marathon, go here .


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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Monday, March 30, 2009

Azizul nailed a Silver in UCI Track World Championships

Congratulations to Azizul Hasni Awang from Malaysia for securing the Silver Medal in the Sprint event for UCI Track World Championships in Pruskow, Poland.

Azizul has now become our 1st Malaysian Silver Medalist in this tournament, after Rizil Tisin scored a Bronze Medal earlier for Malaysia in the 1km time trial.

This is our best achievement for our cyclists! Syabas!

The full results at here .


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Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Proton Malaysia Open - Quarter Final

Today is the quarter final for Proton Malaysia Open for Badminton. It was a bad day for Malaysia, as 7 out of 8 Malaysia representatives lost their games tonight. The only one who marched into semi final is Lee Chong Wei.

In the Mixed Doubles, Koo Kien Keat-Ng Hui Lin lost to Joachim Fischer Nielsen-Christinna Pedersen 9-21 12-21. Hoon Thien How-Chin Eei Hui lost to Lee Yong Dae-Lee Hyo Jung 8-21 12-21. Both our pairs were originally unseeded, so making into quarter final is already a bonus!

In the Women Doubles, top seed Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Thy failed to keep up their gallant run recently, to lose to Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen 21-17 19-21 11-21. Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen used to be 2004 Athens Olympic Games Gold Medalist.

In the Women Singles, both our representatives lost in the quarter final. They were both unseeded. Julia Wong Pei Xian lost 18-21 14-21 to top seed Zhou Mi. Lydia Cheah Li Ya lost to Wang Chen 15-21 10-21.

In the Men Doubles, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong lost to Jung Jae Sung-Lee Yong Dae 13-21 21-17 19-21. A very close match.

In the Men Singles, Daren Liew failed to continue his giant-killing act, and lost 12-21 14-21 to Peter Hoeg Gate. It should be a great exposure for him.

Our sole survivor is Lee Chong Wei, who beat Simon Santoso 21-15 16-21 21-11.

Some of the upsets:-
Men Singles - Hsieh Yu Hsin beat 2nd Seeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-15 22-20
Women Doubles - Shendy Puspa Irawati-Meiliana Jauhari beat 3rd Seeded Vita Marissa-Liliyana Natsir 21-18 24-22
Men Doubles - Anthony Clark-Nathan Robertson beat 3rd Seeded Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen 21-16 23-21

Hopefully, our badminton fans would still go all out to support Lee Chong Wei in his quest to win his 5th Malaysia Open. His remaining 3 contenders are Peter Gate, Park Sung Hwan and Hsieh Yu Hsin.

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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Top 10 Articles in chenchow.blogspot.com (Aug 08 to Nov 08)!

Since it is Hari Raya Haji and I am staying in my room today, I feel that I should go back and look at my blog further.

I decide to look for which articles are most popular at which month.

As I only activated Google Analytics in late July, so my analysis can only be done for 4 months, August to November.

Below would be the top 10 articles for each month! This traffic is based on those who click into my specific links. So, the actual readers would actually be much more, since a lot would be reading from the main page of chenchow.blogspot.com .

Thanks to my blog reader for helping to pick up these articles! :)

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All-Time High (21st July 2008 to 30th November 2008)
1. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 821 Page Views (4 Times Top 10)
2. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 428 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
3. SPM Trial Exam Papers - 411 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
4. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 267 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
5. TMI New Board Members - 245 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)
6. Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) Top Universities Ranking - 232 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)
7. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 222 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
8. The 10 Commandments for Business Failure - 199 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)
9. JobStreet.com - Forbes Asia "Best Under 1 Billion" - 193 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
10. Northeast Malaysia Forum - Datuk Tony Fernandes - 184 Page Views (1 Time Top 10)

November 2008

1. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 130 Page Views (4 Times Top 10)
2. SPM Trial Exam Papers - 127 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
3. Free Sepang A1 GP Grandstand Tickets Courtesy of JobStreet.com - 97 Page Views (New Top 10)
4. Bill Clinton Free Public Lecture in KL - 90 Page Views (New Top 10)
5. 2 Malaysians Among 10 in UN Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System - 78 Page Views (New Top 10)
6. Comprehensive US Applications Guide - 63 Page Views (New Top 10)
7. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 59 Page Views (4 Times Top 10)
8. In Memory of Lee Nian Ning (1987-2008) - 50 Page Views (New Top 10)
9. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 50 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
10. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 49 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)

October 2008

1. SPM Trial Exam Papers - 284 Page Views (New Top 10)
2. Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) Top Universities Ranking - 183 Page Views (New Top 10)
3. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 132 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
4. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 121 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
5. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 112 Page Views (3 Times Top 10)
6. Global Peace Festival 2008 - 63 Page Views (New Top 10)
7. JobStreet.com - Forbes Asia "Best Under 1 Billion" - 58 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
8. Singaporean who made it to Princeton after failed to enter NUS 4 times - 56 Page Views (New Top 10)
9. Doha International Conference - 53 Page Views (New Top 10)
10. CEO Series of Talks 2 - Justin Leong - 51 Page Views (New Top 10)

September 2008

1. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 398 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
2. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 121 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
3. JobStreet.com - Forbes Asia "Best Under 1 Billion" - 119 Page Views (New Top 10)
4. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 59 Page Views (2 Times Top 10)
5. Speech By Abdul Kalam, Former President of India - 56 Page Views (New Top 10)
6. Accenture Graduate Consulting Opportunities - 54 Page Views (New Top 10)
7. Siow Lee Chan - Bronze Medalist - Paralympic Games - 54 Page Views (New Top 10)
8. UPenn Acceptance Rates Increase - 51 Page Views (New Top 10)
9. 1Malaysia.com.my - Datuk Seri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak - 51 Page Views (New Top 10)
10. Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English - 47 Page Views (New Top 10)

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August 2008

1. TMI New Board Members - 223 Page Views
2. Malaysia Budget 2009 - 181 Page Views
3. The 10 Commandments for Business Failure - 142 Page Views
4. Past Year SPM Trial Exams - 96 Page Views
5. Northeast Malaysia Forum - Datuk Tony Fernandes - 57 Page Views
6. Mavin Khoo - Devi: In Absolution; In Aid of Pusaka - 56 Page Views
7. Additional JPA Scholarships for SPM 2007 - 51 Page Views
8. Celcom Launched Executive Plan - 48 Page Views
9. McKinsey & Company - KL & Singapore Office Recruitment - 46 Page Views
10. JPA Scholarships - Interview with Tan Sri Ismail Adam - 45 Page Views

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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

A1GP Team Malaysia would start 4th for Feature Race Tomorrow 3pm at Sepang F1 Circuit

Tomorrow, 23rd November 2008, at Sepang F1 Circuit, Malaysia A1 GP Team would be going into the race as the leading team, with 28 points after the first two races. The next contenders are Ireland and France at 23 points, and then New Zealand and Netherland at 20 points.

For tomorrow, Team Malaysia would start at position 13th for Sprint Race and 4th at Feature Race. We were unlucky not to have a good placing for Sprint Race, due to the Red Flag that was out and also traffic.

For feature race, 3pm tomorrow the grid looks like the following:-
Pos A1 Team Time
1 Ireland 1'47.124
2 Great Britain 1'47.340
3 Lebanon 1'47.645
4 Malaysia 1'47.648
5 Portugal 1'47.680
6 Netherlands 1'47.825
7 India 1'47.848
8 USA 1'47.866
9 France 1'47.993
10 China 1'48.126
11 Monaco 1'48.242
12 Brazil 1'48.323
13 Australia 1'48.586
14 Indonesia 1'48.839
15 New Zealand 1'48.866
16 Switzerland 1'48.980
17 South Africa 1'49.061
18 Mexico 1'49.537
19 Italy 1'49.885
20 Korea -

The Sprint Race, 11am tomorrow the grid would be as follow:-
1 Switzerland 1'47.154
2 France 1'47.747
3 New Zealand 1'47.779
4 Portugal 1'48.930
5 Italy 1'49.007
6 Great Britain 1'49.076
7 Ireland 1'49.197
8 Mexico 1'49.293
9 Netherlands 1'49.323
10 India 1'49.350
11 South Africa 1'49.528
12 USA 1'49.650
13 Malaysia 1'49.753
14 Australia 1'49.998
15 Brazil 1'50.085
16 Monaco 1'50.171
17 China 1'50.274
18 Lebanon 1'50.382
19 Indonesia 1'51.423
20 Korea -

The full standing after the first 2 races in Netherlands and China are:-
Malaysia - 28 Points
Ireland - 23 Points
France - 23 Points
New Zealand - 20 Points
Netherland - 20 Points
Portugal - 18 Points
Switzerland - 17 Points
Great Britain - 16 Points
Australia - 13 Points
South Africa - 9 Points
Monaco - 8 Points
USA - 6 Points
Korea - 4 Points
Lebanon - 3 Points
Italy - 2 Points
India - 2 Points
China - 1 Point
Indonesia - 0 Point
Brazil - 0 Point
Mexico - 0 Point

Malaysia is obviously the only Asian countries that are really fighting for honour in this A1 GP.

Quoting from A1GP.com

The A1GP race weekend consists of two separate races.

Sprint Race
The Sprint Race runs from 11.00 local time on the Sunday morning for a maximum of 24 minutes (plus one lap) with a rolling start. The race contains one mandatory pit stop.

Points are awarded to the top eight finishers as follows.

First Place – 10 Points
Second Place – 8 Points
Third Place – 6 Points
Fourth Place – 5 Points
Fith Place – 4 Points
Sixth Place – 3 Points
Seventh Place – 2 Points
Eighth Place – 1 Points

Feature Race

The Feature race is a maximum of 69 minutes (plus one lap) in duration with standing start and two mandatory pit stops. The Feature Race runs from 15.00 to 16.10 local time on the Sunday afternoon. Points are awarded to the top ten finishers for the Feature race as follows:

First Place – 15 Points
Second Place – 12 Points
Third Place – 10 Points
Fourth Place – 8 Points
Fith Place – 6 Points
Sixth Place – 5 Points
Seventh Place – 4 Points
Eighth Place – 3 Points
Ninth Place – 2 Points
Tenth Place – 1 Points

A bonus point is awarded to the fastest lap achieved by a team during the Sprint Race and Feature Race.

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Based on that calculation, if all teams maintain their standing as of today's qualifying, they would be ranked as following.

Ireland - 41 Points
Malaysia - 36 Points
France - 33 Points
Great Britain - 31 Points
Portugal - 29 Points
Switzerland - 28 Points
New Zealand - 26 Points
Netherland - 25 Points
Australia - 13 Points
Lebanon - 13 Points
South Africa - 9 Points
USA - 9 Points
Monaco - 8 Points
Italy - 6 Points
India - 6 Points
Korea - 4 Points
China - 2 Point
Mexico - 2 Point
Indonesia - 0 Point
Brazil - 0 Point

With that, the gap between the top 8 countries would be even wider with the rest, with Ireland, Malaysia, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Switzerland, New Zealand, Netherlands. 6 of those are top European nations, with Malaysia and New Zealand make up the rest.

This really shows our Malaysia Boleh spirit! Lets hope that Fairuz Fauzy would do Malaysia proud tomorrow. To know more about him and Team A1GP Malaysia, go to here .

So, why wait? Tomorrow be there at Sepang F1 Circuit to support our Malaysia Team there. I'll be there by 8am wearing Team A1GP Malaysia shirt with JobStreet.com and Autoworld.com.my.

Don't forget to wear your yellow shirt there, as that's our National colour! The Sprint Race would be 11am and Feature Race would be 3pm.

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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Federer to Meet Tennis Fans on 18th Nov 2008

Roger Federer would be meeting Malaysian fans at lobby of Petronas Philharmonic Hall, Petronas Twin Tower at 11:45am on 18th November 2008.

This is quoted from Bernama
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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer is scheduled to meet fans at the Petronas Twin Towers here on Tuesday in conjunction with the Showdown of Champions Kuala Lumpur 2008.

The men's singles World Number Two has allocated 40 minutes to meet his fans at the lobby of the Petronas Philharmonic Hall between 11.45am and 12.25pm, said Adlan Zabri, the Chief Executive Officer of LD Sports Sdn Bhd, the promoters of the event.

"This will be a chance in a lifetime for Malaysian tennis fans to get this close with Federer. He has agreed to sign autographs for the fans and this is indeed a rare occasion," he said.

He said as the turn out would be huge, fans are advised to assemble at Petronas Philharmonic Hall's lobby area early and to follow instructions issued by security personnel at the location to avoid disappointment.

Federer, together with James Blake, and legends John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg will be participating in the Showdown of Champions at Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil on the same day.

Meanwhile, one lucky fan will be driving home a Proton Satria Neo if he or she catches a golden ball hit by the players prior to the start of the second match between Federer and Blake.

Aside from being thrilled by the skills of world class tennis players, spectators of the Showdown of Champions will also be entertained by the countrys leading divas like Jaclyn Victor, Ning Baizura and Ella.


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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Siow Lee Chan - Bronze Medalist - Paralympic Games

Datuk Lee Chong Wei got his Datukship, when he won a Silver (originally I had a mistake, by writing that he got a Bronze. Thanks for pointing out!) Medal during Beijing Olympics.

Barely 1 month later, Siow Lee Chan has our Jalur Gemilang flying again in Beijing Olympics, when she won a Bronze Medal for Powerlifting Women Under 56kg in Paralympic Games. That is World Number 3.

She lifted 95kg to improve on her personal best of 92.5kg achieved at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

Syabas Lee Chan! Hopefully she would get equally rewarded for her great feat! This ended Malaysia's drought of 16 years in Paralympics.



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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Thomas Cup vs China

After a gallant fight, finally, Malaysia's Thomas Cup team succumbed to a 2-3 loss. Personally, I think that we can walk away from Istora Senayan with pride, although we failed to join China and South Korea in the Thomas Cup final.

Lee Chong Wei managed to get the better of Lin Dan. That's definitely a good sign.

Our strategy to rest Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah, seemed does not work for the 1st Men Double. Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong lost to Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng.

After which, it is Wong Choong Hann's time to bring back the battle for Malaysia. However, he failed to reproduce the kind of spirited performance by Foo Kok Keong in 1992, to help Malaysia to overcome China.

Then, it comes the 2nd Men Double. Mohd Zakry and Mohd Fairuz won this crucial battle, but then Hafiz let us down. He lost quite tamely to Chen Jin.

It is a 2-3 and this is the 1st time Malaysia lost to China in Thomas Cup since the final in 1990. That's a record of 18 years that China has been trying to overcome. They lost to us 3 times in past Thomas Cup semi-finals.

Lets hope that our athlete would bounce back come Olympic Games in 3 months' time.



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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Olympics Torch Run KL Leg

21st April 2008, with 109 days before 8th August 2008, Kuala Lumpur played host to the 29th Summer Olympic Torch Run. It is a great occasion and priviledge for Kuala Lumpur, to be selected as one of the cities where the torch is brought around.

Today, 80 torch bearers, including Sultan Azlan Shah (who jogged under a heavy rain), brought the torch around various parts of KL, from Dataran Merdeka to Stadium Merdeka to KL Tower and then to Petronas Twin Tower.

I was thinking of running, but then in the end, I didn't run. I just went to KLCC to see the closing ceremony. It was very packed, but sadly the bulk of those who bothered to attend are those students from China. Easily, 80-90% of those attending (except for police, officers etc) are from China. They showed their patriotism, with flags pasted/painted on their face, and also some carried huge China's flag. They were shouting "Jia You, Beijing" and "Jia You, China" too in Mandarin!

I am just wondering where are all the KLites. It is at a very convenient place at Petronas Twin Tower, but somehow fellow Malaysians just don't care and don't bother to show up. Maybe the rain could be a reason, but why aren't we be patriotic and come forward to cheer for our country.

When the VIP from China Olympic Committee shouted Malaysia Boleh, there was no reaction from the crowd and that happened at Petronas Twin Tower and it is a huge shame.

Also, the organizing committee seemed quite unprepared. The souvenirs to be presented was not ready when the name was read. Some of the recipients somehow didn't go up stage or seemed blurred. And our KL Mayor gave prizes at the stage one level lower than where China's Ambassador is. I'm not sure whether that's the protocol or it is a misplan. It just looked wierd.

And after it was over, Putra LRT definitely is not ready to take care of the crowd. It was huge bottleneck. Just wish we had done better in this.



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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Support A1 Team Malaysia

Now is the chance for A1 Team Malaysia fans to be heard by voting for A1 Team MAL as your favourite team in the championship.

The team that wins this contest will be presented a prize at the end of season Gala Awards evening to be held in London’s West End on Monday 5 May 2008.

Log on to A1GP's website to vote for us.


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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Monday, March 24, 2008

Malaysian F1 Race at Night in 2009

The next F1 race in Malaysia would be at night!

Quoting fully from Bloomberg

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Ecclestone Says Malaysian Grand Prix to Be Night Race in 2009

By Ranjeetha Pakiam

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The Malaysian Grand Prix will switch to a night race in 2009, Formula One Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ecclestone said in an interview.

Ecclestone, 77, said Grand Prix organizers at the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur had agreed to start the race after 7 p.m. Today's Malaysian Grand Prix began at 3 p.m.

Formula One officials want the Asian leg of races to be more accessible to European television viewers. Singapore is staging the first night Grand Prix in September and Ecclestone has told Australian race organizers they must move to a night race or lose their place on the schedule.

Malaysian Grand Prix organizers ``know it is necessary, both to attract television audiences in Europe and the public here,'' Ecclestone said in a trackside interview at Sepang. ``It will be very good for the people in Malaysia and anyone coming to visit the race as it will be very exciting.''

Ecclestone said he'll recommend the race starts no earlier than 7 p.m., requiring the circuit to be lighted.



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Click here to read more of Chen Chow's posts

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!

Monday, February 04, 2008

Jit Sin Covered Basketball Court

Finally, Jit Sin High School, my alma mater, has a covered basketball court! Haven't gotten the chance to visit it yet, but definitely it is a great new improvement.

I got the info from SMJK.EDU.MY

Thomas and Uber Cup 2008

With Thomas and Uber Cup in a few months' time, our national contingent is training hard before the tournament. Today, the draw for the qualifir is out. We have a very good draw in it, and that means we stand a good chance to make it to the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals.

Quoting from Reuters

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Malaysia land favourable draw for Thomas Cup
Sun Feb 3, 2008 10:30am IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+]
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Top seeds Malaysia were handed a favourable draw on Sunday in their bid to qualify for May's Thomas Cup finals in Jakarta.

Malaysia, led by world number two Lee Chong Wei, were drawn against Taiwan, the Philippines and Cambodia in Group A for the Asian qualifiers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from Feb. 19-24.

Second-seeded South Korea will play Singapore and Vietnam in Group B and Japan take on India and Pakistan in Group C.

Fourth seeds Hong Kong, will have a tougher time against Thailand, Sri Lanka and Macau in Group D.

Malaysia have three players in the world top 25, with Lee joined by 15th-rankled Wong Choong Hann and number 24 Hashim Muhammad Hafiz.

The South Koreans are led by 12th-ranked Park Sung-hwan and world number 14 Lee Hyun-il, recent winner of the Korean Open.

In the Uber Cup Asian Zone qualifiers, top seeds Japan play Thailand and Sri Lanka in Group W.

South Korea take on Singapore and Cambodia in Group X while Chinese Taipei are joined by Hong Kong and Vietnam in Group Y.

Group Z consists of only two teams, Malaysia and India.

In both competitions, the top two teams from each group, after a round-robin, qualify for the quarter-finals.

For the Thomas Cup, four teams qualify for the Jakarta finals. However, in the Uber Cup, only the top three teams qualify automatically.

The team finishing fourth are compared to the fourth-placed team from the European qualifiers. The higher ranking of the two, as of Feb. 27, will advance to the Finals.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Great Performance at Copenhagen Masters

Our national badminton team seems like going to be able to close 2007 on a high note.

Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Latif has managed to storm into the final for Copenhagen Masters, after thrashing former world champions Lars Paaske-Jonas Rasmussen 21-19 21-15, and then beat Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen 18-21, 21-16, 21-18.

They are expected to play against another Danish pair, Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard Hansen in the final. If they win this, it would be their first international tournament win!

Both our national single player has also been performing well. Roslin Hashim beat Dicky Palyama 21-16 21-16.

Kuan Beng Hong beat Wacha Przemyslaw 18-21, 21-11, 21-16 ,before losing 17-21 16-21 to Peter-Gate Christensen.

Syabas our national shuttlers!

Wong Mew Choo

Since I was young, it has always been that when anyone in Malaysia mentioned about our badminton team, we mean our men's team. We are talking about Thomas Cup. Be it Single or double, we have never focused on our women's team.

And in 2003, Mew Choo brought some limelight back to our national women's team, when she won an unexpected Women Single's title for Sea Games. And then in 2007, she won the China Open Super Series. That means she thrashed the Chinese athletes at their homeyard.

The Star did an interview with Mew Choo. You can get it here

Full text reproduction here
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Every country needs a heroine

Each time Wong Mew Choo enters a badminton competition, she is fully aware that she represents each and every Malaysian. And she is determined that all of us emerge victorious in the world arena.

MALAYSIAN STORIES

MALAYSIAN badminton has a new heroine and her name is Wong Mew Choo. The 25-year-old national shuttler caught the attention of the world this year when, unseeded, she vanquished Chinese female badminton players including World No.1 Xie Xingfang in the final to win the China Open Super Series title in November.

(Mew Choo is the first Malaysian woman and the second non-China player to win a woman’s singles title on Chinese soil since the tournament began in 1986.)

Meeting Mew Choo face-to-face, one is surprised that this dragon slayer is kind of ? small.

After her fantastic performance in China – she is the first Malaysian woman in three decades to have won a major title for the country – an Olympic medal in badminton now looks like a distinct possibility.

“I could not have done any of this without the support of the country and the Government. When you know you have the rakyat behind you, it is very energising,” explains Mew Choo when asked what motivated her.

Nobody, not even her teammates, thought she could win. Of course everyone was over the moon when she did the “impossible”. But Mew Choo is no overnight sensation.

She has been “in service to the country” for the past 10 years.

“I did my Form Four under the umbrella of the Badminton Association of Malaysia at Sri Garden School in Taman Maluri.

“The BAM gave me lots of opportunities – all the training and coaching. They also sent me to a lot of competitions for exposure. I think it was at the SEA Games in 2003 when I won the gold that they took real notice of me.

“For me it was a surprise win but my life took a turn from that day.”

Mew Choo is mindful that representing the country is serious business.

“You have to try your best and never give up. I remember how we tried to get me qualified for the Olympics in 2004.

“We did our best but did not have enough time. It was only a few months. My world ranking when I started was in the 100s, but I managed to work my way up to 46. However, that year the Olympic selection closed at 42!”

So it was back to training under Misbun Sidek. “He is a great coach. I owe him a lot ? my fitness and competencies. He knows exactly how far to push me.”

Today, she trains under Wong Tat Meng. That is the other amazing thing about being part of the national team.

Mew Choo says she learnt to interact with all races easily. To her, her teammates very simply are Malaysian – representing the country everywhere they go.

Training and back-to-back competitions have taken a physical toll on her, though.

“There isn’t a part of me which hasn’t been injured; my ankles, heels, knees, elbows, shoulders. But the medical care is good and I’m grateful for that.”

Mew Choo does not mind all the sacrifices she has to make.

“I don’t get to see my family very often. When we are playing in meets, we are away for months at a time. And when we return to Malaysia, sometimes it is only for a few days before we are off again.”

Despite all that, she remains close to her family. They are the ones she calls after every competition – win or lose. “Of course, they are happy when I win but they are equally supportive when I do not.”

When she is back in Kuala Lumpur, she hardly has any time to herself because she trains six hours a day, every day.

Where many young people her age are focusing on making money and advancing their careers, she is quite simply proud to be able to be a national badminton player.

“My parents are very proud that I am representing Malaysia. I’m grateful to them as they have supported me all the way. From the time I expressed interest in the game, they were always there for me – shuttling me from game to game, investing time, effort and money to help me. When I was injured, they were the ones who paid the medical bills.”

In other countries, sports stars get paid a lot of money for endorsements. In Malaysia, most national players do it for a more altruistic reason as they are not allowed to sign on for endorsements.

Mew Choo says it is the backing of the BAM, National Sports Council and the encouragement of the public which has helped her to stay the course. After all, the petite young woman has been playing competitively since the age of 12.

“Badminton is something I am good at and I am grateful for this talent although I know I have to work doubly hard to prove that Malaysian sportswomen have got what it takes to be world champions.”

She believes that whatever progress or success she achieves is only the start for Malaysia. “We can do more. We can be winners.”

Today, Mew Choo has made every Malaysian believe that the impossible – the All-England, the Thomas Cup and the Beijing Olympics – may well be possible again.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Cheah Soon Kit resigns and joins KLRC

Another national player, or rather ex-national player, who is also our National Women Doubles' Coach has left our national team.

Cheah Soon Kit, who was part of the winning 1992 Thomas Cup team, has tendered his resignation to Badminton Association of Malaysia.

He would be joining KLRC under Datuk Seri Andrew Kam.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

A1 in Zhuhai

After a poor outing in the first 2 or 3 races, Alex Yoong finally got his acts together, and Team A1 Malaysia is now able to put forth a better fight. He would start at 17th place for Sprint race and 8th place for Feature race.

While this starting grid position is nothing to shout about, this would at least give Alex Yoong a chance to fight competitively.

Does this season of poor performance due to the performance of the car? or Alex Yoong?

Good Luck to Alex and Team A1 Malaysia!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Update on Champions Trophy

For the 6th preliminary round matches, again our hockey players gave their best, but their best is not good enough to hold former and perhaps even current world champion, Germany. Malaysia lost a close 2-3 to Germany, which is very laudable, especially with Malaysia team launched a very gallant fought back in the 2nd half, after having trailing them by 0-3 in the first half.

Pakistan did the same thing. Fought back from a 1-3 trailing, to steal a point from South Korea.

Australia and Netherland spared the spoiler of 3-3 for the Champions Trophy match, whereas Spain gave British a lesson in hockey. They thrashed them 5-0, which is one of the biggest, if not the biggest lopsided win in this season's Champions Trophy.

While we are sure now that Malaysia would rank the last in this season's Champions Trophy, we can walk tall that we never lose more than 2 goals in any game as of now. Most are just a one goal losing. Perhaps with greater training, we can make a difference.

Good Luck to our Malaysia hockey team!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Korat Sea Games Update (5th Dec 2007)

Today, our women's table tennis team garnered a bronze after losing 2-3 to Thailand in a very closely fought semi-final game. Unfortunately, we were unable to turn the table of the host. The main paddler for Thailand, brought in 2 points for Thailand and that effectively shut our chances.

For aerobics women individual, our acrobic dancers were far at the last 2 positions. Kong Pei Ling and Joanne Tan got respectively 15.45 and 14.75 points. They were in 5th and 6th position. However, the athlete from Indonesia, Koesumansat, who finished number 4th got 19.2 points. That's a lot of difference. Having said that, this is great exposure for our national athletes.

As of now, Malaysia is lagging very far behind other nations. Our athletes performance are far from solid as of now. We have just gotten 2 golds as of currently. Our target is 64 golds.

And a lot of unfortunate incidents have happened too. Daniel Bego, our top ranked swimmer is having a fever. Wong Mew Choo is injured. So do a few other athletes. All these gold-medal hopes would hopefully be able to recover and deliver.

Tomorrow, the 24th Korat Sea Games would be launched. A fantastic galore of 10 days of sports!