Bernama News : Gold Rush Slows Down On Sixth Day Of Islamic Solidarity Games

PALEMBANG, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- The pursuit for gold medals at the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games slowed for Malaysia when only two gold medals were delivered on the sixth day of games competed among 46 Muslim countries.

The national contingent's medal haul of the day were two gold, two silver and eight bronze.

Malaysia also lost one rung in the medal tally to the fifth position with an overall collection of 14 gold, 10 silver and 19 bronze.

The host country, Indonesia returned to top the table with 25 gold, 24 silver and 22 bronze edging Egypt to second place with 22 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze.

Turkey maintained its third position with 18 gold, 23 silver and 30 bronze while Iran pushed Malaysia off the fourth position with 15 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze.

The swimming squad continued to be the main gold medal contributor when it yielded another two gold medals through the women's 200m breaststroke and the men's 800m freestyle relay.

The national athletics team won two bronze through Rayzman Shah Wan Sofian in the men's 110m hurdle clocking 13.97s and Raja Nursheena Raja Azhar in the women's 100m hurdle with a time of 13.98s.

The national women's volleyball squad also collected a bronze in the beach volleyball event at the Jakabaring Beach Volleyball court.

Malaysia's medal hopes tomorrow are in badminton, wushu and taekwondo.

-- BERNAMA

Bernama News : Christina Loh Overcomes Stomach Upset To Clinch Gold Medal

PALEMBANG, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- National swimmer, Christina Loh Yen Ling endured a stomach upset in the women's 200m breast stroke for a hard earned gold medal at the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) at the Jakabaring Aquatic Centre near here Saturday.

She beat six other swimmers clocking 2:33.02s while Nadia Adrianna Redza Goh made it a 1-2 victory for Malaysia by taking the silver in 2:34.86s.

The bronze medal went to Nermin Balabaa of Egypt.

The Malaysian swimming squad delivered another gold through the men's 800m freestyle relay when the team comprising Kevin Yeap, Vernon Liee Jeau Zhi, Yeap Zheng Yang and Welson Sim Wee Sheng came in first with a time of 7:31.44s.

The silver went to Turkey while Egypt took the bronze.

Meanwhile, Tern Jian Han contributed a bronze medal in the men's 50m backstroke clocking 26.73s.

Host country Indonesia's Sudartawa I Gede Siman took the gold in 25.63 seconds while the silver went to Duvan Guven of Turkey in 26.73s.

-- BERNAMA

Bernama News : Malaysia Takes 4th Place On 5th Day Of ISG

PALEMBANG, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has proved itself as a sports powerhouse among Muslim countries after adding four gold, three silver and four bronze medals on the fifth day of the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) at the Jakabaring Sports Complex near here today.

Malaysia improved its position to the fourth place in the medal tally after collecting 12 gold, seven silver and 11 bronze medals edging Iran to fifth place with 10 gold, nine silver and five bronze.

Egypt has taken over the top position in the medal tally from host Indonesia with 18 gold, 19 silver and 16 bronze.

Indonesia which was in the second place out of 46 competing countries collected 16 gold, 13 silver and 19 bronze.

Turkey maintained its third place position with 15 gold, 16 silver and 25 bronze.

The swimming squad has become the main contributor of medals for the country with three gold and two bronze at the Jakabaring Aquatic Centre tonight.

The three gold were delivered by Khoo Chai Lin in the women's 800m freestyle, Christina Loh in the women's 100m backstroke and Kevin Yap in the men's 400m freestyle.

Meanwhile, another gold came from national woman archer Nor Rizah Ishak who won the women's individual compound.

Athlete Kamalam Shally collected a silver in the women's 200m final after chalking a time of 25.16s.

The national weightlifting squad concluded its competition with one silver and one bronze medal.

National woman weightlifter Nur Khasida Abdul Halim clinched the silver in the women's 75kg category while the bronze was won by Siti Aisyah Md Rosli in the same event.

Malaysia will be going into the sixth day of the ISG with medal hopes pinned on swimming, badminton, taekwondo and wushu.

-- BERNAMA

Bernama News : Swimming Squad Yields Three More Gold Today

PALEMBANG, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- The swimming squad in the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) continued its winning streak by delivering another three gold and two bronze medals at the Jakabaring Aquatic Centre here today.

The first swimming gold of the day was won by national swimmer Khoo Cai Lin when she won the women's 800m freestyle with a time of 8:53.61s.

The silver medal for the event went to Reem Kassem of Turkey with the bronze going to Raina Saumi Ramadhani of host country Indonesia.

Kevin Yeap collected the country's second gold in the men's 400m frestyle when he completed the race in 3:55.11s with Egypt's Elamrawy Marwan taking the silver while the bronze went to Karap Nezir of Turkey.

Christina Loh clinched the third swimming gold of the day in the women's 100m backstroke clocking 1:10.43s.

Mai Mostafa of Egypt won the silver while another Egyptian swimmer Nermin Balbaa took the bronze.

Meanwhile, the Malaysia's two swimming bronze medals were contributed by Liee Jeuan Zhi in the men's 200m buterfly and Tern Jian Han in the men's 100m backstroke.

Kevin said he still could not believe winning a medal today as he did not expected to win a medal in the event.

"I thought I could only be in second or third place at best tonight, but luck was on my side," he told Bernama.

-- BERNAMA

New FINA Rules effective 25 Sept 2013

FINA has revised its rules and regulations for 2013-2017 effective today, 25 September 2013.

See the General Rules (wef. 26 Sept 2013) and FINA Swimming Rules (wef. 25 Sept 2013).

You may also read the comments on the changes from swimswam.com, where it's worth noting the excerpt below :

"In breaststroke and butterfly, two-hand touches can no longer be overlapping. The hands must be separated when the wall is touched.

In backstroke, FINA took out the wording that a swimmer is allowed to be completely submerged at the finish of a race (though they can still do so at the turn). This means that the big lunges we see, most often in younger age groups, that put the swimmer entirely underwater into the wall are now eliminated. This is important for all coaches to keep an eye on."

Bernama News : Malaysia's Golden Trail Continues As Swimmers Fish Out Two Gold Medals From Swimming Pool

From Ahmad Muliady Abdul Majid

PALEMBANG, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Malaysia fished out two more gold medals from the swimming pool to surpass the medal target set for the Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG), here Wednesday.

The two gold medals won raised the total number of gold medals won by the Malaysian contingent to five, well past the three-gold target set earlier.

With five gold, three silver, seven bronze, Malaysia are currently in fifth spot behind overall leader Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran.

After a slow start, host Indonesia took a giant step forward and disposed Egypt from top spot by winning 10 gold, 5 silver, 12 bronze while Egypt with a tally of 9-10-9 are in second while Turkey with (8-7-14) are third ahead of Iran with (6-6-2).

In today's action, swimming has the biggest contributor with two gold and two bronze medals with gold medals coming from Daniel Bego in the men's 200m Freestyle and Khoo Chai Lin in the women's 400m medley.

Daniel Bego clocked 1:51.36s to win his event while Chai Lin clocked 4:55.49s to win her event.

The two bronze medals were won by Yap see Tuan from the men's 50m Breastroke with a time of and Kevin Yap Soon Choy through the men's 200m Freestyle.

Apart from swimming, Malaysia collected another two bronze medals from athletics which opened its doors at the Jaka Baring Stadium today while karate failed to produce any medal winning performances from the men's and women's Kumite.

In athletics, back up squad athlete Nauraj Singh Randhawa, 21, cleared 2.18m for the bronze in high jump while Iran's Keyvan Ghanbar cleared 2.20m for the gold medal on count back since Syria's Majd Eddin Ghazal had also cleared 2.20m.

Thursday, Malaysia's medal hopes will hinge on badminton, athletics and swimming.

-- BERNAMA

Bernama News : Swimming Squad Complete Malaysia's Three Gold Target At ISG On Second Day

From Ahmad Muliady Abdul Majid

PALEMBANG, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- National swimmers Yap See Tuan and Yap Siew Hui fulfilled Malaysia's three-gold medal target on the second day of the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) when they each contributed one gold medal at the Jakabaring Aquatics Centre today.

Malaysia had set a three-gold medal target, two from swimming and one from karate at the games.

Yap See Tuan won the men's 200m breastroke with a time of 2:18.16 seconds, one second ahead of silver medalist Mohamed Gadallh of Egypt who clocked 2:20.17's.

The bronze medal for the event went to Turkish swimmer, Alpkan Ornek who finished in 2:20.89's.

Yap, from Kuantan, Pahang said he was elated with today's victory and described it as a helpful stint before the SEA Games in Myanmar in mid-December.

He hoped to add another medal irrespective of its colour in the men's 100m breastroke tomorrow.

Yap said after the ISG outing he would continue training for SEA Games even though the final list of swimmers had not been issued by the association.

"I hope to be drafted for the SEA Games," he told Bernama .

Meanwhile, Yap Siew Hui clinched a gold medal in the women's 100m butterfly clocking 1:02.19's.

The silver and bronze medals in the event were won by Turkish swimmers, Esra Kubra Kacmaz in 1:02.60s and Ayse Yazici (1:04.02's) respectively.

Yap Siew Hui said she did not expect to win a gold medal today and the victory was a bonus for her effort.

"I am happy with the win today and hope to repeat the success in Myanmar," she said.

The national swimming squad also contributed two silver today through Khoo Cai Lin in the women's 200m freestyle and Nadia Adriana Redza Goh in the women's 400m freestyle.

-- BERNAMA

The NST : SWIMMING: Yi Ting has had enough

By Ajitpal Singh

THREE-TIME Olympian Siow Yi Ting has quit the national team, citing injury.

However, the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) wants Yi Ting to reconsider and only retire after the Myanmar Sea Games in December.

The swimmer's sudden decision is due to the nagging pain she often suffers in training due to a growth on her neck.

She had informed ASUM of her intention to quit two weeks ago but has not given anything official in writing. The BA in Arts and Sculpture graduate turns 28 on Dec 11.

Yi Ting, who represented Malaysia in the 2000 (Sydney), 2004 (Athens) and 2012 (Beijing) Olympic Games, has won 10 gold medals in six Sea Games appearances since making her debut in the 2001 Kuala Lumpur edition and is also the biennial games' record holder in the 100m and 2000 breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.

Asum secretary Edwin Chong said Yi Ting has informed them about her intention to quit the sport.
"Yi Ting feels she has lost the confidence and motivation to swim. She is not young anymore and it is not easy at her age to cope with the demands of the sport," said Edwin yesterday.

"She also has a growth on her neck and it is affecting her when she does the breaststroke. I believe she is considering surgery and I've told her to get treatment from the National Sports Institute. She is not training anymore."

Edwin said he has told Yi Ting to consider one last outing in the Sea Games in Myanmar.

"We are hopeful but I think she has made up her mind. Anyway, she has already done so much for the sport. We appreciate her contributions," Edwin added.

Yi Ting's best performance in an international outing was winning three titles in record times at the Laos Sea Games four years ago.

In her absence, national coach Paul Birmingham will depend on Christina Loh and youngster Phee Jing En for medals in the Sea Games. Christina was the 50m breaststroke gold medallist in the 2011 Sea Games in Indonesia.

The Telegraph : Tokyo wins bid to host 2020 Olympic Games

By Ben Rumsby, in Buenos Aires12:01AM BST 08 Sep 2013

It was meant to be too close to call, one of the tightest races the International Olympic Committee had ever voted on, but Tokyo last night delivered a crushing victory to win the right to stage the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

And the winner is... ecstatic Japanese delegates celebrate the decision to award Tokyo the 2020 Olympic games Photo: AP

The Japanese capital vaporised Madrid and Istanbul in rain-swept Buenos Aires, the latter after it threatened to pull off a shock triumph following a dramatic tie with its Spanish rival in the first round of voting.

Tokyo’s final margin of victory over Istanbul was a massive 24 votes, 60 to 32, giving the hosts of the 1964 Olympic Games the honour of being the fifth city to stage them twice.

The announcement of the result sparked inevitable scenes of jubilation among its bid team, with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe claiming he was more elated than after his own election: “I am overjoyed. I would like to share this jot together with the Japanese people back home.”

Its first-round success was almost as emphatic, Tokyo gaining 42 votes to Istanbul and Madrid’s 26 apiece, just six short of the outright majority required to eliminate the need for a second round of voting.

In the end, there were three rounds, with the tie between Madrid and Istanbul prompting a vote-off, which the latter won 49 to 45.

Madrid had been tipped to push Tokyo all the way and its early elimination was a major surprise, as was the margin of the Japanese capital’s victory.

Senior IOC members were last night crediting its victory to the perception it was a “safe” pair of hands compared to the riskier Madrid and Istanbul.

The latter two’s final presentations were also followed by serious questions about their dubious doping records – from British member Adam Pengilly.

Outgoing President Jacques Rogge said: “It is clear that the IOC members pay a lot of attention to the situation in the fight against doping.”

Despite the widespread belief members usually decide which way to vote long before the final presentations, it seems yesterday’s may have had as much of an influence as when London stunned Paris to land the 2012 Games eight years ago.

Tokyo’s began with what was thought to be its trump card when Princess Takamodo became the first member of Japan’s royal family to address the IOC, a major coup for the bid.

But the princess was immediately upstaged by Paralympian Mami Sato, who delivered the most emotionally-charged speech of the entire day, talking candidly about how sport had rescued her from the depth of “despair” after she lost her right leg to cancer.

She also spoke about her home town being struck by the 2011 Japanese tsunami and how “Olympic values” had helped it to recover.

That raised the spectre of the one major controversy to haunt Tokyo’s bid, the ongoing leak from the Fukushima nuclear power station that has contaminated the water around the plant.

Japan’s prime minister confronted the issue head on, saying: “The situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.”

Inevitably pressed further in the Q&A, he gave “emphatic and unequivocal” assurances that the leak posed zero risk to health.

Madrid’s pitch conveyed a similar message about Spain’s economic crisis, which it thought it had turned into a positive by pitching a low-budget Games and reinforcing that 80% of its infrastructure was already in place because of its previous bids.

“Madrid makes sense,” was repeated constantly during what was a surprisingly underwhelming presentation until Crown Prince Felipe, a darling of the IOC, delivered a rousing finale.

However, the Madrid bid team were ambushed in the Q&A by Pengilly, who raised the spectre of the Operation Puerto doping saga and a Spanish court’s decision to destroy blood evidence.
Its bid team failed to provide a satisfactory response.

Neither did that of Istanbul, which attempted to address its recent doping scandal, announcing new legislation to prosecute “anyone who promotes the use of drugs by our athletes”.

It began its pitch by reminding the IOC that the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron de Coubertin, said the movement had a “responsibility” to spread the Games to new regions.

It highlighted its youth-focused culture and growing economy, insisting its £12.8 billion budget was not excessive compared to those of Tokyo (£2.6bn) and Madrid (£1.2bn) because almost all of it was being invested regardless of the Games.

However, it danced around the other two issues that have dogged its campaign, this summer’s anti-government protests and riots and the escalating crisis in neighbouring Syria.

Istanbul did attempt to address its recent doping scandal, announcing new legislation to prosecute “anyone who promotes the use of drugs by our athletes”.

All three presentations borrowed heavily from London successful pitch for the 2012 Olympics and Tokyo vowed to draw further inspiration when it came to hosting the Games.

Bid president Tsunekazu Takeda said: “More than anything, people of the United Kingdom were all fully supporting the London Games.

“A Passionate Olympic Games is something that we would like to emulate in 2020.”