Foul!

Press release Malaysian waterski darling Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah can certainly stand tall after rounding up the International Waterski and Wakeborard Federation (IWWF) Waterski World Championships on a high. With nothing to lose, the 16-year-old delivered another outstanding showing in the women’s tricks final to score 7,440 at the Water Sport Complex, Putrajaya today. The score was better that her achievement  of 7,320 in the preliminaries and it is yet another new Asian open women’s tricks record. She finished ninth following several upsets with American Erika Lang and Canadian Neilly Ross fumbling their runs. Aaliyah also finished 10th in the women’s overall category with a score of 1,984.63. “I think it was a pretty good way to finish despite the fact that I fell at the end and I’m lucky that the judges didn’t take away those points from my tricks run,” said Aaliyah who has a personal best of 7,600. “I’m usually not so consistent with my scores because nerves get t

Press release National youth head coach, Kwan Yoke Meng is eyeing for improvement from his young charges at this year’s Celcom Axiata Malaysia International Junior Open (CAMIJO). A total of 41 players from the national youth setup featuring Kok Jin Hong, Ooi Jhy Dar, Yap Roy King and Fazriq Razif are set to take on heavy hitters that include world junior No. 10 Christo Popov of France and world junior No. 21 Sirawit Sothon of Thailand. “My target for this tournament is to achieve better than last year’s record of four representatives in the quarterfinals. “I hope that the young players will be able to take this opportunity to upset their opponents and gain more confidence in their own abilities,” said Kwan. The 53-year-old coach will have to make do without the services of men’s singles shuttler, Lee Shun Yang who picked up an ankle injury in training while fourth seeded mixed doubles player, Gan Jing Err is a doubt due to foot injury. “Hopefully

PRESS RELEASE It’s a huge breakthrough for Malaysian waterski darling Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah after she reached her first final at the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) Waterski World Championships. Starting eighth in the women’s tricks preliminaries series 2, the teenager was at her calmest under intense pressure as she racked up a total of 7,320 points at the Water Sport Complex, Putrajaya on Friday. That temporarily put her in the lead and it proved to be more than enough as she eventually finished ninth. Only the top 12 skiers progress to the final and Aaliyah’s achievement is a massive step forward as she becomes the first ever Asian skier to reach a tricks final. Additionally, her score of 7,320 is also a brand new Asian record, erasing her own previous record 7,250. It is shy of her personal best score of 7,600 but the spunky 16-year-old was simply elated to make the final. “I really don’t know what to feel right now. It’s just so cool to be in

PRESS RELEASE Ukraine’s sudden emergence in the waterski world is due to a passionate lover of the sport – Alexy Martynov. A former water skier and a successful businessman, Martynov has virtually put Ukraine on the world map of waterski from his efforts that started 12 years ago when he formed the Sentosa waterski club and school in Dnepropetrovsk. Danylo Fil’Chenko, a pioneer product of the club, is competing in the on-going International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) World Waterski Championship in Putrajaya. He sees action in three events – Slalom, Tricks and Jumps. Fil' Chenko said he owes his rise in the sport to Martynov and the club. “Martynov not only set up the club but has been sponsoring the Ukrainian team to all the competitions,” said the 20-year-old who is studying construction management at the University of Louisiana Monroe in USA. “The Ukrainian national team is virtually the Sentosa club team. It was only recently, when our team started getti

PRESS RELEASE Asian skiers will have more reason to look forward to the Waterski World Championships which starts today at the Putrajaya Lake. This is because for the first time in history, the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) has approved of a parallel ‘Best Asian Skier’ category to run alongside the main world meet event. This is indeed a significant move aimed at giving recognition to the passion and dedication of Asian skiers as well as giving the sport a push towards development in this region. With waterski in Asia traditionally lagging behind the American and European counterparts, it is highly unlikely for the Asian skiers participating in the world meet to make it through to the finals. The only Asian skier who could make the final is Malaysian sensation Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah, who is currently ranked No. 12 in the IWWF world rankings in tricks. But it is still a very tall order for the 16-year-old who is going up against som

'War' could be seen as a strong word but it sure seems like it for some within the media fraternity. Several incidents, including the statement issued by the Finance Ministry two days ago, have further irked members of the Press who are already battling woes within their organisations. The statement, issued on Aug 10, 2019, was in response to Bernama's financial constraints . While the statement provided a clarification to the situation, those in the industry question if the last paragraph was necessary. In fact, the last paragraph got some wondering if it was a statement by the ministry or a state government (as seen pre-GE14). On Aug 7, members of the local media "kesal" after they left out of a press conference during the Malaysia-China Belt and Road Economic Cooperation Forum in Kuala Lumpur. And not too long ago, the Human Resources Development Fund sued a (or two) journalist/columnist/reporter over an international cours