Foul!

UPDATE (6.30pm) : LOTUS RACING UPDATE Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 30th September 2010 In a bid to alleviate the public confusion surrounding the ongoing matter between Lotus Racing and Proton / Group Lotus, Lotus Racing shareholder and Deputy Team Principal Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun recently had the opportunity to meet Proton Adviser Tun Dr Mahathir. The meeting was to discuss the matter in person and agree a future course of action for Lotus Racing. Lotus Racing believes it is acting within its own rights, and as a result of this meeting, the team will now refrain from making any further comments on the matter. This action is upon advice from Tun Dr Mahathir, and it is out of our respect for him that we will act upon his wishes as he has supported us since our inception, and his backing has been invaluable in our growth. We are very grateful for having had the opportunity to put forth our case and have complete trust that a fair review will be made, and a decision on the matter will be ann...

I honestly thought it would be a stress free day. I honestly thought that after braving the heavy downpour and massive traffic heading towards the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, I would have a good time watching quality tennis at the Malaysian Open ATP 250 tournament. But when I saw a black 'sampah bag' looking thingy located at the leaky roof of the stadium, I told myself it's not going to be another chill-free day. Four months since the Thomas and Uber Cups and it's still the same. Sigh! Read today's Mailsports' What a shame . Pic by Razak Ghazali of The Malay Mail. HD says : I might bring an umbrella in the stadium and join tournament emcee Lina Teoh at the centre court singing BJ Thomas' Raindrops keep falling on my head .

Folks at Astro Arena were given a rude shock after learning the death of its general manager Matt McKeown ( pic ) this afternoon. It is said that Matt passed away at his home at about 2.30pm after suffering a heart attack. UPDATE (28 Sept, 2010 - 7.40pm):Email from Astro: The wake ceremony for Matt McKeown is scheduled tomorrow, 29th September 2010 from 11am - 6pm.   Details as below:   Day & Date: Wednesday, 29th September 2010 Time: 11am - 6pm Venue: Room 21(Aster), 2nd Floor            Nirvana Memorial Centre,            No 1, Jalan 1/116A            Jalan Sg. Besi 57100            Kuala Lumpur   Pls pass the details to all. Note: Picture of Matt taken during the Sports Writers Association Awards ceremony earlier this year - without permission by Rizal Hashim . HD says : Rest in peace....

Welsh based club Cardiff City are using their Malaysian connection to set up academies in the country. This was published in today's Mailsports - Cardiff set to tie up with KLFA . If the deal goes through, this could make KL into a grooming ground for our future players. There are also talks of academies in Johor and Kedah. HD says : While the negotiations take place, let's listen to Adam Green's Bluebirds .

I'm not a big fan of weddings, especially Punjabi weddings. There's just too much of headache. May it be from the invitation list (which will be filled with unknown family members and friends to the parents instead of the bride and bridegroom), the typical stereotype food (eg. egg sambal and dhal) and the worse of the lot is when some old timers come up to you and say "....so boy, when is your turn?" Thus, I'm not a big fan of Punjabi weddings. And I'm sure the athletes heading to the Commonwealth Games are not overly excited either. While many seem to see the glass as half full, here's my take on the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi - and with no disrespect to Mr MS Gill ( pic ), it is 'Not a Punjabi Wedding' yaar! HD says : I do, however, enjoy the folk songs sung at weddings especially during the Jaggo night. It's just plain fun.

Read SSDhaliwal's posting which was published on his blog recently - Adversity makes strange bedfellows . It was certainly an interesting piece. As my late father once told me; "Life is a circle. What goes up will come down. Never forget that." HD says : I don't like Justin Timberlake but the opening tune to What goes around comes around is catchy no?

From a firing incident that hurt two Taiwanese toursists, the collapse of the footbrigde near the main stadium, athletes bailing out to hot debates by politicians and sports officials over New Delhi hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games. As a tv comentator said: "Has India humiliated itself?" In just a few days the Indian capital will host the Games - as skeptics continue to believe it could turn out to be a failure. But then again, South Africa was bombarded with a security threats and Fifa was worried that the venues will not be ready in time. Yet, the African country hosted the 2010 World Cup in style. Could the same be seen in India? The Australian government is confident of India getting its act right . Hopefully this will not affect the 201 Malaysian athletes set to compete in the meet. HD says : Kuch kuch hota hai (something happens)...only in India.

That's what some National Sports Association claimed as reported in today's Berita Minggu . I doubt the National Sports Council (NSC) will keep quiet over this matter, as rightly pointed out by SS Dhaliwal . Perhaps there should be a solution to this. If only NSA's were financially independent...hmm. UPDATE : Read Bernama's story - NSC promise to settle money owed to associations by year end. HD says : Money is the root to all evil?

It looks like the FA of Malaysia aren't alone. Bahrain FA were given a rude shock after it was revealed that a 'fake' Togo team played the Middle Eastern side in Qatar earlier this month. ABC Sport reports that Fifa are investigating into the claims. One wonders to why Fifa is keeping mum over Monomotapa United FC's trip to KL last year in which the African club side pretended to be the Zimbabwe national team. For the record, the Zimbabwe FA have suspended its CEO Henrietta Rushwaya after investigations revealed she allowed Monomotapa United to fly across the globe instead of the national team. Why the doubles standards? What's the real deal? HD says : The duped FAs should start singing to their new theme song by English punk group The Fall - I've been duped.

So Lee Chong Wei set to leave the BA of Malaysia? Well SS Dhaliwal seems to think so as reported in his blog . After all, he did speak to Chong Wei on many occasions while in Paris (World Championships). What attracts me the most is the final paragraph of his posting. "Sometimes one wonders who actually runs badminton, or for the matters sports in the country. Time to read the NSC Act 1971, and yes in the words to Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah - you gave birth to a monster way back in the 70's by forming NSC." This was discussed by Christopher Raj , Rizal Hashim and I during the latest edition of Kafe Sukan on Astro Arena . Hmm.. HD says : I guess it's the right time for me to layan Metallica's Some Kind of Monster .

Ah Noraseela Khalid . It's always fun talking to her. She carries herself well and it's easy to get interesting quotes from her. It somehow shows she's a well read individual. Nevertheless, the 400m hurdlers athlete has been slammed on many occasions. From being labelled 'unpatriotic' by certain quarters for not representing the country for the SEA Games to now being called the ' golden child ' of the National Sports Council. Perhaps the critics are baffled to why money must be spent on an aging runner (Noraseela turns 31 on Sept 27) who is struggling to produce results. Here are the facts. Based on the Malaysian Amatuer Athletics Union website , Noraseela still holds the national record at 56.02s set in Regendburg on 17/06/2006. Are there any younger up and coming hurdlers who are promising enough to break that record? Age should not be a factor. Rachael Grinham, 33, is ranked No. 4 in the world squash rankings. Tine Rasmussen is of the same age with Noras...

HD says : Eid Mubarak. Have a great weekend folks!

That's what the stake holders of our national badminton scene should do if the Badminton World Federation decide to leave KL. Singapore's TODAYonline in its report yesterday claim that BWF are considering Europe or Singapore in a bid to relocate from the Cheras Stadium. Just like the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) being housed in KL, we should learn how to work closely with such organisations instead of shooing them away. Nevertheless, we never seem to work closely with such establishments and I wonder why. Read BA of Malaysia's take on BWF's relocation plans in today's Mailsports HD says : I'd rather listen to Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight, Tonight .

It's always good to hear from former Perak coach Steve Darby. Steve, who is now coaching Thailand's Under-23 football team, just emailed me an interesting article on FIFA's 289-page technical report summary . Among the points highlighted in the article include: 1. “Of the four semi-finalists, only Uruguay played in a formation that resembled 4-4-2, although the position occupied by Diego Forlan ( pic ) merits further examination. Although he was in principle a striker, he mostly played in an advanced midfield position, behind the team’s main striker, Luis Suarez. In effect, Forlan had a free role and was always looking to keep play moving before driving forward.” 2. “In 46 of the 64 games, the team that opened the scoring also went on to win the match. As there were also six goalless draws and another eight matches in which the team that conceded first came back to equalise, this meant that there were only four matches in which a team came back to win after conceding the fi...

Read SS Dhaliwal's take on a futsal team that surprised themselves by bagging a title in Taiwan recently. Word has it that the organisers are not from the Taiwan FA and they assured the participating teams that they need not obtain the approval from their local national body (ie FA of Malaysia). So it was supposed to be a mini vacation for Figos-Real Sports Arena FC as they play several good matches in Taiwan. But they won. And then everything went wrong. Their victory was highlighted and FAM slapped the team with a RM9,000 fine and a two year ban. FAM's vice president Datuk Hamidin Amin is aware of this and stressed that the procedure is stated clearly in the regulation. Nevertheless, he preferred FAM secretary general Datuk Azzudin Ahmad to comment on the matter. The team, meanwhile, are trying to avoid any more limelight. Perhaps for fear this could further jeopardise the team and its players. HD says : Feel sorry for the team. Perhaps we should layan Meet Uncle Hussein...

It's surprising how we can sometimes learn from the movies. There are two recent incidents that were already documented in two different movies. The world still speaks about the stoning of an Iranian lady for alleged adultery. Such was seen in the movie the Stoning of Soraya M which was released in 2008. Many were shocked when a Filipino policeman held several passengers hostage on a bus in central Manila. That incident was better known as the Manila Bus Hostage . In 2002, Jose Padilha wrote and directed the movie Bus 174 based on an incident that happened in Rio de Janerio on June 12, 2000. Two must watch movies that will provoke your mind. HD says : If movies isn't your thing, then check out reggae punk band Bad Brains' song At the movies .

I hate to be a spoilsport but the skeptic in me insists that the Asean Basketball League has failed to make the anticipated impact. I could be wrong, though. I thank Les Tan, creator of Singapore's leading sports online portals Redsports.sg and Redhoops.com , for giving me the chance to air my views with regards to the ABL. On a brighter note, do visit Tony Mariadass's blog about a truly Malaysian story on Rosmanizam Abdullah . HD says : Perhaps Tony Fernandes, Les and I could share our views over a bottle of wine at Marina Bay. Tony M, feel free to join as well :)

I pity Stanley Bernard Samuel ( pic in white ). Read his predicament with Indonesian outfit Persibo Bojonegoro in today's Mailsports . The escalating tension between both countries is worrying. Our Indonesian counterparts have invited us to speak on the issue. They seem sincere in getting the true feelings of Malaysians as The Malay Mail's newly promoted assistant news editor Pearl Lee spoke to Jogjakarta-based radio station TrijayaFM and Jakarta Globe recently. But I would like to quote what Indonesia's badminton ace Taufik Hidayat said during the World Championships in Paris recently: "Don't mix sports and politics. I am a sportsman and not a politician. I don't like it (mixing sports and politics)." HD says : Tension or not, Bali (and Jakarta) here I come!

My deepest condolences to National Sports Institute director general Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz over the demise of his mother Sharifah Esah Syed Abdul Rahman at 2am (KL Hospital). May she rest in peace.