CONDOLENCES, TRIBUTES AND ACCOLADES CAME POURING IN AFTER HEARING THE DEMISE OF TENPIN BOWLING ICON DATUK DR PS NATHAN WHOSE LEGACY WILL BE UNMATCHED. HERE ARE SOME TRIBUTES FROM THE WORLD BOWLING FRATERNITY 

Canadian Sid Allen, Malaysian bowling coach for a decade (1990-2000)

When I think of Doc its hard to not him as member of the formidable trio of Doc, Peter Yap & Sidney Tung. 

Doc was so unique, I have never met anyone like Doc, he exuded patience, calmness and above all else class. 

His integrity was impeccable, a beacon for us all to strive to be. He governed world bowling during its finest years, his passion stood out whenever he was faced with difficult moments. 

Doc, as a leader he was a delegator, his biggest flaw was he trusted everyone. I will miss his cheeky smile. 

Lydia Rypcinski - International Media Officer from USA

I'm stunned to see this news of the demise of Dr Nathan. 

Dr. Nathan was like alpha and omega to Malaysian bowling, his presence and influence were so large. 

Many condolences to his family and the Malaysian and Asian bowling communities.

 

WAWASAN 2020 AND DESTINY FDC STOLE THE SHOW

4^TH TAN SRI HAMIDIN MOHD AMIN CHALLENGE TROPHY XMAIL FC VETERAN / 2^ND UNDER 16, 9S FOOTBALL TOURNAMENTS

WAWASAN 2020 AND DESTINY FDC SHINE

DEBUTANTS Wawasan 2020 and Destiny Football Development Centre  won the 4^th Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin Challenge Trophy Xmail FC Veteran / 2^nd Under 16, 9s Football Tournaments respectively at the Melwood Arena, Sungei Buluh on Saturday.

It was also the first for the new named tournament, as it changed name from the Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin / X Mail FC Veterans 9s football tournament to Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin Challenge Trophy tournament.

The change came about when on Sept 7, Datuk Hamidin, the FA of Malaysia president, was conferred the title of Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota ((P.S.M) which carries the title of Tan Sri, by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, in conjunction with his official birthday.

This year, the tournament was held at the Melwood Arena in Sungei Buluh, following the inaugural tournament in Kuala Kubu Bharu in 2021, followed by in Taiping and last year in Ipoh.

The Tan Sri Hamidin Challenge trophies donated by the FA of Malaysia president, also saw the introduction of a Under-16 tournament with another Challenge Trophy last year.

Last year saw the participation of a foreign team for the first time in the Veteran’s category - Bacolod United - from the Philippines,  but unfortunately they could not come this year.

Organised by the Kuala Lumpur XMail Veterans FC, the tournament saw eight invited teams in each category, compete in the one-day tournament, at the beautiful and scenic Melwood Arena surrounded by hills and forest.

The tournament kicked off with a march past of participating teams with each team carrying the 14 state flags and Malaysian flag to commemorate the Malaysia Day tomorrow (Sept 16) and sang the national anthem and Selangor state anthem to honour the tournament was held in Selangor.

ASP Rajendran Kanhiah from Shah Alam Police, who is the Malaysian Indian Football Association deputy president and president of victorious team Wawasan 2020 club president, was the guest of honour for the opening ceremony.

On Friday night, Tan Sri Hamidin was present for the welcome dinner at Royal Selangor Club Sports Annex at Bukit Kiara.

In his address he had said: “I am glad to see small clubs organise tournaments like this, especially age-group tournaments to unearth our young talent and give them competition exposure.

“As for the veterans, it is good to still see them in the game, which helps them keep fit and healthy, while still active in the game,” said Tan Sri Hamidin.

“As this tournament also incorporates the U16 tournament, the veteran players should serve as example for the youngsters with their discipline in the game, fair play play, besides displaying their vintage skills,” said Tan Hamidin with a cheeky laugh.

Tan Sri Hamidin handing over the Veteran's Challenge trophy to Christopher Raj

The teams who competed on Sunday in the veteran category for players 45 years and above category, were host XMail FC Veterans, Melwood Boys FC, Club Aman, UM Legends, Wawasan 2020, Rain FC, MCFA and Sportwriters Association of Malaysia (SAM)

While in the Under-16 teams the teams who competed were My World Hunters FA Academy (Penang), Black Leopard FA (KL), CIMB YFA (KL), DTFT (Selangor), KR7 FC (Malacca), Destiny FDC (Selangor) ,Wira MAS Ipoh (Perak) and PD U Rangers FC (Port Dickson, NS). 

Tan Sri Hamidin officially handing over the u16 Challenge trophy to ex-international V. Kalimutu at the official dinner

The teams were divided into two Groups in each category at the draw on Friday namely for veterans - Group A: UM Legends, XMail FC, Wawasan 2020 an Rain FC and in Group B:Club Aman, Melwood FC, Malaysian Chinese Football Association (MCFA) and Sportwriters Association of Malaysia (SAM).

VETERAN SEMIFINALS - CLUB AMAN AND WAWASAN 2020

SAM

In the Under-16 category in Group A were PD U Rangers, KR&, My World, Destiny FDC and Group B were DTFT CIMB YFA, Wira Emas and Black Leopards.

After the Group preliminary league round in their respective Groups, the top two teams qualified for the Championship semifinals, while the third placed and fourth team played in the Plate semifinals.

In the Veteran final, both the teams - Wawasan 2020 and Rain FC - were from Group A.

In the Group match both teams played to 0-0 draw and in final after the game was tied again at 1-1, it had to be decided by penalty kicks and Wawasan 2020 won 3-2

In the semifinals, it was close encounters as Wawasan 2020 beat Club Aman 1-0 and Rain FC also won by a similar score (1-0) beating Melwood Boys.

In the Plate Final, hosts Xmail beat UM Legends 3-1 and in their earlier meeting in the Group match had defeated UM Legends 4-1.

Individual prizes for the veterans were as follows:

Best Goalkeeper: Mohamed Redzuan (Rain FC)

Top Scorer of the Tournament: K. Nanthakumar - 5 goals (XMail FC KL)

Man-of-the match in the Final: Murugarajoo Muniandy

 (Wawasan 2020)

Fair Play Trophy: UM Legends

The top scorer for both the veteran and Under-16 category received a return air-ticket each courtesy of  Trans Nusa, besides a trophy.

The man-of-the match (final) received Puma goods besides the trophy.

In the Under-16 category, the final although keenly contested by Destiny FDC and CIMB YFA, it was marred with some  rough play which certainly did not angur well for youth level development

The final witnessed by Christopher Raj, representing Tan Sri Hamidin, who is the FAM Exco member and also was the national Under-16 team manager,  was certainly not pleased with what he saw, although he was impressed with the talent.

CIMB YFA’s coach Gobi was red carded for entering the field when their goalkeeper was injured and floor without referee’s call and uttered some unpleasanteries to the referee, while Destiny’s Micha Foo was red carded for rough play- it was the tournament’s only red to a player.

Destiny wrested the title with a 2-0 win ( Adam Danish and Zafran Rasfan) and went on to win several individual awards - Top Scorer - Ahmad Zaref Kamabarin (4 goals); Best Goalkeeper (Ashraf Rashid) and Man-of-the match in final (Adam Danish).

Destiny, based in Shah Alam, is a well established club under leadership of founder and managing director Aylwin Henry Skelchy, whose clubs have close ties with German clubs.

Four of their players in the team, had just returned from a playing tour of Germany.

The Fairplay Trophy was awarded to Black Leopard.

The champions for the Veterans category took home RM2,500.00, runners-up RM1,500.00, the third placed RM750.00 and fourth placed RM400.00 and medals.

The champions of both veteran and U16 categories were also given a take-away champion trophy.

For the Losers Pool final, the winner received RM400.00 and the loser RM300.00 and medals.

For the Under 16 category, prize money was offered this year.

The the champion received RM800.00, runners-up RM500.00, the third placed RM300.00 and fourth placed RM200.00 and medals.

For the Losers Pool final, the winner received RM200.00 and the loser RM100.00 and medals.

The inaugural champions of the veteran tournament was Huaren FC, followed by XMail FC and last year Navashini Ipoh.

The inaugural Under-16 champion was Ipoh City Council.

The tournament was made possible with personal contribution of supporters and well wishers of the XMail team and several regular sponsors who are friends of XMail FC.

Among the sponsors include ShekhinahPR who was largely instrumental in the tournament being organised this year , Ampersand Advisory, 100 Plus/ Borneo Springs, Milo, TransNusa, Flash Sukan, HA Megah Technology Sdn Bhd, BNT Recycle Sdn Bhd and KR Travels.

FAM deputy president Datuk Siva Sundaram presenting at souvenir to Kerwin Lim (Nestles)

It was indeed and exciting edition with interesting battles are on card in both categories, as teams have submitted formidable teams.

The veteran category see several ex-state, ex-national juniors and ex-international competing.

Among them include K. Nathankumar, Paidiya Rao, S. Saravanan, Lee Ban Tat, A. Muralitharan, S. Jayaprakash, M. Chandran, Ismail Ibrahim and Asmawi  Bakiri to name a few.  

The tournament moves every year to a new venue to bring the game to all States including Sabah and Sarawak in the near future.

FOURTH EDITION GETS A NEW NAME - TAN SRI HAMIDIN CHALLENGE TROPHY 9s TOURNEY

NEW LOOK TAN SRI HAMIDIN CHALLENGE TROPHY 9s TOURNEY

 

The Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin / X Mail FC Veterans 9s football tournament onto its fourth edition, gets a eleventh hour name change to Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin Challenge Trophy tournament.

 The change came about when on Sept 7, Datuk Hamidin, the FA of Malaysia president, was conferred the title of Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota ((P.S.M) which carries the title of Tan Sri, by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, in conjunction with his official birthday.

 This year, the tournament will be held on Sept 14 (Saturday), at the Melwood Arena in Sungei Buluh, following the inaugural tournament in Kuala Kubu Bharu in 2021, followed by in Taiping and last year in Ipoh.

 The Tan Sri Hamidin Challenge trophies donated by the FA of Malaysia president, also saw the introduction of a Under-16 tournament with another Challenge Trophy last year.

Last year saw the participation of a foreign team for the first time in the Veteran’s category - Bacolod United - from the Philippines,  but unfortunately they could not come this year.

Organised by the Kuala Lumpur XMail Veterans FC, the tournament will see eight invited teams in each category, compete in the one-day tournament, at the beautiful and scenic Melwood Arena surrounded by hills and forest.

The tournament will kick off on Sept 14 (Saturday) at 8am at the Melwood Arena with a march past of participating teams and the singing of the national anthem in conjunction of the Malaysia day on Sept 15.

Tomorrow (Sept 13), the team managers meeting, draw and welcome dinner will be held at the Royal Selangor Club Sports Annex at Bukit Kiara.

The teams competing in the veteran category for players 45 years and above are, host XMail FC Veterans, Melwood Boys FC, Club Aman, UM Legends, Wawasan 2020, Rain FC, MCFA and Sportwriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) and the Under-16 teams are My World Hunters FA Academy (Penang), Black Leopard FA (KL), CIMB YFA (KL), DTFT (Selangor), KR7 FC (Malacca), Destiny FDC (Selangor) ,Wira MAS Ipoh (Perak), PD U Rangers FC (Port Dickson, NS).

The teams will be divided into two Groups in each category at the draw at the team managers meeting and will play a one round robin in their respective Groups, with the top two teams qualifying for the semifinals.

The third placed and fourth team in the Groups will play in the Losers Pool semifinals.

There is prize-money for the Veterans where the champion will receive RM2,500.00, runners-up RM1,500.00, the third placed RM750.00 and fourth placed RM400.00 and medals.

For the Losers Pool final, the winner will receive RM400.00 and the loser RM300.00 and medals.

For the Under 16 category, there will also prize money offered this year.

The the champion will receive RM800.00, runners-up RM500.00, the third placed RM300.00 and fourth placed RM200.00 and medals.

For the Losers Pool final, the winner will receive RM200.00 and the loser RM100.00 and medals.

Besides, the Challenge Trophies, winners will be given take away trophies and medals.

There will be also individual awards for the Best Goalkeeper, Top Scorer of the Tournament, Man-of-the match in the Final and a Fair Play Trophy for a team for both categories.

The top scorer of each category will also receive a return air-ticket courtesy of  Trans Nusa.

The inaugural champions of the veteran tournament was Huaren FC, followed by defending XMail FC and last year Navashini Ipoh.

The inaugural Under-16 champion was Ipoh City Council.

Sadly, both teams are not defending their titles.

The tournament was made possible with personal contribution of supporters and well wishers of the XMail team and several regular sponsors who are friends of XMail FC.

Among the sponsors include ShekhinahPR who were largely instrumental in the tournament being organised this year , Ampersand Advisory, 100 Plus/ Borneo Springs, Milo, Trans Nusa, Flash Sukan, HA Megah Technology Sdn Bhd, BNT Recycle Sdn Bhd and KR Travels.

Interesting battles are on card in both categories, as teams have submitted formidable teams.

Both categories are expected to see keen battle for honours.

The veteran category see several ex-state, ex-national juniors and ex-international competing.

Among them include K. Nathankumar, Paidiya Rao, S. Saravanan, Lee Ban Tat, A. Muralitharan, S. Jayaprakash, M. Chandran, G. Muthu and Asmawi  Bakiri to name a few.  

The tournament moves every year to a new venue to bring the game to all States including Sabah and Sarawak in the near future.

PENALTY KICKS TOURNAMENT BECOMING A CRAZE NOW

MELWOOD BOYS FC SHOW THE WAY

Melwood Boys FC of Sungei Buluh, organised their inaugural Penalty Kick tournament at their scenic Melwood Arena, on Saturday, and it was an overwhelming success.

The Penalty Kick tournament is the latest craze in the country and not a week goes by without tournament being organised around the country by clubs both social and officially registered clubs.

It is no surprise to find not less than 100 teams competing in each tournament.

XMAIL FC KUALA LUMPUR

Melwood Boys FC established in 2003 is well managed club with Hari Chandran at the helm as president and with his vision with his business partner SP Thanda, they have set up a beautiful two pitch arena with floodlights amongst nature and surrounded by pictureque hills at Sungei Buluh, away from the hustle and bustle of the city which is just 15 minutes away.

They started their dream by renting the plot, cleared the area and built it from scratch.

It is an excellent pitch and together with a dedicated team of officials of the club, the club is certainly setting a great example for other clubs to follow and with a high degree of professionalism.

Ulu Kelang Recreation Club (UKRC) is another private club who fought tooth and nail to save their field from development and later ownership, and now back in their hands, have restored back the field to an excellent condition throughn painstaking efforts and organised their 18^th UKRC International Soccer 9s, where ten teams took part over the weekend.

Indeed clubs like these should applauded for their love and passion for the game and sacrifice and dedication.

At the Melwood Penalty Kick tournament, about 120 teams (including registered teams after their initial loss) competed and it was not an easy feat to manage the tournament.

But organising chairman, A. Chandrasegaran, with his team officials including former Kuala Lumpur team captain, K. Ramachandran, who is now coaching the Melwood FC team, did a great job to manage the tournament to see a smooth end in the evening.

However, there were areas which could have been managed better.

Many teams were complaining about the timings of the schedules.

While the tournament was scheduled to begin at 9am, it only started past 10am because the organisers were doing manual registration, when it could have been done online to save time.

Another concerned raised, was allowing teams who failed to qualify for the next round after the first round of league of four teams in a group,  to re-register and compete again, which went on for too long into past noon.

Teams who has qualified for the next round, had to wait close to four hours before they went for their next round of kicks.

Teams who had lost in the first round and wanted a second chance had to pay only RM100.00 as opposed to the entry fee of RM165.00 and while the organisers were trying to reap in as money as possible, it greatly inconvenienced the teams with no proper cut off time.

To compound matters further, teams who arrived past 11am were allowed to register to compete by paying the full entrance fee.

While a majority of the teams who took the trouble to be at the ground before 9am, it was indeed unfair to allow the late comers to compete.

But all said and done, it was still a very well managed tournament with some minor hiccups. It was Melwood FC's first time they were organising, and it can only get better with good leaders and administrators with the club.

It was indeed an interesting tournament with players ranging from school children, teenagers, veterans and ex-internationals and of all races competing in a carnival and friendly atmosphere.

While the tournament rule allowed a maximum of five players to be registered per team, there were many with less than five players in their team and several registered only one player and the one player who was the goalkeeper and kicker.

One such player was Aris Hakimi from Lakum FC who finished fourth.

RESULTS:

Champion: Thiyashini (RM4,000.00, trophy and medals)

Runner-up: YARAA (RM2,000.00, trophy and medals)

Third placed: Bright & Bright (RM1,000.00 and medals)

Fourth placed: Lakum FC (RM500.00 and medals)

 

SELANGOR REGAINS GLORY IN MCFA CUP

SELANGOR EDGE NEGRI SEMBILAN IN CLOSE BATTLE

Selangor regained their top team status in the Malaysian Chinese Football Association (MCFA) Cup, when beat Negri Sembilan 4-2 in penalty kicks after regulation 1-1 draw, at the UTAR Mini Stadium in Kampar on Sunday evening.

Selangor going into their firth final had qualified for the last four finals since 2018 (except when no competition was held in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid pandemic) and had won it thrice - only losing last year to Kedah last year.

Selangor for the record too have appeared in the most number finals in the history of the MCFA Cup - 30 times - and now won it 14 times.

Selangor coach  Ng Thean Loo being hoisted by his players and team officials after he steered his team to glory

Penang who holds the record of having the Cup the most number of times - 15 times in their 26 final appearances, had to contend finishing third when they defeated Perak also in penalty kicks 4-3 after regulation time 2-2 draw.

Selangor who started as favourites in the final against Negri Sembilan after having emerged champions in their Southerners Group with an unbeaten record with four wins, although only three states were in the Group, Johor being the other.

Selangor also had defeated Negri Sembilan twice (2-0 and 1-0) in the Group League matches.

But Negri were bent on turning the tables on Selangor with their never say die attitude and determination and even forced the game to be decided by penalty kicks with a last minute equaliser  by Chun Keng Hong in the 89th minute after Selangor's Nickolas had score in the 67th minute.

However, for Selangor’s player Nicholas Wee Shen Ming, 32, it was probably a perfect farewell for his involvement in the tournament since he was 15 years ago.

The former Harimau Muda player, a product the Royal Selangor Club, Junior Soccer Development Programme (JSDP) owes it to his father, Hock Kee, who took a keen interest in his development of the game and even his career.

Both father and son have accountancy background.

Nicholas is now the CEO of DBC group of Physiotherapy Centres which was founded by his father 22 years ago.

Nicholas has the proud record of having lifted the MCFA Cup six times.

And Nicholas said it maybe time for him to hang his boots.

Nursing a knee injury but coach  Ng Thean Loo wanted him to play. He no longer plays competitive football. His professional football days are over. Career is his main focus now but still  plays social football regularly. 

“He started playing in MCFA at the age of 15 and this annual tournament is close to his heart,” said senior Wee Hock Kee.

“Yes at 32 he still has  the drive and energy to play. Coach had switched him  from center back to defensive midfielder.

“Chinese families emphasise a lot on education. But you can achieve both as Nicholas has proven,” said Wee who was in Kampar to support his son.

Nicolas himself just wanted to savour the moment and said whether he plays in the 72^nd  edition of the MCFA Cup, he will let time and his condition be the judge.

“I just want to enjoy this moment, This is very special to me,” said Nicholas.

Indeed a proud moment for father and son.

The tournament itself was very well organised under the leadership of newly elected president Datuk Jeffery Low and his team of Edwin tan Chee Hong (Hon Secretary), Melvin Tan Ching Yang (Competition Chairman), Ridzuan Sim Abdullah (Corporate Marketing of MCFA Football Development) and their team.

A big thank you to local resident Hew Fen Yee who was a major sponsor of the tournament and University of Tuanku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in Kampar who gave their full support for the excellent venue and medical assistance.

Fairplay trophy to Negeri Sembilan

The tournament used the two (2) league system, Carnival ( Northern & Southern ) starting on June 21.

After the League rounds, Penang emerged champions of the Northern Zone, while Perak emerged runners-up to qualify the semifinals, with Selangor emerging champions and Negri Sembilan runners-up, in the Southern zone, to reach the semifinals too.

The tournament rules requires a minimum of three Under-21 players to be in 1st XI for the full duration of the match and teams are allowed to field players of other ethnic groups, besides Chinese players.

The prize money for the champion was RM 7,000.00, runner-up RM4,000.00, 3rd & 4th RM2,000.00 each.

The following awards were given Fairplay team (Negri Sembilan);

Top Scorer (Mak Weng Keng - Perak -9 goals);  

Best Goalkeeper (Lim Wei Peng - Negri Sembilan)

and Man of the match (Final) - Low Chun Keong (Selangor).

Indeed, there was an abundance of talent, but sadly no talent scout from the FA of Malaysia were present to spot, where there is a complain that these days it is hard to find footballers from other ethnic group.

But Kudos to MCFA for doing their part to promote and develop the game from grassroots among their ethnic group.

MCFA is no longer a racial tournament as it is open to all races and it was a delight to see a truly Malaysian tournament and emphasising that there must be 3 Under-21 players in the starting XI for the full duration of the game.

 

 

 

HEARING AND SPEECH DEFICIENCY FAILS TO STOP CHEE WENG TO SHINE

CHEE WENG ON A ROLL

 IF there was one player who was most devastated in the Perak team after the missed out to qualify for the Malaysian Chinese Football Association (MCFA) Cup final, when they went down by a solitary goal in the semifinals on Friday evening, it must be striker Mak Chee Weng.

Chee Weng against Selangor on Friday

Chee Weng is ‘special’ in the team because he is deaf and mute and that has not stopped him from being anything than his ‘regular’ teammates.

The 1.69m tall Ipoh born is currently the top scorer of the tournament with seven goals.

But he could be edged out of winning the top scorers title, while Selangor’s Derrick Chua Jingye on six goals who plays in the final against Negri Sembilan. Derrick scored a goal in his team’s 4-1 victory over Penang in the semifinals.

“I am very sad that I could not assist my team reach the final,” devasted Chee Weng through WhatsApp communication after the game, with his assistance  of his coach A. Pugelenthi.

“I had many opportunities to score against Selangor, but did not have The luck on my side to score.

The whole team tried very hard to get the equaliser and force the game into penalty shoot-out at least, but it was not to be.

“But I have not lost confidence and pledged to give my utmost best in the third placing match against Penang to at least get the third spot.

“However playing in then final would have been an icing to my five years playing for Perak in the MCFA Cup because after having failed to get past the Group stages, this is the first year we had qualified for the semifinals.

“But I strongly believe that, we will return next year stronger and better prepared to reach the final and go on to win the title after 23 years.”

On him emerging the top scorer of the tournament, Chee Weng who turns 25 on September 22, said it was the last thing on his mind after missing the final.

“If it happens it is a blessing in disguise. At this moment, I just want to give my best to assist Perak win the third placing match, It does not matter if I score or win the top scorer’s title.”

Coach Pugelenti said that Chee Weng was a hardworking and diligent player.

“His handicap makes my job challenging but I manage to get my coaching methods and messages across to him through some sign language and the using of typing my instructions through WhatsApp.

Indeed, the MCFA Cup has proven that it a tournament not only for all ethnic groups, but players from all walks of life.

Chee Weng stands tall in sports for Perak having represented the national team at the Taoyuan Asia Pacific Deaf Football Games in 2015, inaugural Asean Deaf Football Championship in Kuala Lumpur in 2016, represented Perak at Futsal at the 2018 SUKMA, donned national colours at the Asia Pacific Deaf championship in Thailand in 2019, Asia Pacific Deaflympics Football qualifying round in 2021, All Star Football Charity match in 2021 in Kuala Lumpur, 4^th Asia Pacific Futsal Championship in Tehran 2023, and 4^th World Deaf Football Championship last year in Kuala Lumpur.

All eyes will indeed be on Chee Weng tomorrow, although he will only be playing in a third placing match.