Both sides refuse to budge in KGS All-Star showdown
KUCHING: KGS Captain’s Alumni are raring to defend their title against KGS Alumni All-Star in the KGS Alumni All-Star golf tournament at Kelab Golf Club (KGS) greens today.
“We expect to win again this year and a strong challenge from Alumni All-Star who “imported” some South Korean players.
“We won by one point in the first edition in 2020 and the competition was not organised last year due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are hoping to win by a bigger margin this year,” declared Captain’s Alumni captain Datu Len Talif.
His team comprised alumni of Tanjung Lobang, St Joseph, St Thomas and Sacred Heart while Alumni All-Star, who represented alumni of other schools, are referred as the “Rest of the World”.
Meanwhile, Alumni All-Star captain Lai Boon Seng said his team will be going all out to avenge their narrow defeat in the previous edition.
“We lost by one point in 2020 and we want to wrest the title from Captain’s Alumni.
“We are expecting another close fight and we are confident we can beat them and give them a good run for their money,” said Lai.
He said some South Koreans were included in his team because they were representing their respective alumni.
This event is participated by 116 golfers who are divided into 58 partnerships.
Each match will be played by a partnership from each team, with the first team to reach 15 points to be declared the winners.
“All Malaysians are disappointed because we are not at a higher position,” Ahmad said at the Games on Friday, according to Bernama. “We should not be contented with our sixth position at the Games.”
Malaysia is usually in the regional top five and the last time it settled for sixth was in 1983, when only eight nations took part, compared to the current 11.
It comes with Malaysia set to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England in July-August, while the Asian Games later this year in China have been indefinitely postponed.
“The exposure gained at the SEA Games is crucial for us to achieve more success in other multi-sport Games like the Commonwealth Games and Asiad,” said Ahmad.
The Malaysian government slashed sports spending last year to RM289 million (US$67 million) from RM940 million the year before. It also cut down its full-time number of athletes from 432 to 288, months after a poor Tokyo Olympics showing of one silver and one bronze.
Malaysia made a strong start at the SEA Games, winning all eight golds in diving, with the rest of the medals scattered across other sports. — AFP