Sarawak eyeing top four in softball
The Sarawak Softball Association ( SSA) are sending a 13- member women’s team to participate in the 40th National Open Softbal l Championship at Padang Utama, Penang Free School, Pulau Pinang from Sept 13-14.
The team comprises seven Sukma and six senior state players - Lo Shuan Yin, Lim Shin Lui, Ling Lee Chuen, Angeliana Chew Sze Ching, Jelly Kiu Chin Chin and Yasmin Sabreena Samson.
Other members include Shirley Christopher Ijau, Annabelle Joy Siril, Audry Desmond Daei, Siti Nurhaliza Elvis, Nur Aisyah Mazlan, Haifa Chin Ishak and her younger sister Nadia Chin.
The coach is Manuel Bacarisas who is assisted by Lo Shuan Yian.
“We are looking to finish among the top four teams in the women’s competition,” said team manager Ishak Chin Abdullah who is also SSA president.
“The team will be taking one game at a time and we do not want to put any unnecessary pressure on the players by setting a high target,” he added.
Sarawak are drawn in Group E where they will take on host Pulau Pinang in the opener on Saturday morning and then Politeknik KPT in the afternoon.
They wi l l round up their preliminary round against Johor on Sunday morning.
Other women’s teams are Masum, Perak, Terengganu and Selangor.
Apart from the women’s team, other Sarawakians involved in the national meet are Greg Pengiran who will be playing for Pahang, Chan Kim Fong for Masum while Watson Payrie, Muhd Haziq, Nurul Natasha and Andrea Beli are in the Politeknik KPT team.
There will be a selection for the U19 national team for the Asia Women’s Softball Championship from December 7- 9 in Sulawesi, Indonesia immediately after the event.
Ishak said Hai fa Chin and Andrea Beli will be going for the national selection.
Haifa just came back last week from Singapore, participating with the national team in the South East Asia Women’s Softball Cup.
The Malaysian men’s team have also just returned from Makassar, Indonesia after playing in the South East Asia Men’s Softball Cup.
In fact, Watson Payrie and Greg Pengiran were selected by the head coach to represent Malaysia but their names were later dropped due to the limited budget of the national body.
“SSA coaches and committee have been working very hard to provide volunteer service for the state and country, all for the love and passion for the sport and development of future athletes.
“We hope that the Sarawak State Sports Council ( MSNS) and Ministry of Youth and Sports ( KPS) can rate us based on some form of Key Performance Indicator ( KPI) instead of how well we perform in Sukma and the national tournament.
“Without their support and funding, softball, which is gaining popularity in Malaysia and the world, will slowly die off in the state,” said Ishak.