81 vying for spots on S’wak Sukma team
KUCHING: The Sukma 2020 Selection Tournament, to be held at the Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) Badminton Hall from today until Sunday, has a racted the participation of 81 players representing 14 teams.
Fielding the biggest numbers of players are SBA, Miri Badminton Association 2002 and Pacific Badminton Association with 12 players each, followed by Fortune Badminton Academy, Sibu with 11 players, Chong Cheong Yong Training Centre with eight players and Kuching Badminton Association with seven players.
Other teams in the fray are Persatuan Badminton Bumiputera Sarawak, Sarikei Badminton Association, Vision Badminton Academy, Kuching (SD), TTD Badminton Academy, Sibu, New Gen Badminton Team, Sibu, and Pro-Wira Badminton Training Centre.
Nine Sarawak Sukma players who represented the state at the Perak Sukma last year are also vying for the tickets to Sukma 2020 in Johor next year.
The male players are Owen Ting Shih Wee, Nik Azizi Murat,
Barrie Chong Kwang Wei, Danny Lee Sheng Yee and Zachary Sia Chiong Shen.
Whereas the female players are Wong Ling Ching, Erika Vallensia and sisters Felica Fong Xin Hui and Flora Fong Xin Jie.
Meanwhile, in the 11-player Girls Singles competition, the top four seeds Kashley Kho, Erika Vallensia, Gladys Tan and Wong Ling Ching have received byes in the first round.
Eight pairs are vying for the Girls Doubles title and they are divided into group of four in Group A and Group B, with the top two teams advancing to the
Real bossed the first half.
Zidane’s side fired 12 shots at the hosts’ goal before the interval, coming closest with a Casemiro header which Gerard Pique scrambled off the goalline, while they also had two penalty appeals waved away for challenges on Raphael Varane.
Real captain Sergio Ramos said his side were unfortunate not to earn a spot-kick.
“Today we saw a great Real Madrid side with a lot of character which is exactly the image we wanted to give. We went out to try and take the ball off them and we created a lot of chances,” he told reporters.
“We watched the penalty appeals at hal ime and they seemed pre y clear, they are semi-finals.
The boys singles is hotly contested, with Owen Ting and Nik Azizi as the top two seeds.
Nik Azizi is also playing in the Boys Doubles, with Barrie Chong as his partner while the second seeds are Jordan Lee Chen Yuen and Syafiq Azhar Haizan. both penalties but we can’t change that. VAR is there to help but today we didn’t get that bit of luck.”
Ramos played in his 43rd Clasico, a record for any player in history.
Barca looked short of ideas, with Lionel Messi being their only source of inspiration.
The Argentine could have broken the deadlock in the first half but Ramos slid to the floor to block his goal-bound shot.
Messi later teed up Jordi Alba with a scooped pass but the defender fired just wide, while Barca’s all-time top scorer was uncharacteristically sloppy at times and miscontrolled a clear opportunity to strike at goal in the second half. — Agencies