Skip to main content

Nicol to lead Asia, Chong Wei to lead M'sia at CWG

World No. 1 Nicol David has been given the rare honour of leading out the Asian countries in the 20th edition of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, which begin on July 23. 

Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar said that this is the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games that a top athlete from Asia has been invited by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to be the flag-bearer for the eight Asian countries.

Besides Malaysia, the other Asian countries under the Commonwealth Federation are Singapore, Brunei, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

“Nicol has been selected because of her great achievements in squash. She is an icon in Asia.

“It is a great honour for Nicol and also for Malaysia that out of so many top sportsmen and sportswomen in Asia, she has been selected by the CGF,” said Tunku Imran.

Nicol, who will turn 31 on Aug 23, is the most successful woman squash player in the world. She is a seven-time world champion and has been ranked world No. 1 since August 2006.

The Penangite, who is leading the Malaysian women’s team in the Asian team championships, which began in Hong Kong on Wednesday, has won five prestigious British Open crowns and a total of 74 Women’s Squash Association (WSA) titles since turning pro in 1999.

She also won the gold medal at the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010.

Tunku Imran also revealed that shuttler Lee Choong Wei, who led Malaysia to a creditable runner-up finish behind Japan in the Thomas Cup final in New Delhi last month, will be the flag-bearer for Malaysia in the Commonwealth Games.

“A total of 180 athletes will feature in 15 sports (aquatics, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, judo, lawn bowls, rugby, shooting, squash, table tennis, triathlon and weightlifting),” said Tunku Imran.

In New Delhi, Malaysia returned with 12 golds, 10 silvers and 13 bronzes.

“But for the Glasgow Games OCM are not setting any medal targets as we don’t want to put pressure on the athletes,” said Tunku Imran after launching a 100-day countdown to the Incheon Asian Games at Wisma OCM yesterday.

The Asiad is scheduled from Sept 19-Oct 4 and Malaysia will compete in 29 of the 34 sports.

The Star

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Chance to catch Messi and company

  FAM deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and vice president Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin with FC Barcelona chief executive officer Antoni Rossich yesterday. Pic by Osman Adnan LIONEL Messi's presence alone could sell half the tickets despite reigning world club champions FC Barcelona's date with a Malaysian XI at the National Stadium on Aug 10 falling on the third day of Hari Raya. The much anticipated visit of the four-time European champions comes with expectations from fans who want a full star-studded line-up. "The summer will be a busy period with a lot of uncertainty with players moving away and coming in. "But yes, our plans are to bring our full team here," said FC Barcelona chief executive officer Antoni Rossich yesterday. Rossich was speaking at the announcement of the friendly match, which is part of the three-match FC Barcelona Asia Tour 2013, which sees the giants also visiting China and Thailand. Also pre...
2 comments
Read more