Sultan Ahmad Shah for AFF top post

FAM President, Sultan Ahmad Shah is willing to contest for the Asean Football Federation (AFF) president’s post at the federation’s congress in 10 April n Bangkok.

It is learn that incumbent AFF President Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen will be stepping down from the post which he had held since 1996.

“I am prepared and I know there will be more responsibilities but I am prepared to go for it provided they want me to stand for the tops post,” said Sultan Ahmad Shah, Sunday.

 When nominations were closed on Friday, there were two nominations. Sultan Ahmad Shah was nominated by Malaysia and Singapore while Thailand nominated Worawi Makudi, the President of FA Thailand.

Basketball sessions

Eager to play?

 

Banking on Safee

Pelita Jaya’s floundering Indonesian Super League campaign was injected with new life following the club’s signing of top Malaysian striker Mohd Safee Sali. 

The West Java club currently sits bottom of the 15-team league with 10 points. But there are expectations that its fortunes will change drastically with the arrival of Asean Football Federation Cup star Sali.

Pelita manager Lalu Mara Satriawangsa said Sali had been signed to a half-season contract, which will pay him $50,000.

Sali is expected to arrive in Jakarta next Monday and make his debut on March 7, when Pelita hosts Persib Bandung to kick off the second half of its season.

The 27-year-old had been pursued by a number of Indonesian clubs following his stellar performance during the recent AFF Cup, where he led Malaysia to its maiden title.

He finished the tournament as the top scorer with five goals, three of them against Indonesia during the two-legged final.

Pelita’s offense has been anemic and its 13 goals are the third fewest in the ISL, ahead of Persib (12) and Persela Lamongan (eight).  Lalu said he was confident Sali would improve his team’s attack.

“His presence will definitely improve the team,” he said.

In Sunday’s games, a late goal from Arema Malang substitute Sunarto ended Persipura Jayapura’s unbeaten run.

Sunarto tapped in a rebound in the 89th minute to give the hosts a 1-0 victory at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java.

Persipura, which had entered the match without a defeat in 12 matches, still leads the league with 32 points.

Arema climbed to third with 23 points, two behind Semen Padang, which was routed at Sriwijaya FC on Sunday.

“That was our best performance this season,” Arema coach Miroslav Janu said.

“We were able to hold off Persipura’s attack and Sunarto has been proving himself as our supersub. He has scored two goals in two consecutive matches after coming on as a substitute.”

Also on Sunday, Sriwijaya beat 10-man Semen Padang 5-0 at Sriwijaya Stadium in Palembang to climb to seventh place.

Budi Sudarsono scored a brace and Keith Kayamba Gumbs, Rudi Widodo and Korinus Fingkrew each scored one.

Bontang FC moved from the bottom of the standings with a 2-1 win over Deltras Sidoarjo, while Persisam Samarinda beat visiting Persela Lamongan 4-1.

Prima takes charge

While organizers scramble to meet deadlines for the construction of facilities for the Southeast Asian Games, athletes are also feeling the pressure as they train for the region’s biggest multisport tournament.

Several national sports federations have submitted their training schedules to the Golden Indonesia Program (Prima) ahead of the Games in November, in the hope these will be approved.

Prima is the government task force in charge of screening athletes for elite competition.

As part of their buildup to the SEA Games from Nov. 11-20, federations are looking to give their athletes an edge by sending them to overseas tournaments.

Prima evaluates all the proposals before the federations are granted training budgets.

Andri Paranoan, an official of Prima’s coaching and competitions department, said athletes needed to pass the general preparation phase before they could be sent overseas.

He said this general phase included a mandatory character-building program at the Indonesian Special Forces Training Center in Bandung.

“About 80 percent of the federations have already handed us their proposals,” he added.

The national federations for cycling, swimming and pencak silat — a martial art — have included overseas training sessions in their proposals.

Two athletes are already training overseas. BMX rider Risa Suseanty is in the United States and fellow BMX rider Elga Kharisma Novanda is training in Switzerland at the invitation of the International Cycling Union.

Top cyclists Tonton Susanto and Ryan Ariehaan Hilmant want to compete in the Tour de Taiwan from March 21-27.

Both secured podium finishes at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, where Ryan took the gold in the men’s individual road race and Tonton brought home silver in the men’s individual time trial.

“We have proposed to Prima to start sending our athletes to competitions abroad next month. Some athletes are already training in other countries, and they will be continuously supervised,” said Wahyudi Hidayat, the national cycling team’s head coach.

“We have been told by Prima that athletes in every discipline deserve to participate in at least two competitions,” he added.

The Indonesian Pencak Silat Federation (IPSI) will send 37 athletes, to the Asian Championships in Singapore in March and a top-level tournament in Belgium.

“These two events are important,” said Muchdi Purwopranjono, chief of the federation. “We will see how far our athletes have improved physically, mentally and in terms of their technical skills.”

The Indonesian Swimming Association (PRSI) will send four swimmers to train in Australia’s Gold Coast this week, under coach Gavin Urquhart.

“I hope our swimmers do not waste this opportunity because this type of foreign training will boost our medal hopes,” said Suroyo, the PRSI’s deputy head for development. -Jakarta Globe

See Kim Leong passes away

Negeri Sembilan Super League physiotherapist See Kim Leong, fondly known among officials and players as Uncle C, died at the age of 63 at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital here.

Negeri Sembilan Football Association media relations officer Abdul Malek Hassan said See breathed his last at 2am after complaining of body aches earlier in the day.

He was sent to a specialist hospital here before being transferred to the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital where he breathed his last, he told Bernama.

Among those who visited See at the hospital was the association's honorary secretary and team manager Datuk Abd Halim Abd Latif,

See is survived by a wife Audrey Mcleod, 61, four children and seven grandchildren. One of his daughters, Sharon Elaine See, 33, said his father died due to internal bleeding.

His remains will be brought to his home in Taman Sentosa, Klang, tomorrow before being cremated.

Abdul Malek said the late See was a jovial person and had contributed a lot to the team.

"His death is a loss to the team. He was a very dedicated and experienced physiotherapist and had been helping the players recovered from their injuries," he said.

Sports isolation ends in Pakistan

LAHORE - The visit of two foreign football teams, Palestine and Malaysia in March this year will herald the resumption of tours of foreign teams to Pakistan.

 

"The visit of the two foreign teams will help in ending sports isolation in Pakistan which has been deprived of hosting all types of international sports owing to security concerns, said President, PFF, Faisal Saleh Hayat here on Monday.

 

These two teams will be visiting Pakistan as a part of qualifying rounds of London Olympics football tournament.

Palestine National team will face Pakistan in the Lahore Test on March 1, followed by Karachi encounter on March 4. Later on, Pakistan Olympic Team will collide with Malaysian Olympic Team in the second leg of London Olympic Qualifiers on March 9.
 

“ When no  one (foreign team) was ready to visit Pakistan, PFF hosted the Afghanistan women team in third National Women Championship in 2007 and Iran’s Malavan Bandar Anzali of Iran in the fifth edition of same event two years later, and now Palestine and Malaysian team would tour Pakistan,”he told the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
 

Pakistan, after two internationals at Lahore and Karachi, will reciprocate by visiting Palestine during April-May.
 

It was my wish to play three international friendlies in each countries but time and financial constraints are hampering not only the series but several other events/courses in PFF calendar 2011,said PFF Chief.
 

“ The more we play international matches, the more the team would develop for at least Asian standards. Soccer is not like hockey or cricket which are played in a handful countries. The competition is very tough in Soccer”, said Faisal who is also FIFA and World Disciplinary Committee member and Chairman AFC Disciplinary Committee.
 

Faisal informed that FIFA releases $250,000 annually to PFF under  Financial Assistance Program (FAP) that too in various categories. PSB annual grant of Rs. 1.5 million is one of the hardship faced by the PFF not sufficient even for an event (Rs. 3 million alone were spent on Pakistan U23 team’s 16th Asian Games participation last November). PFF had to generate the money through other means as PFF has planned around 40 events during the year 2011 and an estimated budget to fulfil the needs is of Rs 50.5 million.
 

Even with  financial constraints and sizeable annual budget Pakistan kept producing sensational results such as overwhelming Kyrgyzstan, Chinese Taipei, Turkmenistan, Singapore, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal while drawing with Iraq, Iran, Oman, China and Bahrain in recent events.