Gold medalist in Delhi

Medal 1: Amirul Amizan (Weightlifting)
Medal 2: Arico Jumith (Weightlifting)
Medal 3: Nicol David (Squash)
Medal 4: Badminton Mixed Team
Medal 5: Josiah Ng (Cycling)
Medal 6: Nur Suriyani & Nur Ayuni (Shooting)
Medal 7: Pandelela Renong (Diving)
Medal 8: Bibiana Ng (Shooting)
Medal 9: Koo Kien Kiat & Chin Eeh Hui (Badminton)
Medal 10: Elaine Koon (Rythemic Gymnastics)
Medal 11: Lee Chong Wei (Badminton)
Medal 12: Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong (Badminton)

Overall 12 golds from 7 sports compared to 2006 (6 golds - 3 sports), 2002(7 golds - 3 sports) and 1998 (10 golds -7 sports).

Analysis of Malaysian Athletes at Delhi 2010

Here's my own analysis about the Malaysian team and how they fared in the tournament:

Athletics
Nothing much was expected from them, apart from National record as they are against world leaders from Jamaica, England, Australia and Kenya. Still it was a quiet showcase from Rosalinda Samsu, Lee Hup Wei, M.Vadivelan, P.Yuvaraj and co.

G.Saravanan was the last athlete to win Gold and it's still in quest for another athletics hero. Looks like MAAU needs a major revamp.
Verdict: Below Expectation

Archery
After the world Championship & Olympics, there were hopes that a medal of any color can be expected from the team. And they did it by getting a silver through men recurve team. The ladies just slipped the chance to grab the bronze.
Verdict: Meet Expectation

Weightlifting
One gold was expected but they delivered 2(Amirul Amizan & Arico Jumith) with bonus medals from the lady. Total haul: 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 bronze.
Verdict: Exceeded Expectation

Cycling
One gold was expected and another medal of a color. It was delivered but not from the expected person. Josiah Ng was a surprise package to win after Azizul was disqualified. In addition Rizal got us a silver and they 3 got us the bronze. 1st time getting medal from track cycling. The road racers ended empty handed.
Verdict: Meet Expectation

Badminton
Our regular gold mine. We expected 4 gold and it was delivered. We could have gone better if Wong Mew Choo got over Saina. We have got the mixed doubles title for the 1st time and successfully defended the Men Singles title since 1990. Datuk Lee became the only 2nd athlete to defend the title after Rashid Sidek. When I was watching him playing, he didn't use much of smashes and was playing fancy/trendy game with the opponents. Same goes to Kien Kiat and Boon Heong, when they can even estimate the shuttle is going out of court without looking at it.
We repeated the 2006 success, hope can sweep all out in Glasgow.
Verdict: Meet Expectation

Boxing
All were boxed and they returned home even before the event officially closed. They were targeting for a bronze at least but it all went as smoke in the air.
Verdict: Below Expectation

Swimming
Again going against world class athletes from Australia, Canada & England is a challenge but they still come back with pride as there more than 5 national records were broken. Some was outstanding for more than 10 years.
Verdict: Meet Expectation

Diving
We expected medals from them but Pandela Renong came with big surprise of winning gold for 10Mtr platform. In addition they also won 1 silver and a bronze. represented by athletes from SUKMA and ASEAN schools, gave them a good exposure for upcoming Asian Games.
Verdict: Exceeded Expectations

Synchronised Swimming
We nearly grabbed a medal through Katrina Ann Hadi but missed by 1 point for a bronze. They were selected through ASEAN schools and SUKMA, thus exposure is much needed.
Verdict: Meet expectations

Rugby
They went there at least to win a match but ended up being the meat for the rest. They finished last in the tournament and win less.
Verdict: Below expectations

Gymnastics
They were merely fresh faces and again got through ASEAN schools championship, thus not much hopes were placed on them. They came back empty handed but with valuable experience.
Verdict: Meet Expectations

Rhythmic Gymnastics
We last won gold in 1998 and it was repeated in Delhi. Surprise package of Elaine Khoo got us a gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze and she is capable of representing her country again in 2014.
verdict: Exceeded expectations

Table Tennis
Singapore is the favorite with the imported players and they have proved it. We targeted a bronze and we got it through women team event. Singaporeans were the hurdles for us in the individual event and we could not get through them easily.
Verdict: Meet Expectations

Shooting
We targeted 1 gold but surprisingly Bibiana Ng got us another one. We even had Father Son combination to win a silver medal. Overall we had 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 bronze in the event.
Verdict: Exceeded Expectations

Lawn Bowl
We had the flag barrier in the team, Siti Zalina whom was gunning for her 3rd consecutive gold medal. In addition the team was confident of grabbing 4 gold out of 6. As Murphy strikes, they ended up with just 1 silver and 1 bronze. Moreover Siti Zalina came back empty handed. A total let down.
Verdict: Below Expectation

Squash
We had our darling Nicol to deliver her the elusive gold, and to complete her grand slam. She made it in style and helped Beng Hee to grab a bronze in the mixed doubles.
Verdict: Meet expectations

Hockey
The men's team expected for top 4 but ended up in 8th. The ladies were targeting 5th but ended up at the bottom.
We are capable of taking the lead but we can't sustain it. In addition, we were like school boys to Australia where they trashed us 7-0. Looks like next Olympic will also go into smoke.
Verdict: Below Expectations

Overall:
Target - 10 Gold medals
Achieved - 12 Gold medals
Verdict: Exceeded Expetations

Shukria Delhi, Hello Glasgow

After 11 days of extravaganca sporting events, Delhi bids adieu to the games.

Though it started withj obstacles which brought the committee to think about plan B, but the Indian Goverment took it a chalenge and prroved they can put up a good show.

Issues of roof falling, brige collapse, dengue, snakes, poluted traning pool and recently the stranded Glasgow Games perfomers for closing ceremony.

Commonwealth Games Chief, Mike Fennel, praised for the organising committee for coming out with the marvelous performance with amount of presuures they faced prior to the commencement of the games.

India is now there on the world map

Yesterday's closing ceremony was breathtaking, with performance from Military Performance Group by playing the "Patriotic Song - Sare Jaha Se Accha".

Then with 2010 children dressed in white came onto the field in a Tribute to Our Motherland. Vande Mataram sounded out as the kids fanned out to assume the positions of a Rangoli pattern with an Ashoka Chakra in the centre.

Bidding adieu to the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi and the flag handing ceremony to the next host city Glasgow, Scotland, began with acknowledging the magic created by the Games mascot Shera. Emotions ran high as Shaan, the popular playback singer, sang Shera song – Goodbye Shera. Each and everyone present in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, packed to its capacity of 60,000, and billions of viewers across the world sang along with him, Bada Yaad Aayega Tu Shera (We’ll remember you Shera).

The Flag was then lowered, folded and handed over to Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, MP and Chairman OC CWG Delhi 2010. Mr. Suresh Kalmadi handed over the Flag to Lt. Governor of Delhi, Mr. Tejinder Khanna, who, in turn handed it over to the Robert Winter, Lord Provost of Glasgow. The Flag finally passed to Right Honourable the Lord Smith of Kelvin.

But what made me to ponder was, why wasn't there any Bollywood stars performing apart from AR Rahman?

Anyway, for Malaysia, it is definetely an authonishing momment, where they have surpassed the target of 10 gold medals set by Ministry of Sports and National Sports Council.

The total medal haul was 12 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze. Malaysia was placed 7th behind Australia, India, England, Canada, South Africa and Kenya.

Budget 2011 is out today

Our dearest Prime Minister cum Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib will be presenting the "delayed" budget today (at 4pm) for year 2011.

This will be the 1st time in more than 3 decade that Budget is announced in a month apart from September.

A lot of request were sent through 1 Malaysia webste. Some of it were;
1. possible toll rate revamp
2. genuine buyers get a chance to own houses.
3. Better broadband services
4. price control for consumer goods
5. more tax rebate for young famlily (like me hehehe)

Know This SPORTS PERSON - Datuk M Rajamani

Once called as Asian Track Queen, born into a conservative rural environment in the small town of Tapah in 1943, Mailvaganam Rajamani overcame traditional boundaries for women participating in sport and rose to become the greatest track star that Malaysia has produced.

In just short period of 4 years, she had mega achievements for her running career.

As a primary school girl in Tapah and a secondary school girl in Ipoh, Rajamani was already showing early signs of promise. She progressed very quickly with encouragement from her father and guidance from her coach R. Suppiah.

Sandwiched between Rajamani’s exploits in the 1965 and 1967 SEAP Games was the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok, where she outran the best in Asia and emerged with the 400m gold medal and a new Games record of 56.3 sec. With this win she became the first Malaysian female athlete to strike gold at the Asian Games in any sport!

She is the 1st Sportswomen of the year for Malaysia in 1966. In 1968, just 24 years old and at the peak of her career, fate struck a cruel blow to end her athletic exploits prematurely. While training with two of her friends, with the Olympic Games in mind, they were struck by lightning. It killed her friend P.N. Govindan and left Rajamani in coma for 18 hours. She survived but her nervous system was in tatters and she suffered a temporary loss of memory.

Try as she did, Rajamani could not regain her form. She missed out on the Olympic Games and announced her retirement.

She then turned to coaching attended a specialist coaching course at Russia and her protégé was Marina Chin.

ACHIEVEMENTS (HIGHLIGHTS):

1964 - Tokyo Olympic Games (Selected for 400m and 800m)

1965 - SEAP Games, Kuala Lumpur (4 gold medals: 200m, 400m, 800m 4 x 100m – all Games Records)

1966 - Asian Games, Bangkok (Gold: 400m (record), Bronze: 4 x 100m)

1967 - SEAP Games, Bangkok (3 gold’s: 40m, 800m, 4 x 100m, 1 silver: 200m)
- Voted as SEAP Games Queen of Track

Awards - Sportswoman of the Year 1966, 1967

She always says "Never pamper yourself"

Can Malaysia Get 10 Gold Medals?

We have reached 7 gold medals as at yesterday, thanks to contribution from:

1. Amirul Amizan (weightlifting)
2. Arico Jumith (weightlifting)
3. Josiah Ng (cycling)
4. Nicol David (squash)
5. Mixed team (badminton)
6. Nur Suryani Taibi and Nur Ayuni Halim (shooting)
7. Pandelela Renong (Diving)

With just 2 days left, our hopes are on Datuk Lee Choong Wei, Wong Mew Choo, men doubles badminton, mixed doubles badminton, lawn bowl men and women single and also squash mixed doubles.

Can malaysia achieve it's target from these hopes?

Pearson GOT it Finally

Sally Pearson from Australia.

She was the first to cross the line in 100M final in Delhi Games. Her gold medal was not awarded due to fault start.

But she didn't give up the spirit and qualified for 100M hurdles finals. She bounced back in emphatic fashion to win the 100m hurdles title, adding it to her Olympic silver medal.

HooHa Run - 10 Oct

I registered for the run as it offers medal compared to Nike run which has only the shirt. The funny part, there were no numbers given for the run.

Since it's just a fun run, as long we complete it, we will get a medal with the submission of coupon. But, there was another trick, people also could purchase the medal for RM10, what the heck.

Anyway, coming back to my run, it started at 8.20am (8+2=10). I was not serious about the run as I was wearing a normal running shorts and was running with my specks on (luckily never fell).

As I moved for first 500M, saw Gajenthiran, so I paced him. We overtook some of the runners whom got off too fast. I thought, it would be a flat route, but my estimations were wrong as the route going towards KL Tower and KLCC was a bit hilly.

As we were reaching last 500M, on e of the official shouted that we were in 11th and 12th position. We continued with a decent pace and when I saw the Lot 1 Juntion, I knew it's the finishing, so sprinted for the last 50M and finished with 17:07 minutes.

Next race will be Mizuno Run at UPM.

2 Huge Lost in a week

A great singer who can sing in 6 languages. The first time I met him was at MIA Toastmasters 4 years ago. He was very freindly and honest about evaluations. I never expected he leave all of us so early.

Tuan Haji Naburi

This guy is very down to earth. Someone whom is civilised yet modernised Malay that I have met. Though he was in his late 60s, he still uses tongkat to visit clubs. That's his determination and support towards the club.

But now we have lost both of them in just within 7 days. There was even a joke, "Are they going to start a Toasmasters Club up there?"

SAMY VELLU Quotes

1. Samy Velu quoted on Pos Laju:-

" BESOH KIRIM, HARI INI JUGA SAMPAI "

2. On TV when trying to say he was ashamed, he said:-

"Ini prekara sangat memalukan saya dan kemaluan saya sangat-sangat la besar"

3. Samy said in a ceramah

"Kita akan bina satu jambatan wuntuk worang2 kampong di sini"

Then one pakcik asked,

"Datuk,sini takde sungai, buat apa bina jambatan?

and Samy gloriously replied ,

"Kalao takde sungai,kita bina sungai"

4. Samy's most favourite quote on the news for the decade is this:-

"Toll naik sikit,banyak marah saya. You worang ingat semua ini toll saya punyer bapah punya kah!

5. Semasa krisis air:

" Semua worang diminta jangan membuang aiyerr..!"

6.Tentang masalah social:

"Worang2 muda sekarang banyak suka hisap dade.."

7. Semasa kempen derma darah di Sg.Siput:

"marilah kita semua menderma dare..."

8. Semasa memberi ucapan di pelbagai function:

"Selamat datang saudara-mara semua" (It should have been saudara-saudari)

9. During the height of the Al-Arqam saga, he said in a press conference ,

"Saya gumbira bahawa didapati tiada pemuda MIC terlibat dalam kes arqam"

10. At an opening ceremony for a new building:

"Mempersilakan Datin Paduka Rafidah Aziz naik dari pentas wuntuk membuka kain " 11.

11. P.L.U.S. = " PUNGUT LEBIH UNTUK SAMY" that is why Samy can use the PLUS helicopter whenever he wants to.

12. "Kita akan bina roket pigi matahari".....reporter responds.. "Tapi Dato, matahari terlalu panas untuk didekati"...

Samy responds.. " Itu tade masalah....kita hantar waktu malam"....