MANILA SEA GAMES: Chew Chan regains gold

THE Malaysian taekwondo squad placed their bets on Elaine Teo and Che Chew Chan to deliver the gold medals to meet a two-gold target set for the Manila Games.

Elaine failed to live up to expectations but Chew Chan kept her end of the bargain to deliver the second gold yesterday from the women's middleweight competition.


NO PROBLEM: Taekwondo exponent Che Chew Chan won gold in the middleweight category.


The other gold, an unexpected one, came from Rusfredy Tokan Petrus in the flyweight competition on Tuesday.

On the final day of the taekwondo programme at the Cuneta Astrodome in Manila, Chew Chan romped to a 6-1 victory over the Philippines' Veronica Domingo to claim the gold medal.

The 23-year-old Johorean had seen off the challenge of Vietnam's Tran Thi Ngoc Tram, winning 2-1 in the semi-finals.

Team manager M. Rajendran said: “Chew Chan was expected to bag us a gold in Manila and she did not disappoint us at all.

“She was hardly troubled by her opponent in the final. She was in a class of her own to cruise to an easy victory.”

It was the 23-year-old Chew Chan's third appearance in the SEA Games. She was the gold medallist in the 2001 Games in Kuala Lumpur and took the bronze in Vietnam two years ago.

The team will return home with a haul of 2-0-5.

The men's bronze medallists were Mohd Afifuddin Omar Sidek (bantam), Syed Taufiq Abdul Hamid (feather) and Wong Kai Meng (welter).

The women, who contributed bronze medals were A. Gayathiri (welter) and Noornadia Norrizan (bantam).

Source from http://www.thestar.com.my

MANILA SEA GAMES: Rusfredy cries in joy after conquering Dech in sudden death

Wednesday November 30, 2005

SABAHAN Rusfredy Tokan Petrus shed tears of joy after winning his first SEA Games gold after a nail-biting 5-4 win over Thailand's Dech Sutthikunkarn in sudden death of the men's taekwondo flyweight final at the Cuneta Astrodome in Manila yesterday.

Malaysia won four other bronze medals in the day's competition with the men and the women contributing two each.

The men's medallists were featherweight exponent Syed Taufiq Abdul Hamid and welterweight exponent Wong Kai Meng.

The women's medallists were A. Gayathiri and Noornadia Norrizan in the welterweight and bantamweight divisions respectively.

It was touch-and-go for Rusfredy and Dech and the three-round bout ended with the score tied at 4-4.

In sudden-death, Rusfredy was quick off the mark, finding his target after 15 seconds. He landed the gold medal with a flying kick to his opponent’s chest.

The 24-year-old Rusfredy said: “The visit by the Sports Minister (Datuk Azalina Said Othman) after Elaine Teo's defeat served as inspiration to me.

“She told us not to give up because she still has faith in us winning gold medals.”

It was the second appearance in the SEA Games for Rusfredy. He finished empty handed in Vietnam in 2003 and was determined to do well in Manila.

“The hard work put in during training has paid off. It was tough all the way but I am glad to deliver the gold for Malaysia,” he said proudly.

Source From http://www.thestar.com.my

MANILA SEA GAMES: Elaine falls in first round

Nov 29:

OLYMPIAN and 2004 Sportswoman of The Year Elaine Teo could be the first casualty of the AsiaComm 2006 Special Project squad after she was ditched in the first round of taekwondo's women's bantamweight category at the Cuneta Astrodome in Manila yesterday.

The Sea Games is the benchmark to gauge the progress of the AsiaComm elite athletes, comprising 138 of the country's top athletes, and Elaine's failure to even land a medal may cause her a place in the squad.

While officials from the National Sports Council, and even Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said, have repeatedly said that performance, more than medals, is what counts in Manila, Elaine's case is slightly different.

Elaine was beaten 2-1 by Vietnam's Le Thi Thu Nguyet in the first round of the competition. Even Azalina was concerned.

"The Sea Games is the benchmark for athletes in the AsiaComm 2006 project, and we will review their performances in these Games," said Azalina.

"After this, the programmes will also be reviewed, and if they (AsiaComm management team) feel that the athletes are unable to perform, they will be dropped from the squad."

In taekwondo, Elaine and Chee Chew Chan are the two athletes in the AsiaComm programme and were expected to deliver medals at next year's Melbourne Commonwealth Games or Doha Asian Games.

In fact, team officials, with the support of the National Sports Council (NSC) and Olympic Council of Malaysia, had gone to the extent of "forcing" Noornadia Norrizan, who was the sole Malaysian to win a gold — in the bantamweight category — in the Asean Championships last year, to compete in a lighter weight category to accommodate Elaine.

However, on a happier note, Mohamed Afifuddin Omar Sidek bagged a bronze in the men's bantamweight, going down 4-2 to Philippines' Tshomlee Go in the semi-finals.

Source from http://www.nst.com.my

MANILA SEA GAMES: Elaine falls in first round

Nov 29:

OLYMPIAN and 2004 Sportswoman of The Year Elaine Teo could be the first casualty of the AsiaComm 2006 Special Project squad after she was ditched in the first round of taekwondo's women's bantamweight category at the Cuneta Astrodome in Manila yesterday.

The Sea Games is the benchmark to gauge the progress of the AsiaComm elite athletes, comprising 138 of the country's top athletes, and Elaine's failure to even land a medal may cause her a place in the squad.

While officials from the National Sports Council, and even Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said, have repeatedly said that performance, more than medals, is what counts in Manila, Elaine's case is slightly different.

Elaine was beaten 2-1 by Vietnam's Le Thi Thu Nguyet in the first round of the competition. Even Azalina was concerned.

"The Sea Games is the benchmark for athletes in the AsiaComm 2006 project, and we will review their performances in these Games," said Azalina.

"After this, the programmes will also be reviewed, and if they (AsiaComm management team) feel that the athletes are unable to perform, they will be dropped from the squad."

In taekwondo, Elaine and Chee Chew Chan are the two athletes in the AsiaComm programme and were expected to deliver medals at next year's Melbourne Commonwealth Games or Doha Asian Games.

In fact, team officials, with the support of the National Sports Council (NSC) and Olympic Council of Malaysia, had gone to the extent of "forcing" Noornadia Norrizan, who was the sole Malaysian to win a gold — in the bantamweight category — in the Asean Championships last year, to compete in a lighter weight category to accommodate Elaine.

However, on a happier note, Mohamed Afifuddin Omar Sidek bagged a bronze in the men's bantamweight, going down 4-2 to Philippines' Tshomlee Go in the semi-finals.

Source from http://www.nst.com.my

MALAYSIA: SEA GAMES/Taekwondo: Get two gold or you’re failures

S. Selvam
Nov 23

FROM a sport that delivered 10 gold medals in the 1989 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games, taekwondo has been reduced to relying on winning gold medals by avoiding exponents from other countries.

Which is why, anything less than two gold medals, given the support and special arrangements that have been made, will be considered a failure for the national taekwondo team in the Sea Games.

Both gold medals are expected to come from the two elite members of the Gemilang 2006 Special Project squad, Elaine Teo and Chee Chew Chan in the women's bantamweight and middleweight categories respectively.

In fact, team officials, with the support of the National Sports Council (NSC) and Olympic Council of Malaysia, have gone to the extent of "forcing" Noornadia Norrizan, who was the sole Malaysian to win a gold — in the bantamweight category — in the Asean Championships last year, to compete in a lighter weight category to accommodate Elaine.

Elaine was initially expected to compete in the flyweight category but will now compete in the heavier category as the team officials believe she can guarantee a gold medal in the bantamweight category.

Which means Noornadia will now compete in the flyweight category.

Malaysia's sole gold medal came two years ago via Lim Yit Min after Elaine could not even take to the ring (and had to settle for a bronze medal) as she was injured.

Which is why the pressure is now on coach R. Dhanaraj and Moi Chee Keong to better the 2003 haul.

Elaine and Chew Chan are part of the 138-strong elite athletes under the Gemilang 2006 Special Project squad which is for athletes who are potential medallists at next year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne or the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

Taekwondo is among a few select sports that is actually world class when it comes to the Sea Games, and Manila will provide a perfect platform for the national exponents, especially Elaine and Chew Chan, to gauge their standard and progress in the region.

Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand have world class exponents and if Malaysia harbour any hopes of winning medals in Doha next year, they have to win in Manila.

Which is why team officials were so afraid of Elaine meeting Thailand's Athens Olympic Games bronze medallist Yaowapa Boorapolchai, that the former was allowed to move up to a heavier category at the expense of Noornadia.

But in doing this, another problem has cropped up in the form of Noornadia needing to shed four kilogrammes of her body weight to enable her to compete in the flyweight category.

The flyweight is for those in the 47kg-51kg bracket while the bantamweight is for those in the 51kg-55kg.

Team manager K. M. Rajendran expressed confidence that Noornadia will be able to lose her weight, but whether the team can deliver two gold medals remains to be seen.

Source from http://www.nst.com.my