Olympic Council of Malaysia Weekly Highlights

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 24, 2012: Weekly Highlights Coming Events

52nd International Session for Young Participants – 16th to 30th June 2012, Olympia, Greece.

ING 38th National Open (Men’s & Women’s) Siftball Championships 2012 – 28th June to 1st

31st OCM Annual General Assembly – Saturday, 30th June 2012, Wisma OCM, Kuala Lumpur.

Sponsorship Presentation for the Malaysian Contingent to Olympic Games London 2012 – 9th July 2012, 11.00 am, OCM Sports Museum & Hall of Fame, Kuala Lumpur

Flag Handing Ceremony for the Malaysian Contingent to Olympic Games London 2012 – 11th July 2012, 12.30 pm, Prime Minister’s Office, Putrajaya

2012 Olympic Day Run – Sunday, 8th July 2012 from 6.30 a.m. at Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur.

12th OCM Executive Board Meeting 2012 – 17th July 2012 at 4.30 p.m. at OCM Boardroom, 1st Floor, Wisma OCM, Kuala Lumpur.

MAJOR SPORTS EVENTS 2012

2012 SEA Games Federation Meetings – 12th to 16th July 2012 at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

Games of the XXX Olympiad – 27th July to 12th August 2012, London.

CGF General Assembly 2012 – 28th September 2012, Kampala, Uganda

30th OCA General Assembly 2012 – October, Macau, China.

News Items

3rd Asian Beach Games at its Closing in Haiyang

The 3rd Asian Beach Games closed successfully on Friday the 22nd June 2012 in Haiyang, East China’s coastal city in Shangdong Province, passing the joy to Phuket, Thailand, the host city of the next Games in 2014. The closure of the Games was announced by Timothy Tsun-Ting Fok, Vice President of Olympic Council of Asia. The theme of the closing ceremony was “pass the joy” with three parts corresponding celebration, reunion, and farewell respectively. Thailand gave a splendid performance to promote the next Asian Beach Games and the ceremony ended with the cultural performance where all the athletes and actors danced hands in hands to spread the joy of the Asian Beach Games to all Asia and the Vice President of OCA passing the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia to the representative of Phuket, Thailand.

In the 11-day Games, 1,601 competitors from 45 countries and regions contested in 13 sports. A total of 49 gold, 49 silver and 54 bronze medals were contested. The Games ended up with host China leading the medal table by grabbing 14 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze while Thailand, who was No.1 in the 2nd Asian Beach Games, took the second place with 13 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze, while South Korea winning the third place with 6 gold , 7 silver and 10 bronze. Indonesia clinched the fourth place with Chinese Taipei in fifth position and India in sixth with two gold medals and a bronze.

Malaysia’s Performance

Malaysia participated in 5 sports, Beach Volleyball (male team), Windsurfing (a male and a female athlete), Beach Woodball (male and female teams), Powered Paragliding (4 athletes) and Waterski (2 female, 3 males athletes).

The Beach Volleyball players, Kiew Chiong Ung and Rafi Asruki Nordin reached the Quarter-finals and lost to the Indonesia pair.

The windsurfers, Katherine Ong, 17 years old from Penang in the Women’s category, was placed 8th out of 11 participants and Mohamad Danel, 16 years old from Langkawi took 9th position out of 13 participants in the Men’s Category. They both did 12 races in all.

The Beach Woodball had 11 players, 6 males and 5 females. The oldest player is 72 years old. They played their best competing with much younger players finishing 6th on the whole with 9 countries.

Powered Paragliding was interesting to watch. The 4 Malaysian athletes wearing a propeller on their back sat on a seat below a paraglider, and took to the skies to show off their flying and landing skills. The athletes did their best although they were given short notice and they had to use whatever training equipment they had. In all the days of competition of events they learnt from their counterparts to improve their machines and themselves. Among 9 countries listed, they were positioned 5th. The winners were in order of ranking: Thailand, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Afghanistan and Philippines (the last two countries did not perform).

Waterski was represented by SEA Games gold medalist, Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah and her brother, Alexander Yoong together with three other young and up-coming athletes who made it to only the 2nd round.

At this 3rd Asian Beach Games, Aaliyah Yoong did well in the preliminary rounds and was placed 5th but at the final, she fell and finished 7th out of 16 participants. According to her father cum coach, Mr. Hanifah Yoong, Aaliyah suffered nervousness in competition and she under-achieved her results. She had an early experience of pressure which was good for her to learn in her life as an athlete. However, he feels that for this Asian level, Aaliyah has done well.

Alexander Yoong was placed 8th and this is his ranking in Asia. He could have done better but due to his 36 hours of travelling from France he had to perform in a state of jetlag.

We would like to congratulate the participating teams in the 3rd Asian Beach Games in Haiyang 2012, for putting up their best performance. We also like to thank them for their full cooperation given during the duration of the Games. The whole Malaysian Contingent has arrived safely home, with the last team, the Water Ski team leaving Haiyang on 23rd June 2012 and arriving in KLIA in the early hours of 24th June 2012.

(The above article was submitted by Cik Moira Tan, Chef de mission of the Malaysian Contingent and Honorary Assistant Secretary of OCM).

Olympic Day Fun Run 2012

The Olympic Day Fun Run 2012 will be held on Sunday, 8th July 2012 from 6.30 am, at Dataran Merdeka. The Closing Date of the Run is 24th June 2012. The Run has 13 categories, with cash prizes for the 1st to 5th finishers in each category and finishing medals for the minimum first 30 finishers, in the Men’s Senior and Women’s Senior categories. For other categories, there will be more finishing medals. The participation fees are still the lowest compared with most of the runs in Kuala Lumpur. Each registered participant will be entitled to a certificate of participation, Olympic Day Fun Run 2012 T-shirts and a McDonald’s “Be Our Guest” Card. Participation forms and details of the Run could be downloaded from www.olympic.org.my.

31st OCM Annual General Assembly 2012

The 31st OCM Annual General Assembly (AGA) will be held on Saturday, 30th June 2012, at 9.30 am, at Sports Arena, Level 3, OCM Indoor Sports Complex, Kuala Lumpur. The 30th OCM Annual Report, the proposed amendments to OCM Constitution and the Annual Financial Report had been sent to the members. As the elections of OCM’s Office Bearers are held biennially, there will be no elections at the 31st OCM AGA 2012.

Congratulations

The OCM wishes to congratulate Mesuma Sports Sdn. Bhd., the Official Sports Attire Sponsor of the OCM, for the official opening of its new premise on Friday, 22nd June 2012 at Block B-20-G, Avenue 8, Jalan Sungei Jernih 8/1, Seksyen 8, 46050 Petaling Jaya. The Opening was officiated by Y.Bhg. Dato’ Dr. P.S. Nathan, President of the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC).

XXX Olympic Games London 2012 – Team Managers’ Meeting

The 1st Team Managers’ Meeting for the XXX Olympic Games London 2012 was held on Monday, 18th June 2012 at 3.30 pm at Training Hall, Level 2C, OCM Indoor Sports Complex, Kuala Lumpur. The Meeting was chaired by Y.A.Bhg Tun Ahmad Sarji, the Chef de Mission of Malaysian Contingent to London Olympics and attended by Team Managers for the sports of Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Cycling, Diving, Sailing, Shooting and Swimming. The meeting discussed on the composition of Malaysian Contingent, roles and responsibility of Team Managers, accreditation matters, eligibility conditions, competition schedules, flight schedules, official attires, ceremonies and general matters pertaining to participation of Malaysian Contingent in the forthcoming Olympic Games London 2012.