Double joy for Red Bul Racing

It was a historic day for Red Bull Racing when Sebastian Vettel won his third consecutive race yesterday at the Korean Grand Prix in Yeongam.

It was a double joy for team Red Bull as the other Red Bull driver Mark Webber came in second in the race. This was their first time in this season that Red Bull had pole and second placing consecutively.

Vettel in joy after his third consecutive win with Mark Webber (left) and Fernando Alonso (right)

The German lad won his third consecutive race after winning at Singapore and Japan and he could be becoming closer to his third consecutive championship. If he wins the entire season he would be the third person to achieve this in the history of Formula One after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.

Vettel leads by six points with four races remaining and Spaniard Fernando Alonso who drives Ferrari. Currently Red Bull Racing is leading in the team points followed by Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.

The next race would be at the Indian Grand Prix on the 28^th October.

Hamilton replacing Schumacher for Mercedes in 2013?

Michael Schumacher (left) with Lewis Hamilton (right)

The Formula One Mercedes team announced that they would be replacing Michael Schumacher with Lewis Hamilton in 2013. This announcement made a huge impact gaining mixed reactions of Formula One fans.

Lewis Hamilton who is taking up the three year deal is ending his association in McLaren and might even end up Michael Schumacher’s career in Formula One. Michael’s last win was at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. According to Michael’s spokesperson, he is undecided about his next move in Formula One but has been approached by Peter Sauber to join the Sauber team.

The seven times world champion is apparently a close friend to Peter Sauber and he had a deep conversation with Schumacher’s agent in the recent Italian Grand Prix earlier in September where Michael finished seventh and Lewis took the pole. Besides that, there was also a rumour that Schumacher might be returning back to Ferrari, the team that  brought him to his racing glory days.

Niki Lauda, Mercedes future board member and former three times world Formula One champion said that it was a great decision of Mercedes to take Lewis as their driver. He added that though the car is not powerful, Lewis is the best driver and he is unbelievably quick and would lead the team to winning the future Formula One championships. Lewis would be joining Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes team.

Mercedes Formula One

Lewis Hamilton had won one world championship and his last win was at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix. Currently in the drivers’ standings, Lewis Hamilton holds the fourth place with 142 points while Michael Schumacher holds 12^th with forty three points.

Jagjit Singh: Sports legend giving a taste of his tongue on the current hockey team

Jagjit Singh is not a stranger in the Malaysia’s hockey arena. During his nine years of being a national hockey player, the nation had achieved many glorious successes that have not been achieved by the current hockey team.

It all started in 1961 in the city of Ipoh (212 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur).Jagjit was born and raised in a traditional Punjabi Sikh family of six who had the passion for hockey. “I picked up my hockey stick when I was three and my dad Chet Singh, taught me at that time” said Jagjit. His grew up admiring Ties Kruize who is a hockey legend from Netherlands and dubbed as “Thor” in the field of hockey. After years of practice from his dad, Jagjit played for his school, Anglo Chinese School at the age of eleven. “Playing for the school definitely gave me a lot of exposure as I could learn the tactics and strategies of different players from different teams” added Jagjit.

After years of exposure playing for schools, Jagjit got his first major hockey tournament in 1981 where he was selected to represent the state of Perak. The tournament was held in the month of June and all teams from all around Malaysia and Singapore participated in it. “It was definitely a good feeling” said Jagjit.  The following year, Jagjit received the offer to join the Malaysian hockey team playing the position of a full back and he was trained under Malaysia’s famous hockey coach and former hockey player, Dato R. Yogeswaran. “That was definitely a golden opportunity that I could not say no to” said Jagjit.

At 1982, Jagjit played his first international tournament at the Hockey Asia Cup in Karachi, Pakistan. In this tournament, the Malaysian team managed to get the fourth place. “After that tournament, we played in four more international tournaments in the same year” said Jagjit.

The highlight of Jagjit’s career would be when his team represented Malaysia for the 1984, Summer Olympics at Los Angeles. There, the Malaysian team, managed to get the 11^th position and they defeated the home team by four goals. “It was definitely a great experience getting to play at the best sporting event in the world”, said Jagjit. Amongst the games that Jagjit played for Malaysia includes Hockey World Cup, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and many more.

After nine years of being the nation’s full back, Jagjit retired at 1991 at the age of 30 and joined the Malaysian Armed Forces as he wanted to be closer to his family. Although it was only nine years, his contribution in the Malaysian team has made then won two bronze medals in the Asian Games and won three gold’s in the Southeast Asian Games.

When asked about the current hockey squad, Jagjit said that the team now is not too bad. “With the new current coach, the team might probably qualify into the Olympics in the next five to six years”, added Jagjit who was referring to Paul Revington, a South African import who was awarded  the best coach for International Hockey Federation in the year 2011.

The last Olympics that the Malaysian team participated were at 2000 in Sydney and since then, Malaysia has never even been close to their Olympic dreams. Jagjit says that the standards in the Olympics are very high as other teams are getting better. “Teams like Japan and South Korea who used to be underdogs are improving and are conquering the hockey field and are trying to defeat big Asian guns like India and Pakistan” said Jagjit. “Besides that, the current Malaysia players are lacking in commitment and self-sacrifice and they look more towards the monetary gain and the fame in the sport” claimed Jagjit. Currently Malaysia is ranked 13 for the men’s team in the International Hockey Federation which is dominated by Germany, Australia and Netherlands.

Jagjit said that for Malaysia’s hockey team to get back into its glory days, the young generations must be encouraged to pick up the game. “Futsal is the current sport for Generation Y and if they are not into it, they are probably into computer and video gaming” said the father of two. “Schools must play an important role in starting hockey clubs as an after school activity, only then would the young generation be keen in learning this sport” Jagjit stated. Jagjit also added that he is frustrated that in Klang Valley alone there are only a handful of schools which have hockey clubs.

Hockey used to be a famous sport in Malaysia during the 80’s and now this sport is dying in participation and support from fellow Malaysians. Due to this, the current Malaysian hockey team had not made any great achievements in the field of hockey and the team is now on a downward spiral in the arena of hockey. Now would probably be the best time to instill this sports among this generation like how Jagjit Singh’s father instill the sport in him which shaped him into becoming the nation’s hockey legend. Hopefully, by then Malaysia would have hundreds of professional players like Jagjit and would bring the nation to its glory days.

Death Of An Icon

After the death of Punch Gunalan, Malaysia is shocked again by the loss of another key figure in Malaysian sports history. Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah, 88 passed away at 3.30 pm on 4^th of September at his house in Mantin, Negeri Sembilan.

 Tan Sri Hamzah was Malaysia’s sports Minister from 1971 to 1973. During his three years serving as a sports Minister, many achievements have been accomplished by Malaysian sporting events. Football for example qualified themselves to the Olympic Games in Munich defeating football giants like Japan and South Korea. It was also at the Munich Olympic that Malaysia’s hockey team qualified till the 8^th position. Besides being a sports minister, Tan Sri Hamzah was the President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (1976-1998), President of the Olympic Council of Asia (1982-1986), President of the Southeast Asian Games Federation since 1977, President of the Malaysia Taekwando Association, Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee since 2004 and many more.

Although he wasn’t an athlete, during his reign as a sports minister and as president of various sports committees, he has definitely brought Malaysia to a higher level. Amongst the most memorable sports achievement that was brought upon during his time was when Malaysia won second in the overall tally of Southeast Asian Games in 1971, producing sports legends like Mokhtar Dahari and Soh Chin Aun, and was the man who promoted Taekwando as a martial art sports that can represent the country in International Games. In fact, in 1972 he was the minister assigned to accompany Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Malaysia. His death is definitely a shock and a loss to many Malaysians.

 Hopefully, as a token of appreciation towards the progress that he has brought to the Malaysian sports arena, more Malaysians would take part and compete in sports and hopefully bring back a gold in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Johan Cruyff Institue for Sport Studies

Johan Cruyff Institute for Sport Studies in Nusajaya, Johor will open up for enrolment in the next 18 months.  This is a huge achievement for Malaysia’s economic as well as for their sporting arena.

Johan Cruyff is a Dutch football legend who had brought his teams and his country to great heights in the field of soccer. A three time winner of the Golden Ball, Johan played for Ajax, FC Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante UD and Feyenoord.  During his 20 years career as a football player, Johan has scored 291 goals and is the man who brought Netherlands as a runner up at the 1974 and 1978 World Cup.

After retiring from being a player he became the manager of AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona and Catalonia.  Now the soccer legend has decided to open his sport’s institute around the world and already has five branches worldwide at Amsterdam, Barcelona, Mexico City, Stockholm and Peru. This means that Malaysia would be the first country in Asia that Johan opened his sports institute. The sports institute that is in Nusajaya would train former athletes, coaches and those who are still active in sports, to excel in sports management and become sports leaders in various fields. Three academic programs that are offered in this school is Online International Master f Sport Management, Online Football Management Degree and Sport Business Fundamentals Online Program.

Johan Cruyff and Johor's Crwon Prince testing the field in the newly opened institute.

 The opening of this institute would firstly attract more people to Johor and at the same time make Malaysia an ideal place in Asia to study sports academic. Johor which has already opened big opportunities in the field of investing and tourism has tok the next step in excelling the field of sports.  In a nutshell, hopefully the opening of this institute in Johor would produce better quality of coaches and managers and also help bring Malaysia to a higher level in the field of sports as well as investment.