BIRMINGHAM: A cold and chilly Birmingham, with temperatures fluctuating between one and five degrees, did not help as singles players Lydia Cheah and Chong Wei Feng were bundled out of the All England Super  Series — which is also the 100th All England Championships.

JOHOR BARU: Inspired by winning titles on foreign and local fronts, top shuttler Lee Chong Wei has shifted his attention and focus on winning the All-England title where he is expected to meet China's World Championship winner and Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan in the final.

Fresh from his victory in the National Grand Prix Finals, the 28-year-old Penangite, who also won the Korean and Malaysian Open last month, said it has been a fantastic start for him thus far this year.

JOHOR BARU: Lying third in the 14-team Super League competition, Johor FC will play Kuala Lumpur at the JCorp Stadium in Pasir Gudang tonight, fresh from their 1-0 win over Kedah on Saturday.

VIENTIANE: Mohd Zafril Zuslaini landed his first individual gold and it came in the men’s 400m — Malaysia’s first in the event since Romzi Bakar won at the Jakarta Sea Games in 1997.

Zafril, who hails from Kemaman, Terengganu immediately dedicated the gold to his late mother Zainun Abidin, who passed away due to cancer in 2007 – a month before the Korat Sea Games.

VIENTIANE: “I will continue to don national colours as long as my services are needed,” said 32-year Teoh Boon Lim after winning his third Sea Games gold medal in the men’s 20km walk.

The teacher from Kuala Lumpur fought off a strong challenge from Indonesian Indra Abdul Kadir who won the silver and Kristian Tobing who took the bronze to keep Malaysia’s rich tradition alive in walking events.

VIENTIANE: As a young schoolgirl, walking was never her "cup of tea" and instead Norliana Rusni used to laugh by herself at the 'cheeky' way the walkers walked when in training or in competition.

But all that changed for the SM Kebangsaan Kandis student in Bachok, Kelantan in 2002 when she was caught 'laughing' at the walkers by her sports teacher Ahair Seman. The next thing she knew was "walking the cheeky way" when Ahair got her into his walking team.

VIENTIANE: Noraseela Khalid, Malaysia’s two-gold medal hope in the 25th Laos Sea Games, “limped” into Vientiane yesterday after sustaining a right Achilles tendon injury during the final training session at Bukit Jalil on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Selangor-born Noraseela left Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) deputy president Karim Ibrahim a worried man.

WHILE newly-crowned Malaysia Cup champions Negri Sembilan are still celebrating their success which brought RM450,000 in cash rewards, striker Hairuddin Omar has dropped a bombshell.

The 30-year-old former international, on loan from T-Team but became a free agent when his contract expired with the Terengganu- based club, has decided to return home.

JOHOR football is in shambles — just weeks after gaining promotion to the Super League by finishing third in the Premier League competition. Johor FA president Ahamad Mohamad has quit. Also gone are vice-president Rozan Mohd Saat and honorary secretary Lukman Abu Bakar.

JFA executive Wan Nizam Wan Omar is also expected to follow suit. If that is a handful for Johor football, the players and officials have not been paid their salaries for the past two months after their main sponsor — Pasir Gudang Municipality – stopped the funds abruptly following a change in management.

“WE did our talking on the field,” an elated Negri Sembilan coach Wan Jamak Wan Hassan described his team’s resounding 3-1 win over favourites Kelantan in Saturday’s Malaysia Cup final.

NEGRI SEMBILAN defender Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak has a new partner in the heart of the defence — the experienced former international Shukor Adan — and the Malaysia Cup finalists have gone nine matches without defeat in the competition.

THE Thai Juniors spent six months training in Indonesia and were well rewarded winning two of the five titles — girls’ singles and mixed doubles-in the World Junior Championships which ended in Alor Star on Sunday.

And Malaysia will have to take note that the vastly improved Thais, especially the girls, who put a big dent in China’s pride, may well form the core of the Thai team to next month’s SEA Games in Laos.

MALAYSIA once again showed their supremacy in the boys’ doubles when Chooi Kah Ming-Ow Yao Han, seeded 3/4, beat Indonesians Berry Anggriawan-Muhammad Ulinnuha 19-21, 21-12, 23-21.

In a 55 minute battle at the Sultan Abdul Halim Indoor Stadium, the Malaysians once again came back from a set down to land the title in this year’s Yonex-Sunrise BWF World Junior Championships in Alor Star.

With the win, Malaysia retained their boys’ doubles title which they won in Pune, India last year through Mak Hee Chun-Teo Kok Siang. This is the fifth time Malaysia have the title.

EXPECT a lot of sentiment, drama and tears as the top four teams try to outwit their opponents in the return leg of the Malaysia Cup semifi nals tomorrow for a spot in the fi nal on Nov 7.

MALAYSIA’s unseeded Sonia Cheah is proving to be hot in the Yonex-Sunrise BWFR World Junior Championships when she dished out another stunning performance to oust Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi 22-20, 21-16 in a third round match in the girls’s singles yesterday.

ASIAN champions Malaysia were no match for China who were convincing in the 3-0 win in the final of the BWF World Junior Badminton mixed team event at the Sultan Abdul Halim Indoor Stadium in Alor Star last night.

Playing in their first final in the world junior championships, Malaysia had to settle for second best on a night when the Chinese showed their might to make it four out of five since the inception of the team event in 2004.

China won the team titles in 2004, 2007 and 2008 with the South Koreans inflicting the only blemish by taking the Suhandinata Cup in 2006.

A ‘PUMPED-UP’ Tee Jing Yi was again heroic to clinch Malaysia’s winning point but it was Choo Kah Ming who was the star as the homesters marched into their fi rst-ever mixed team fi nal in the in the World Junior Championships.

In the fi nal today, Malaysia will take on defending champions China, whom they beat 3-1 in the Asian Junior C h a m p i o n - ships mixed team fi nal in Kuala Lumpur in July.

IT WAS long time coming and even though he is almost at the end of his playing career, Idris Karim’s nomination for the Best Midfielder in the 100PLUS-FAM National Football Awards 2009 could not have come at a more appropriate time.

Already 33-years-old, Idris, who has been playing for Negri Sembilan for the past five years, will be up against nine other players including Azuan Roya from his former club Johor FC in the chase to win the recognition as the finest engine room maestro of the 2009 season.

ASIAN Tour honorary member K.J. Choi, who is making his debut, is determined to turn his fortunes around with a win at the Iskandar Johor Open starting today.

The three-time Asian Tour winner will have defending champion Retief Goosen of South Africa and six-time Asian Tour winner Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand for company at the US$1 million (RM3.4m) full field Asian Tour tournament.