Cycling World Championship

Azizul Hasni Awang has proved that size does not matter. Both Azizul and Rizal Tisin have proved they are worthy successors to Josiah Ng reign on the track. Now in keeping tradition with past successes, it is time to award datukships to Azizul, Rizal and John Beasley. Yes, Chris Hoy didn’t participate. So let’s remain humble and not assume the 2012 gold is ours for the taking. At least now, we don’t have to rely on Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Datuk Misbun Sidek alone. Cheers Azizul and Rizal.

Lance Armstrong Comeback

So far, Lance’s confirmed races are as follow:

1. Tour Down Under – January

2. Tour of California – February

3. Giro D’Italia – May

4. Tour de France – July

Lance Armstrong is reunited with Johan Bruyneel

As expected, Lance is reunited with Johan Bruyneel at Team Astana. He is so keen to make a comeback that he is willing to ride for free with Team Astana. Will Alberto Contador leave Team Astana as a result? Surely Lance would be the new leader for Team Astana. Well Astana still has to get invited for 2009 Le Tour de France before Lance could try to win his 8th title. Next year should be an exciting year for cycling indeed, at least publicity wise.

Lance Armstrong is back

It started out as a rumour. Lance Armstrong has confirmed he is doing a Michael Jordan and Brett Favre. Yes, he is making a comeback and plan to race in Le Tour de France 2009. Not too sure if this is a right move. Not too sure how his comeback can create more awareness for cancer. Will Le Tour organizers allow Lance to race? Yes, there are more questions than answers at the moment. This posting will be updated as more news come my way.

Lee Chong Wei Beijing Olympics 2008 Badminton Final

Do we even dare to dream? Or would we end up disappointed as usual? Does he have enough courage to beat Lin Dan? Can Lin Dan afford to lose in front of his home crowd? Yes, there are a few unanswered questions at the moment. Hopefully Lin Dan would crack under pressure. There should be some added pressure since his girlfriend has lost to Zhang Ning.

All the best to Lee Chong Wei. Hopefully, he can achieve the status of immortality and pocket the RM 1 million reward at the same time. If he wins this gold medal, his triumph would be ranked along the same heights as the 1992 Thomas Cup victory.

NBA Finals 2008 Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers Game 3

I didn’t follow Game 2. So I won’t comment much about it except for two things. Leon Powe had a great game and the Celtics nearly lost Game 2 after leading by 24 points in the 4th quarter. The Celtics do not deserve to win the series if they had lost Game 2.

It was Sasha Vujacic’s turn in Game 3. He helped the Lakers to take the lead in the 4th quarter and won the game by 6 points. Yes, Kobe played better by scoring 36 points, much better than the 24 and 30 points he had in the first two games. I believe the Lakers were more desperate to win Game 3 than the Celtics. As much as I would like to see the Celtics sweep the series by 4-0, I suspect a 4-0 scoreline is not healthy for the NBA. Then all the hype about the rivalry would come to naught.

Ray Allen came and played but Paul Pierce was nowhere to be seen. Kevin Garnett had a slow start as well and only came alive in the final minutes of the game. The 87-81 score is the lowest by far in this final series. Could be due to the jet lag.

I share Ray Allen’s confidence in the team. I hope the Celtics can win one game before we head back to Boston.

p/s: Congratulations to Rafael Nadal for winning his 4th French Open Tennis title.

NBA Finals 2008 Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers Game 1

Celtics got off to a good start by beating Kobe in Game 1. It was a close match. I think Kobe led for a short period of time in the game but it was basically the Celtics all the way. Kobe had a poor shooting game by his standards (FG 9-26). I am glad Ray Allen shot down 19 points in this game. Paul Pierce was hurt but he came back to the game. I hope he recovers quickly for Game 2. While everyone is talking about how many games this Finals series would take before Kobe wins his 4th ring but I am inclined to think that Pierce, Garnett and Allen would win their first NBA ring as long the Celtics win all their home games. In the mean time while waiting for Game 2, I hope Roger would beat Nadal on Sunday.

NBA Finals 2008

The Boston Celtics are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1987. Interestingly enough, the Celtics faced the same foe, the LA Lakers back in 1987. After two successful 4-3 wins over Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers, I am glad to see the Celtics gave a turnaround performance to win the Eastern Conference finals in 6 games. The team deserves some rest. Finally, Celtics won twice on the road in Detroit.  Unfortunately, Celtics has also lost one home game in this series.

The first game starts on Thursday night or Friday morning in Malaysian time. Will Kobe has his off moments like LeBron? Can Kobe win his 4th NBA ring on his own? Yes, LA Lakers = Kobe Bryant. Hopefully, the Celtics have enough firepower to stifle Kobe like the way they did to LeBron. I will just to wait and see.

UEFA Champions League Final Moscow 2008

Yes, Manchester United is the king of Europe again. It was a close match with plenty of drama with the results decided on penalties. Here are the key highlights:

Man U dominated the first half by scoring first through a Ronaldo’s header. Man U could have sealed the game with 2 near misses. However, Chelsea got lucky and struck back via Frank Lampard when the ball bounced onto his path after 2 deflections.

The second half was a scrappy affair. The typical English long ball affair started to rear its ugly head in Man U’s game. There was a sense that things were not going Chelsea’s way after both Drogba and Frank hit the goal post. Man U also went close during extra time when Terry had to clear Giggs’ effort off the line. For reasons known only to Drogba, he got sent off for slapping Vidic.

I thought Man U cause was lost when Ronaldo hesitated and missed his penalty kick. I thought the game was gone just right before John Terry’s kick. Fortunately, Terry slipped, the game swung back to Man U’s favour and the rest was history.

Perhaps Sir Alex can retire now. Perhaps Ronaldo can leave and play in La Liga now.

Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2008

As expected, Malaysia lost 2-4 to Belgium and 1-2 to India to finish last in the round-robin group matches. Malaysia has gone from finalist during last year tournament to the bottom of the table in 2008. In an earlier match, India has shocked Pakistan by a score of 2-1 and will now take Pakistan’s place in the final against Argentina. Pakistan has to contend for the third place against New Zealand while Belgium and Canada will play for the fifth spot.