FOR sports fans, the beginning of the calendar year is a great time to speculate on what the upcoming sporting events throughout the year have in store for us?
Will the favourites win again? Will there be an amazing underdog story or two? Will our favourite teams somehow defy the odds and finally win a title? (I’m looking at you, Selangor).
Fortunately, help is at hand.Timesport has grabbed a large pinch of salt with one hand, thrown caution to the wind with the other and can tell you what’s in store for the next 12 sporting months.
BADMINTON
MEN’S singles Lee Zii Jia will finally achieve his top-10 target and win several top-tier tournaments to earn the tag as the new Lee Chong Wei of Malaysian badminton.
Singles players Goh Jin Wei and S. Kisona will both mark their presence in the women’s game by doing respectably against top shuttlers from China, India and Japan.
The biggest tournaments are the Thomas/Uber Cups in May in Denmark but Malaysia are unlikely to make heads turn.
In fact, both teams are not expected to qualify on merit via next month’s Asian Team Championships in Singapore, but will still make the cut through their players’rankings.
BOWLING
THE national bowlers, like what they normally do every year, will blaze the lanes at the Asian Championships in Hong Kong in July and retain their overall title, apart from winning countless titles in Asia and Europe.
Timmy, Rafiq Ismail and Sin Li Jane to dominate in tournaments, while veteran Shalin Zulkifli will retire for good.
CUE SPORTS
AFTER years of begging for a training centre and equipment,cue sports will finally receive some funding to run their senior and youth programmes following their good run in last year’s Philippines Sea Games.
The National Sports Council (NSC) will provide them a training centre and will channel funds to the Malaysian Snooker & Billiards Federation (MSBF) to re-start their development programme in Bukit Jalil.
FOOTBALL
IT will be a battle of Royals in the new M-League season, which starts on Feb 28, between Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), owned by Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, and Selangor, under their new president Tengku Amir Shah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
It will be a straight fight between JDT and rejuvenated Selangor, who have beefed up their squad with marquee signings, but the former will retain their Super League crown for a seventh straight time.
JDT will be hailed as heroes by those who often question their intentions by reaching the second round of the AFC Champions League for the first time.
Harimau Malaya will hold the United Arab Emirates to a draw in Dubai, beat Vietnam (Bukit Jalil) and Thailand (Bangkok) to top Group G and advance to the final stage of the pre-World Cup and also qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup.
Tan Cheng Hoe’s side will end the season by winning the AFF Cup in December.
Safawi Rasid will be the star for both JDT and the national team, and will receive offers from top clubs in Europe.
Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak finally makes his J2-League debut with Fagiano Okayama and become the hottest property in the Japanese league while youth footballer Luqman Hakim Shamsudin will struggle to stamp his mark in Belgian’s youth league at KV Kortrijk.
FUNDING FOR SPORTS
A challenging season as most funding from a very tight budget will be channeled to Olympic-bound athletes. The others will struggle to send their athletes for overseas competitions and trainings.
Sports like snooker, bowling, martial arts, among others, will be handed very small budgets to run their programmes. In the long run, this will affect the development of sports and thus see a decline in medal hauls in priority competitions.
HOCKEY
THE national team will rise from the disappointment of not qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics by winning the Sultan Azlan Cup for the first time in April after enduring years of disappointments.
As for youth hockey, the girls’ team will not qualify for the Junior World Cup via the Junior Asia Cup in Japan, while the boys’ team will do enough in Bangladesh for a Junior World Cup spot.
DIVING
CHEONG Jun Hoong will create a stir by qualifying for the Olympics via a top-18 finish in the women’s 10m platform individual event at the World Cup in Tokyo in April.
The achievement will silence her critics, especially from the national set-up, who initially wrote her off.
TOKYO OLYMPICS
NO Malaysian shuttler will return from the Olympics with medals unless top players are either suspended for doping or get injured.
However, Malaysia could see medals from cycling via Azizulhasni Awang and diving via Cheong Jun Hoong, Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee.
Azizulhasni, in his last Olympic outing, has the pedigree and power to shock the cycling world and win a gold in the keirin event.
Jun Hoong will overcome difficulties and finish on the podium in the women’s platform individual while veteran Mun Yee will finally become an Olympic medallist by winning a medal with Pandelela in the platform synchro event.
Artistic gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, archer Khairul Anuar Mohamad and the sailors along with athletes from shooting and swimming (haven’t qualified yet) will only make up the numbers in Tokyo.
With the cost-cutting measures adopted in Malaysian sports since last year, the Tokyo Games will be a defining moment.
If the country does not produce their first Olympic champion in July, it will not happen in the following few editions, unless funding is increased.