The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MALAYSIA

  • Rio Olympics: Nigeria, Egypt brace up for ITTF World Team Championships

    Rio Olympics: Nigeria, Egypt brace up for ITTF World Team Championships

    The battle for Africa’s sole ticket in the team event of Rio 2016 Olympics will be ignited when the two best teams in the continental – Nigeria and Egypt begin their campaign at the ITTF World Team Championships holding in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    With the two teams presenting a strong side in Malaysia after the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Sudan.

    For Segun Toriola of Nigeria, the battle for the sole slot between Nigeria and Egypt would be a tough challenge.

    “Being a team event tournament, I think we need to use this competition to improve the country’s ranking as well as fight for the sole slot of the continent to be able to play in the team event of the Olympics. Personally, my target in Malaysia is to improve Nigeria team ranking but if we talking about winning for Rio team event  ticket, for now I cannot say it is possible or not but is 50/50 chance and I believe if we all play very good and luck on team side, it is possible we make it,” Toriola said.

    Also, Egypt’s Dina Meshref believes they have the wherewithal to make it to division one of the women event. “I hope my team (women’s) could upgrade to division 1 this year. I believe we are capable of doing so even though it will require huge efforts from all the team members. It’s a tough challenge but we all hope we can do it. Our target is to perform very well in all matches, and upgrade to division 1 (the championship division).”

    On the Olympics team event qualification, the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup champion said: “I believe our team can win the sole slot to represent Africa in the next Olympics because our ranking as a team is good enough until now to qualify us to play the teams event in Rio. I hope we can make it.”

  • Nigerian student, others killed in Malaysia crash

    A Nigerian and an Egyptian student were killed while another was injured in an accident at Jalan Mahameru, Malaysia yesterday.

    The  trio was travelling by road  when the driver was believed to have lost control of the vehicle at about 3:00 a.m. local time.

    City Traffic Investigation and Legal staff officer, Deputy Superintendent S. Markandan, said the vehicle had steered to the left and crashed into a divider.

    “The driver of the vehicle, Ahmadu Bello Danbatta from Nigeria, and a passenger identified as Islam Deeb from Egypt were pronounced dead at the scene.

    “Another passenger identified as Ahlam Shuib sustained injuries on his lips,” he said, adding that all three victims were students at a private college.

    The bodies were sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for post-mortem.

    The victim who was injured in the incident was also sent to the same hospital for treatment.

  • Olympics: Nigeria, Egypt battle for continental slot

    Olympics: Nigeria, Egypt battle for continental slot

    The battle to clinch the continental sole ticket in the team event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be between Nigeria and Egypt as the two nations slug it out at the 2016 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Team Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    In the latest team ranking released by the world table tennis ruling body, Nigeria is ranked below Egypt and the performance of the team in Malaysia will determine its fate.

    In the Olympic ranking for the men’s team, Egypt is rated 28 while Nigeria occupies 33rd place based on the performance of each team in the last one year.

    Nigeria was able to close the gap on Egypt a bit following its victory over the Egyptian team at the 2015 African Games.

    In the women rating, Nigeria is still playing second fiddle to Egypt with the North African placing 32 while Nigeria is ranked 36th.

    According to ITTF Publications Editor, Ian Marshall, team with the highest rating in every continent including the top ranked in the world will get automatic qualification for the team event.

    Once the qualified players list has been determined by the ITTF Olympic Singles Ranking, the process to decide the 16 teams for the Men’s Team and Women’s Team events will kick-start.

    A team comprises three players with each is continent – Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, Oceania – is entitled to be represented.
    The first step is the highest listed National Olympic Committee from each continent on the May 2016 ITTF Olympic Team Ranking list, with a total of two qualified athletes for the singles events, receives an additional place from the Team Quota. The name of the player to fill the additional place is at the discretion of the relevant National Olympic Committees.
    If within a given continent no National Olympic Committee has two qualified athletes for the singles events, then the highest ranked team, based on the May 2016 ITTF Olympic Team Ranking list, with one athlete qualified, will receive two additional places from the Team Quota. 
    For the singles events, continental tournaments like the African Games and Qualifying tournament will determine the players that will make it to Rio from Africa.

    Marshall said by April, a total of 40 men and 40 women will have qualified while the next step in the process is the ITTF Olympic Singles Ranking Qualification.

    Commencing from January 2016, a monthly Olympic Singles Ranking, considering only eligible athletes for the Olympic Games, is published. 

  • Malaysia turns down UN plea to allow refugees to work

    Malaysia had insisted that it would not allow refugees to work in that country, in spite of a plea by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

    Ismail Muttalib, the Malaysian Human Resources Deputy Minister, told that country’s Senate on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur that allowing the more than 150,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in the country to work could create more employment problems.

    The Malaysian UNHCR representative had on Monday gone to that country’s Senate to ask legislators to allow UNHCR cardholders to have a work permit.

    Muttalib, however, said the country might be flooded with cardholders to a point that controlling their entry would be a problem.

    He said that presently, there were already 1.9 million foreign workers in Malaysia and an estimated more than one million illegal workers.

    Malaysia, one of the more developed countries in South-East Asia, was a favourite destination of workers from its less developed neighbours such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.

  • Malaysia, China to meet over flight MH370

    Malaysia, China to meet over flight MH370

    Malaysian, Chinese and Australian ministers are to meet this week to discuss the next steps in the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, an official said Monday.

    Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Lai, said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and Chinese Transport Minister Chuantang would to travel to Kuala Lumpur Thursday to continue discussions on the missing flight.

    “They would review the search efforts to date and collectively decide on next steps based on advice by the experts from the search strategy working group,” Liow said.

    Thursday’s meeting would come just over a year since the Boeing 777 vanished from radar on March 8, 2014 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

    On board were 227 passengers of which two-thirds were from China with 12 Malaysian crew members.

    Malaysia faced criticism in January for declaring all those on board officially dead as relatives of the missing Chinese demonstrated against the possible calling off of search efforts.

  • Wiesberger leads in Malaysia

    Wiesberger leads in Malaysia

    Bernd Wiesberger birdied six of his first seven holes en route to his best European Tour score yet, a nine-under 63 that catapulted him past defending champion Lee Westwood and into the Malaysian Open lead after three rounds.

    Westwood, who held a share of the lead at the end of each of the first two days, remained in contention three strokes back with a 69 for the day.

    But the Englishman, who is notably comfortable with the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club’s undulating fairways, has snared fewer birdies each day as others seem to be figuring the course out — including Wiesberger.

    On a day where temperatures climbed to 33 degrees centigrade, the Austrian started hot and cooled only slightly on his way to 10 birdies and sole first place at 17-under-par for the tournament.

  • Varsity signs pact with Malaysia

    The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has entered into an agreement with the Universiti Sains Islam, Malaysia (USIM) to share experiences and expertise in capacity building.

    The UNILORIN Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard with his USIM counterpart, Prof. Dato Musa Ahmad, in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan Malaysia.

    Ambali explained that the agreement is expected to be mutually beneficial in the areas of staff and student exchange, as well as facility development among others. The USIM Vice-Chancellor added that the collaboration came at the right time – when Malaysia in Asia and Nigeria in Africa are emerging as economic powers.

    “This will go a long way for both Malaysians and Nigerians to best contribute in directing the future relevance of higher education”, Prof. Ahmad added.

    Ambali, who also spoke at a collaborative workshop on “Leadership for Higher Education” at the university, said universities need to exchange ideas to overcome 21st century challenges.

    “All the presentations at the workshop have further confirmed the universality of education. It has shown that the challenges of managing higher educational institutions are similar worldwide and require global collaborative solutions,” he said.

  • ‘We are stranded in Malaysia’

    Over 70 Bayelsa State indigenes, who were sent to study in Malaysia under the scholarship programme, have cried out that they are stranded in the country.

    There was indication yesterday that the beneficiaries of the programme were stranded and battling deportation threat from the Malaysian government.

    The son of a former deputy governor (name withheld), is said to be among them.

  • Malaysia on my mind

    How much more can a nation and its stricken people take? Within a sadistic spell of six months, the good people of this beautiful and enchanting country with their quaint political institutions have suffered two major air catastrophes the likes of which are very rare and far between in aviation history.

    First, their plane flew into calamitous oblivion in an aviation mystery which remains unsolved despite feats of human endurance in inhospitable seas and the deployment of latest gadgets. Stunned and dazed by this chilling development, we mourned with the Malaysians and the rest of the world that lost human invaluable. All sorts of conspiracy theories have been flying about, but we are no nearer solving the tragic riddle.

    Now, another Malaysian plane with invaluable human capital has been shot down while flying over the apocalyptic meltdown of what used to be the Ukraine in a chilling presage of the new Cold War. When the old Cold War ended, we all rejoiced. But the new Cold War, because it is based on identity and barmy brotherhood rather than ideology, is going to be more vicious and marked by an unprecedented savage ferocity. Globalization and the democratization of the arsenal of cheap death will see to that.

    As we glimpse the site of horrific carnage and human wastage on an industrial scale, with international passports strewn all over, it looks more like a modern enactment of Dante’s inferno. Stunned and even more disoriented, we mourn with the good people of Malaysia and the world at large. It doesn’t rain but pours, and it has been pouring in the enchantingly named Kuala Lumpur.

  • Breaking: Malaysia Airlines crashes in Ukraine

    Breaking: Malaysia Airlines crashes in Ukraine

    Malaysia Airlines MH17 passenger jet has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border

    The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur had 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

    Cause of  the crash  yet unknown.

     

    UPDATE 1: Malaysia Airlines Twitter feed says airline has lost contact with Flight MH17 from Amsterdam

    UPDATE 2: According to Reuters, “Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser said the Buk missile was fired by separatists: Interfax”