 |
| Official buntings of this event - Chess, Darts & Carrom |
MEN & WOMEN of 4 groups each
MEN
Group A
Kuala Lumpur (Group Champion)
Pulau Pinang (Group Runner-up)
Melaka
Group B
Kedah (Group Champion)
Perak (Group Runner-up)
Pahang
Group C
Johor (Group Runner-up)
Perlis
ATM
Selangor (Group Champion)
Group D
Terengganu (Group Champion)
PDRM
Sarawak (Group Runner-up)
Penjara
WOMEN
Group A
Perak (Group Champion)
ATM
Perlis (Group Runner-up)
Group B
Kuala Lumpur (Group Champion)
Pulau Pinang (Group Runner-up)
Penjara
Group C
PDRM
Kedah (Group Champion)
Sarawak (Group Runner-up)
Melaka
Group D
Terengganu (Group Runner-up)
Pahang (Group Champion)
Johor
Selangor
 |
| Men's Group results - Group A & B Group A - Champion (WPKL) Group A - Runner-up (P. Pinang) Group B - Champion (Kedah) Group B - Runner-up (Perak) |
 |
| Men's Group results - Group C & D Group C - Champion (Selangor) Group C - Runner-up (Johor) Group D - Champion (Terengganu) Group D - Runner-up (Sarawak) |
 |
| Quarter Finals to FINALS. WPKL emerged as the CHAMPIONS |
 |
| Women's Group Results - Group A & B Group A - Champion (Perak) Group A - Runner up (Perlis) Group B - Champion (WPKL) Group B - Runner up (P. Pinang) |
 |
| Women's Group Results - Group C & D Group C - Champion (Kedah) Group C - Runner up (Sarawak) Group D - Champion (Pahang) Group D - Runner up (Terengganu) |
 |
| Quarter Finals to FINALS. WPKL emerged as CHAMPIONS |
Best Men Player - Wan Mohd Arif bin Wan Mahmud (WPKL)
Best Men Doubles Pair - Azuar bin Salim/Ramli bin Maamor (WPKL)
Best Women Player - Norhayati bt Haji Yop (WPKL)
Best Women Doubles Pair - Salina bt Ramli/Norsiha bt Ahmad Azharam (Perak)
OTHER NEWS
Basically it was almost a total whitewash by Team WPKL if not for the Best Women Doubles title heading Perak's way. But well done to all the teams.
There was a certainly a marked improvement from Men's Team Sarawak who qualified for the quarter-finals after they ousted PDRM but they had to go through a strong team from Kedah and fell 3-0.
It was a huge upset for Team Selangor (Men & Women) who in the past have taken overall titles but not this time. The women's team never scored a single point in their group matches and thus falling into last place in their group. When all hopes were on the shoulders of the Men, they faltered as well. They lost to P. Pinang in the quarters with a score of 2-1. The look on the faces of all the players, team manager & chief shows it all. Was this due to lack of preparation, wrong strategy - we don't know but hopefully they do the right thing and rise up as the "giants" they've been in the past.
ISSUES WITH UMPIRES
An umpire is an umpire and there's no two hoots about it. If you choose to be an umpire, then you function as an umpire. Or if you choose to be a camera person, you be just that. Have you seen anywhere in the sports arena where an umpire who while umpiring goes around taking pictures with the camera and then comes back to umpiring. Well we have it in carrom here in Malaysia. What if something goes wrong with the game? Who's answerable? This competition was conducted with limited number of umpires. At times, 1 umpire has to overlook 3 matches.
Now if that isn't bad enough, this umpire also "helps" to arrange and make sure the carrommen is all compacted together before the players make their break. Is this allowable? Most definitely not and that too by a qualified umpire. Where do you set a boundary between being an umpire and "marketing" yourself and your services?
I hope KAROMAS takes note of this so that it does not repeat itself in the next event that KAROMAS is given the task to overlook/manage.
MORE TOURNAMENT PICTURES
 |
| Umpire Frankie (hidden) is giving briefing and swamped by all these players. Looking at the cameraman is Mr. Samohon (Chief Umpire) & Mr. Sahipul Bahri (Umpire) |
 |
| Umpires having their hearty lunch nearby after a hard day at the office |
 |
| Game in progress under the watchful eyes of Umpire Suzana |
 |
| Game in progress under the watchful eyes of Umpire Wahar |
 |
| Game in progress under the watchful eyes of Umpire Hairol |
 |
| Game in progress under the watchful eyes of Umpire Gopi |
 |
| Semi-finals (WPKL vs Perak) in progress watched by Umpire Frankie |
 |
| Semi-finals (Kedah vs P. Pinang) in progress watched by Umpire Sabirin |
 |
| Semi finals in progress |
 |
| Semi finals in progress |
 |
| Match in progress under the watchful eyes of Umpire Sahipul |
 |
| Scene in the hall. Finals in progress. |
 |
| An excited player after her loss. Haha. Always happy! Was only concerned about going to Johor Premium Outlets. |
 |
| 1st Men Singles Final (WPKL's Wan Arif vs Kedah's Mazlan) |
 |
| 1st Women Singles Final (WPKL's Norhayati vs Perak's Julia) |
 |
| 2nd Women Singles Final (WPKL's Nor Fazilah vs Perak's Margaret) |
 |
| Women Doubles Final (WPKL vs Perak) |
 |
| Men Doubles Final (WPKL vs Perak). Note the player on the bottom right (Perak) who has his legs on the chair. This is NOT ALLOWED. |
 |
| 2nd Men Singles Final (WPKL's Mutalib vs Kedah's Zukiman). Under the watchful eyes of Umpire Frankie. |
There were some issues with some players where they lack knowledge in the rules of the game and this should not be the case. Every player who attends this competition MUST take the trouble to read up the rules and not get penalized every time a mistake is done. To some extent it does take away the focus a player has when he/she is penalized. No umpire would want to penalize any player without a valid reason.
We had a situation where a player was caught having his foot exceeding the allowed boundary and then he was penalized. Within a few minutes another offence was committed and was again penalized. Is this because when they practice, all these disciplines are not taken into consideration? And believe me, some of these players have been coming to these games for more than 10 years and its a sad thing.
Some even had disciplinary issues and goes to the extent to think that since they're seasoned players, they're immune to mistakes and that's a very grave mistake. And that's exactly what happened to this player who got penalized twice in a single board. It all comes down to attitude and what do you do about it. Some people just don't learn. In the finals - which this team made it, he was again penalized while playing doubles this time. And to show his arrogant behavior, he put both his legs up on the chair and sat. As an umpire, I would have declared them to have lost the entire match but that wasn't necessary as he refuse to continue with the game after a few boards. Leaving it to the other Singles pair who had to fight it out in the decider but lost. It was a well contested match between Wan Arif (WPKL) & Mazlan (Kedah). It could have gone either way.
In doubles, teams are not allowed to communicate at all and teams had a tough time swallowing this pill because they don't practice playing in this manner. We can see that they've got agreed "body movements" which they do and have been caught and warned. Nothing escapes the eye of an able and seasoned umpire. One has to have an eagle eye for these kinda tactics.
Carrom in Malaysia has a long way to go before they can actually make a mark in the international arena. As long as the level of commitment and not enough hours is put into training, we cannot achieve what we're suppose to. Some players have told me that they only get to play just weeks before this competition begins. Some don't even have ICF approved carrom boards to have a proper practice. Outpocket boards are used to practice and this is certainly not right.
No comments:
Post a Comment