South Korea win first ever Uber Cup...a major UPSET!

What an upset...a really big one !!! I guessed the reason for China's women team downfall was due to most of the team members are first timers coupled with they being the overwhelm favourites....

South Korea won their first ever Uber Cup when they beat defending champions China 3-1 in the final that was played this evening at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

The Chinese, who have won the Uber Cup for the last five editions, did not have the best of start when world No. 1 Wang Yihan fell to Bae Seung Hee in the first singles.

The South Koreans then capitalised on that win to pick up their second point through Lee Hyo Jung-Kim Min Jung in the first doubles.

And while China managed to give themselves a fighting chance when they grabbed their first point through Wang Xin in the second singles, the second doubles would prove to be pivotal.

Despite losing the first set 19-21, the pair of Lee Kyung Won-Ha Jung Eun kept their nerves intact to take the second set 21-14 to set up the decider in the rubber set.

And it was close with against the Chinese pair of Du Jing-Yu Yang when they played catch-up at the start before the score went from point to point up until 13-13.

After that, it was all South Korea as they went on to win the third set 21-18 to land their first ever Uber Cup crown.

China wins 4th straight Thomas Cup 2010

A RAMPANT China underlined their dominance of world badminton on Sunday by pounding Indonesia 3-0 to emphatically win a fourth consecutive Thomas Cup title.

The victory cemented China's reputation as a leviathan in the sport after their women were shocked by an unfancied South Korea on Saturday, and boosted morale in the camp ahead of the Commonwealth Games in October.

The Chinese men were hot favourites, boasting two of the world's top three singles players, and they did not disappoint. Temperamental talisman Lin Dan, who handed a demoralising defeat to Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei in Friday's semi-final, led the charge with a stunning win - and then called for an upgrade to first class on the short flight home.

It ought not to have been so easy against Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat, also an Olympic and world gold medallist, and a player who can beat anyone on his day. But Lin blasted his way to a 21-7 win in the first game, before securing the second 21-14. 'We both tried our best to win for our country,' Lin said. 'We played out our responsibility to ourselves, to our country and to our supporters.'

Lin, who has been on top form in Kuala Lumpur, dismissed suggestions that he was a league above his opponents, saying: 'Beating them is not that easy because I sweat a lot. Tonight we are going back to China and I'm very tired now, so hopefully tonight I can change from economy to first class.'

The world number eight pairing of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng then put China firmly in control of the final, beating the much-admired Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in a three-game thriller. Fu said after the hard-fought 25-23, 16-21, 21-12 win: 'At the end of the first set it became a mental battle. We had to prepare really well to win this match.'

I watched the finals yesterday with my dad keep on scolding the mistake from Chinese players while my wife is rooting for Indonesia fight to bring the finals into 5th match. If Indonesia were to win the first double, then it will be much more exciting. Kudos to Indo players especially Simon Santoso for bringing the best out of himself. Congrats to the Dragons from China :)

Webber wins Monaco GP for another RedBull 1-2

MARK Webber leapt into serious contention for this year's drivers' world championship on Sunday when he drove to an imperious victory ahead of his precocious young team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the Monaco Grand Prix.

The 33-year-old Australian led from start to finish and made light of four interruptions for the introduction of the Safety Car on his way to a second comprehensive win in succession, having won equally impressively in Spain last weekend.

It was the fourth win of his career, his second this year and he became the first Australian victor on the famous Mediterranean street circuit, bathed in more glamour than sunshine this time, since Jack Brabham won in 1959, on his way to the world title. It was also the Red Bull team's third one-two triumph in succession and their fourth in six races this year, sufficient evidence to confirm with reasonable certainty that they have overcome their reliability problems - at least on slower circuits.

An ecstatic Webber praised his team after taking the chequered flag. Over the team radio, he said: 'Unbelievable. Thank you. You deserve every bit of this. The car is fantastic.'

Vettel, the 22-year-old wunderkind whose sheer talent had seemed to rattle Webber earlier and last year, was unable to mount a challenge to his partner's supremacy this time and came home a comfortable second, ahead of Pole Robert Kubica in a Renault. All the top three drivers were powered by Renault engines.

Webber's win lifted him to the top of the drivers standings on 78 points, level with Vettel as the season continued to unfold as a Red Bull in-house contest.

So....Webber wins again and for the very first time in the streets of Monaco. It all comes down to the qualifying and the red bull engine...Great job to the team for another 1-2 finishes :)

Overnight policy rate raised 25 basis points to 2.50%

Oh no...blr going to increase soon??? Really not a good news at these times... :(

Bank Negara has raised the country's overnight policy rate by 25 basis points or 0.25%, to 2.50%.

The move was to further normalise monetary conditions, governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz told a press conference here Thursday.

She said the stance of monetary policy continued to remain accommodative and supportive of economic growth.

Thomas & Uber Cup 2010 Quarter Finals Draw

I'm sure if you are a Malaysian watching the last group match yesterday between Malaysia vs Japan will be very much dissappointed. Talks about Japan being whitewash 0-5 by our national team ended with a shock 3-2 against the host nation to claimed group B champion, thus enabling them to have a favourable draw in the quarter finals.

And the Japan team did get a good draw by meeting German in the Quarters which will most likely seeing them feature in the semi finals for the very first time. As for our Thomas Cup team, we will not pit themself against the mighty Danes for a place in the semis...


Overall, I was very sad and frustrated with the way our players performed especially the last 3 matches...



Here are the latest quarter final draws and schedules today:


12noon
Thomas Cup

China vs South Korea
Indonesia vs India

Uber Cup

Malaysia vs Indonesia
Japan vs Denmark

6.00pm
Thomas Cup

Malaysia vs Denmark
Germany vs Japan

Uber Cup

China vs India
Russia vs South Korea

PTPTN to team up with IRB to recover study loans

If the plans go ahead for PTPTN and IRB to team up, then the wage deduction for loan repayment will become a reality soon given that IRB already doing the same to get back tax defaulters.

Defaulting education loan borrowers may be forced to pay up by way of monthly salary deductions.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said today that the Cabinet had agreed last week to allow the Inland Revenue Board to collect loan payments on behalf of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).

Next on the agenda for IRB and PTPTN is to discuss the payment mechanism.

"Among the things to be discussed are whether the system should be applied to all borrowers or to the new ones only, when they should start paying and the threshold, which will be based on the salary, as we must also accommodate those with smaller income," Khaled said.

He expected the collection to start next year.

PTPTN chairman Datuk Dr Mohamad Shahrum Osman hit out at those who defaulted on their loan payments, saying they did not care about the future of other people.

"By not paying up, the borrowers are doing a disservice to the nation. They are not contributing to the future of its students," he said.

If borrowers did not pay up, PTPTN's coffers would be depleted and this would reduce the amount of money available for lending to future borrowers.

Dr Shahrum said the defaulters would only take the initiative to approach PTPTN when they wanted the travel ban imposed against them to be lifted.

"When they want to perform the umrah or haj, they come to us," he said.

Others included those who were required to travel overseas for work such as businessmen, pilots and stewardesses.

"But we don't simply blacklist borrowers. Notices (on payment) are sent out and if they are ignored, we will take the borrowers to court. If they ignore that also then we blacklist them," he said.

Dr Shahrum said the number of borrowers had increased as loans were now open to students of independent Chinese schools.

PTPTN has disbursed RM32.4 billion to 1.5 million study loan accounts since it was established in 1997.

As of March, payments were due on 775,942 loans of which RM1.6 billion has been recovered from 563,897 of them. Borrowers who have not started repaying run the risk of being blacklisted.

A total 37,453 accounts were blacklisted from 1997 to March.

NST

RM3 Billion 1Malaysia Sukuk on the way...

Hmm...we have plenty of bonds and trust funds by the government. Where to get so much money to buy ??!!!

The Malaysian government will be issuing the Sukuk 1Malaysia 2010 amounting to RM3 billion on June 21 this year, a statement from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said Monday.

The Sukuk, which will be scripless and based on Syariah principles, will have a three-year tenure and offer a return of five per cent per annum.

Malaysian citizens, 21 years and above may apply for the Sukuk 1Malaysia 2010 during the subscription period, from May 20-June 9, 2010, said MoF.

The minimum subscription amount will be RM1,000 and the maximum will be RM50,00 per subscriber.

The Sukuk has a resaleable feature whih provides the flexibility for investors to sell and purchase the sukuk before the maturity date, the MoF said.

It can be subscribed at most commercial banks, including Islamic banks, Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd, Bank Simpanan Nasional and Agrobank.

Allocation of the Sukuk will only take place after the close of the subscription period. All subscribers will be allocated with an amount less than or up to the amount subscribed, depending on the total number of subscribers and the total subscriptions received.

Successful applicants will be notified by their agent banks on the amount of Sukuk 1Malaysia 2010 allocated to them. Profit payments will be made on quarterly basis through the sukukholder's accounts with their agent bank.

Bernama