My Bests of 2008

The time is right to look back at 2008 and state what I thought was the best and worst in Malaysian sport this year.
Here are my choices:

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR


Nicol David (squash)
- Surely you can't beat ranking number 1 in the world, being crowned world champion and going through a whole season unbeaten. There may be thoughts of her dropping a notch after reaching these heights, but so long as she delivered this year, she's my number 1.

MOST PROMISING ATHLETE OF THE YEAR


Azizulhasni Awang (cycling)- He's done so much. So much in such a short time that people forget that the Pocket Rocket is just 20-years old. Double Asian champion in keirin and 200m sprint, after repeating the keirin gold he won last year. Qualified for the Olympics four years ahead of schedule and gave Chris Hoy one hell of a fight in the sprint quarters. Already ranked world number 1 in the keirin.

TEAM OF THE YEAR


Le Tua Cycling Team (cycling)
- You may think that I'm biased towards cycling, but think again. Look at how much this team had in terms of budget. Less than RM80,000 to run the whole year's campaign. But they delivered far better results than the big bidget national team and MCF Cycling team. They won the points classification through Anuar Manan and overall title through Tonton Susanto in the Jelajah Malaysia. Anuar repeated that in the Tour de East Java. Almost won a stage in Le Tour de Langkawi and regained for us the self respect, the admiration of European teams and riders. They inspired the whole cycling fraternity in the country. Who says we suck at team sports!!

FLOP OF THE YEAR


FA of Malaysia
- Or rather flop of the century. The FAM is Malaysian football, but they're an embarassment. Despite countless revamps, restructuring, a whole lot of money, everything, the national body fails to realise the importance of full focus on development of PLAYERS. They keep tinkering, are too bogged down by petty issues, the design of the league, they're unable to even really control their affiliates, they allow the politics of every issue reign above reason and advancement, the FAM is stuck in the 1970s. Worst of all, the FAM can't even produce a half decent national team that can garner some pride for us all. That is because they are incapable of producing the decent players we require. All they do is meet and talk, when work should be done on the ground, grinding into every district, every small club, everybody with interest in football, that we can do this. Instead they remain in the mighty Wisma FAM and battle plot after plot of stories and issues that bore us to the bone, while Thailand and Singapore are beginning to look good to launch serious attacks on World Cup qualification.. I can go on and on, but for what.

Stay tuned. Coming next: The best of Malaysian cycling, the best of Malaysian motorsport, the World's Best of 2008.