Bar None

The postponed SEA Games is now well underway in Hanoi. Malaysia have sent a huge contingent of 584 athletes, with over half of them being debutants. Alongside a bunch of fresh faces, national stalwarts such as divers Datuk Pandelela Rinong, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, Wendy Ng, recurve archer Khairul Anuar and others will be battling it out to reach our target of 146 medals. We preview the multisport tournament & pick out our medal prospects.

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After numerous accounts of sexual harassment & abuse at the elite level of sports came to light last year, a bill is being drafted that aims to ensure a safe environment in all levels of local sports. Backed by Youth & Sports Minister Datuk Seri Faizal Azumu, whose set out a goal to create a new standard of care when it comes to reporting, training, policies, procedures, and periodic safety system reviews affecting all sports organizations across the country. Looking to get it through to parliament by the end of the year, the Malaysia Safe Sport Act is spearheaded by Commonwealth and SEA Games champion, former gymnast Sarina Sundara Rajah, as she joins us on the show diving into what the bill entails.

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First hitting the mat at the age of three, artistic gymnast Farah Ann Hadi sat at the pinnacle of Malaysian competitive gymnastics for 25 years. With numerous accolades to her name, the 2019 SEA Games champion recently announced that she's taking a step back & retiring from the national team. The 28 year old isn't completely done with the sport however, as she joins us on the program to share her upcoming plans, reminisce over her storied career & project the future of national gymnastics.

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Not too different to last year's football European Super League drama, the prestigious PGA Tour over the last couple of weeks have weathered a Saudi incursion - with the proposed Saudi Golf League, which had aimed to poach the best golfers under the PGA tour, reportedly offers larger purses, guaranteed payouts and 54-hole, no-cut tournaments. Sports journalist, Bob Holmes joins us on the programme - as we discuss sportswashing, breakaway leagues and what the PGA Tour could possibly do better. 

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In conjunction with International Women's Day, on the programe we have Datuk Leong Mun Yee, the first Malaysian - be it male or female - to compete in the Olympics five times, Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) & Tokyo (2021). We take a deep dive into her career from her early beginnings as a budding swimmer to now being bestowed with a Datukship & continuing her diving career as a coach as part of the national setup. We discover what makes her tick & how her 27-year career inspired many girls and boys alike. 

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Whatever foreign talents can do, Malaysians can do too. If not, even better. That's the sentiment of Dato' Sri Vijay Eswaran, the owner of a rebirthed Petaling Jaya City Football Club with their #YaKiniLokal campaign - where ahead of the upcoming Super League, PJCFC made it a point to employ a 100% local footballers & coaching staff. The only team in the top-tier of the Malaysian league without foreign players - DSVE joins us on the program as he shares his vision and mission to bring back the glory days of local football. 

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Towerrunner Soh Wai Ching had an excellent 2021 winning the 2021 Empire State Building race, a feat that made him the second best towerrunner in the world. At that race, he scaled the 86-story mega New York structure - which is over a 1500 steps - in exactly 10 minutes 46 seconds. With a mission of bringing this niche sport to the masses, the co-founder of the Towerruning Association of Malaysia joins us on the program.

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For days, there was nationwide attention on the status of badminton ace Lee Zii Jia & former world junior's champion Goh Jin Wei as they were served with a 2 year ban from BWF sanctioned tournaments after leaving the national training set-up. However, after a fruitful meeting with BAM president, Tan Sri Dato' Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria early Tuesday evening - a deal was struck to lift the sanctions putting an end to an unwanted saga, which came before the start of a hectic badminton season. Is this drama a one-time thing or does it reveal an underlying issue with sports associations?

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Although 2022's national budget is the biggest to-date, funding for sports was significantly reduced by 70%. As a result, at the turn of the new year, the National Sports Council announced that they will be dropping 144 full-time athletes from their training program. With that number representing almost half of the roster, some big names were under the NSC's cross-hairs. Former world number 5 Low Wee Wern was one of those cut after 14 years with the national team, and the 31 year old joins us as we dig deeper into the manner she was dismissed & look forward to her future as an independent athlete.

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To open up 2022, this week on the program, we recap the biggest sporting-stories of the year that was. From local-sports legends retiring to the uncertainty over Tokyo 2020, we present snippets from our archives last year.

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