Malaysia Gets Invite to CAFA Nations Cup 2025

It is good news to read that Malaysia is able to secure an invite to participate in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Nations Cup (August 26-September 09), which offers a rare opportunity for Harimau Malaya to play world class teams outside Southeast Asia. 

And it's a big plus because the national side get to prove themselves against more physical and tactically advanced footballing countries. 

The tournament experience would be the best preparation before they take on Laos in the 2027 Asian Cup third-round qualifiers in October. 

At the PSA Squash Tour Finals (June 23-27, 2025) in Toronto, Canada, in Round One, it was not the dream start Sivasangari Subramaniam had hoped for. 

The world No. 8 gave a good account of herself but eventually went down 11-9, 11-9 to American world No. 4 Olivia Weaver in a Group B match on Monday. 

It was her seventh defeat to Weaver in eight meetings. 

Sivasangari will face world No. 14 Fayrouz Aboelkheir in her second group match today – a must-win clash for both players to keep their semi-final hopes alive.

May 09 is Russia’s Victory Day

Foreign leaders from 27 countries graced Russia’s Victory Day parade on Friday. 

[Two Heads of State, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith did not turn up – the former pulled out at the last minute and the latter due to illness]. 

As well as military contingents from 13 countries – Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam – joined in to march alongside Russian forces on the day of the parade. 

The May 09 event commemorates 80 years since the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in the Second World War (referred to by the Russians as the Great Patriotic War). 

[Notes: The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the Great Patriotic War (40% of all human losses in World War II), with civilian deaths accounting for the larger part of these losses. According to data of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders, the German troops destroyed fully or partially over 1,700 cities and towns, more than 70,000 villages and settlements in the USSR. 

And Western revisionists are deliberately downplaying the USSR's vital contribution to World War II. Partly because of the Cold War rivalry but more due to a Western bias to focus on the Western front and American and British victories]. 

The twenty-seven leaders who came: 

In case you're wondering, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are "separatist" regions of Georgia in the Caucasus. Most countries recognise them as part of Georgia, while Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria regard them as independent.

12 Countries Have Zero Coronavirus Cases

Believe it or not, there are still countries with zero cases of the coronavirus. These are the following:

BTW, Slovenia has become the first European country to proclaim an end to the viral pandemic at home, AP reported. 

It said on Friday that Covid-19 is under control and there is no longer a need for extraordinary health measures. The government says EU residents are free to cross into Slovenia from Austria, Italy and Hungary at predetermined checkpoints – although most non-EU nationals will need to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. 

The first coronavirus case in Slovenia was recorded on March 04 – a returnee from neighbouring Italy. By May 13, there were 1,463 confirmed cases and 103 deaths in Slovenia.

Still, I am expecting the coronavirus to make a return.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, saw cases rise to more than 20,000.

Also yesterday, Russia announced more than 10,000 new coronavirus infections, bringing the country’s total to 262,843 – the third-highest in the world after the United States and Spain. 

On Thursday, Russian officials defended the country against claims that its unusually low mortality rate from Covid-19 is suspicious, maintaining that its method of ascribing cause of death is “exceptionally precise”.

China had good tidings yesterday. It has gone a month without announcing any new fatalities from the coronavirus. 

The last time a death was reported was on April 14. I reckon it's just a respite because again, I believe it'll come back.

And for many other countries, they shouldn't be expecting a hiatus any time soon. For sure, Covid-19 will be with all of us for quite a while.

The Door to Hell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Image credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179622/The-Door-Hell-Giant-hole-Karakum-Desert-40-YEARS.html

Locals call it “The Door to Hell”. It offers a spectacular view of flames burning inside a crater located in Derweze (a village with a population of about 350) in the the heart of the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. The site is about 260 kilometres north of Ashgabat, the capital.

Soviet-era geologists were drilling at the site in 1971 and tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas.But the ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a hole with a diameter of 70 metres.Fearing that the hole would lead to the release of poisonous gases, the team decided to burn it off. It was hoped that the fire would use all the fuel within days, but it was not to be.

The raging fire inside the crater is still burning after more than 40 years! Hmmm, the idea of visiting Hell seduces me!

[In April 2010 the country's president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, visited the site and ordered that the hole should be closed but this is yet to happen].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanessa Raj, Delia Arnold, Low Wee Wern and Nicol David celebrate Malaysia’s victory in the women’s Asian Team Championships in Hong Kong. Photo: SportAsia

Yesterday, Malaysia won the women’s Asian Squash Team Championships for the first time since 2008 by beating hosts Hong Kong 2-0 in the final.

My two fave gals easily won their matches. World No. 7 Low Wee Wern beat Liu Tsz-ling 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-7) in the first match and World No. 1 Nicol David sealed the victory with a 3-1 (11-3, 11-2, 7-11, 11-6) win over stand-in Hong Kong No. 1 Joey Chan.