TIGERS UNITED

Ashleigh Barty  won her first  WTA Tour  singles title following a 6-3, 6-2 win over Japan's  Nao Hibino  in a rain-delayed  ALYA Malaysian Open  final at TPC Kuala Lumpur today. The World No 158 Australian is also the first qualifier since Taiwan's  Hsieh Su Wei  in 2012 to win in the tournament. Ashleigh took a 4-1 lead by breaking the 106 th ranked Nao's serve in the second game before play was suspended for about two hours before the match resumed. The 21-year- old returned to court and closed the set in 39 minutes. In the second set, Ashleigh's powerful service game, precision and power was too much for the 23-year- old Nao, as the champion broke in the third and seventh game to seal the title. Nao looked tired following gruelling matches in the previous rounds and could not respond to Ashleigh's consistency on court. The Japanese star tried to catch Ashleigh on the lines but often made mistakes. Ashleigh is also the second Australian to win the title after  Je

MRL PREMIER: SERDANG ANGELS 35 - MERSING EAGLES 33 Mersing Eagles continued their fine run in the Malaysia Rugby League Premier Division with a slim victory over Serdang Angels . The Eagles have shown their consistency by winning four group matches which see them topped Group A. Mersing Eagles were quick to settle down on the Angels' ground by making three tries and three conversions in the first half. Jone Vucukula , Farid Sujari , Apolosi Tuiluma Tanda and Wan Mohamad Asyraf contributed 21 points while Serdang Angels could only pick 5 points from Mohd Nurazman Ramli 's try. Mersing Eagles stretched the lead to 28-5 with a try by Mohd Zaiheri and conversion by Wan Mohamad Asyraf. But, Angels were back into the game with three consecutive tries and conversions which reduced the gap to 28-26. Muhamad Amirul Azamudin put Eagles closer to another win with his try in the 69th minute. Serdang Angels made a late attempt for a comeback with a try by Mohamad Aliff Al-Hafiz Abd Ka

Philippines lifted the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy 2017 after beating Thailand 41-7 in the Cup final at the Aspire Warm Up Track and Rugby Stadium in Doha. Daniel Matthews led his side to take a 29-0 lead at halftime before clinching the one-sided victory. The win will also give the Volcanoes an automatic promotion to the Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2017. Coached by former All Blacks, Frano Botica , the 4th seeded Philippines looked solid throughout the tournament. They beat top seed Singapore in the semifinal, while Thailand edged UAE 21-19 to reach the final. UAE claimed the third place after hammering Singapore 43-14 in the 3rd/4th place match. Home team, Qatar defeated Iran for fifth place finishing. Photo: Philippines Rugby facebook.com/thematch.my

MRL PREMIER: KERIS CONLAY 22 - UITM LIONS 18 Keris Conlay confirmed their top of the group finish with 22-18 win over UiTM Lions at Bellamy Rugby Field. The win is their fifth from five matches played in the Malaysia Rugby League Premier Division. UiTM Lions started well with great determination to produce an upset. Ravieli Tusega gave them the lead with a try just after five minutes and Muhammad Al-Hafiz Effendi Abd Ranie made it 7-0 with the conversion. Etonia Vaqa Saukuru replied for Keris Conlay with a try three minutes later. However, it was the Lions' first half as they got another try from Syamim Ahmad Safawi to take a good first half 12-5 lead. Keris Conlay made a few changes after the break and took control of the second half. Three tries by Mohd Firdaus Abd Manan , Etonia, and a conversion by Mohd Fairuz Ab Rahman turned over the score into Keris Conlay's favour. UiTM Lions could only score two penalties through Mohamad Sofian Mohd Kamil in the last forty min

MRL PREMIER: SSTMI TSUNAMI 80 - PANTHERS BLOWPIPES 5 SSTMI Tsunami did not have any problem to send Panthers Blowpipes deep to the bottom of MRL Premier Division Group B. The southern club hammered the Panthers 80-5 on Saturday at the TUDM Bellamy Rugby Field. SSTMI took control from the start and lead 40-0 after the first forty minutes. Six tries produced by Amirul Amizan Mukminin , Muhammad Safiy Md Said , Sufi Hafizuddin Hadwan Abd Halim , Nazrin Aiman Abd Malik and Amirul Aiman Ihsan Abbas in the first half gave SSTMI the huge advantage. SSTMI did not look like slowing down after the break even though Panthers Blowpipes got their only try of the day through Nurasmadi Mohd Rifa'at three minutes after match resumed. Muhammad Aziem Badaruddin , Muhammad Khalil Azman , Mohd Faris Abdillah , Mohd Saizul Hafiz Md Noor and Irfan Nazhan Badrul Hisham got their names into the score sheet and lifted SSTMI Tsunami as favourite again to reach the quarter finals. Sufi Hafizuddin wa

It turned out to be a fruitful day for Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty in the ALYA WTA Malaysian Open at TPC Kuala Lumpur. The 21-year- old not only made her first tour singles semi-finals but also qualified for the doubles final with teammate Casey Dellacqua today. World No 158 Ashleigh upset 131th-ranked Zhang Kai Lin of China 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) in the first singles quarter-final match of the day. The Ipswich-born, was flawless and recorded three breaks for a first set bagel win. Both players broke each other once in the second set with Ashleigh winning 7-2 in the tie-break to make the last four. She returned to court 90 minutes later to team up Casey in the doubles semi-finals. The pair recorded an effortless 6-3, 6-2 win over Belgian and Turkish pairing of Elise Mertens and Ipek Soylu to make their first tour final since Birmingham in 2014. Ashleigh and Casey were runners-up at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2013. https://www.facebook.com/thematch.my

LIGA SUPER: SELANGOR 1 - KEDAH 1 Selangor came from a goal behind to draw 1-1 with Kedah at Selayang Stadium.  Selangor, who without injured striker, Forkey Doe has ruined Kedah's hope from regaining the top spot of standings.  After  Julian Mineiro of Selangor had equalized to snatch a point in the stoppage time. Despite, having more dominant throughout the match, Kedah however failed to break into Selangor's defenses.  They only managed to score in the 80th minute with superb free-kick taken by the Brazalian midfielder, Sandro da Silva .  With remaining ten minutes to play, Kedah looked set to snatch three points from the home team.  However, it was shattered by Selangor's equalizer.  When, Julian Mineiro reacted to turning the rebound into goal after teammate Victoras Astafei 's penalty was parried by Kedah goalkeeper, Muhd Ifwat Akmal .  The draw leaves Kedah in second spot behind leaders Pahang.  While, Selangor moved up a spot to third. ww