Chelsea denied Liverpool the glory of another sensational European comeback to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League with a 7-5 aggregate win. Liverpool, trailing 3-1 from the first leg at Anfield, stunned the Blues with two first-half goals from Fabio Aurelio and Xabi Alonso, who scored a penalty. Chelsea's defensive frailties, exposed so clinically by Bolton in the Premier League at the weekend, looked like costing them a place in the last four as Liverpool, without their talismanic midfielder Steven Gerrard, threatened to pull off another miracle. But the Blues looked home and dry after producing a sensational comeback of their own...

Former international Dollah Salleh is tipped to become the new national football coach. It is learnt that Dollah, who is now with Premier League side Shahzan Muda, has received an offer to take the hot seat vacated by B. Sathianathan, whose services was terminated last month. Former Sarawak coach Jalil Ramli and former Police coach K. Thaiyanathan have also been linked to become the assistant coaches. Newly-appointed national team manager Datuk Gulzar Mohd Nor indicated last month that he preferred local coaches to take the jobs. Dollah turned to coaching in 2003 and he got off to a great start, leading Petaling Jaya Municipal...

Back to playing golf, now Tiger Woods is back to winning tournaments. With those familiar back-nine runs, Woods made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his first victory since returning from knee surgery. Woods closed with a 67 for a one-shot victory over Sean O'Hair, who led Woods by five shots going into the final round, and matched his largest comeback ever on the PGA Tour. It was Woods' third tournament since returning from an eight-month layoff. "It feels good to be back in contention, to feel the rush," Woods said. "It's been a...

It was a memorable day for world No. 1 men’s singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei and coach Misbun Sidek when they bagged the top prizes at the 2008 National Sports Award ceremony here yesterday. The 28-year-old Chong Wei was named as the best sportsman while Misbun lifted the best male coach award. Chong Wei, however, was not present at the award ceremony and his father, Lee Ah Chai, received the trophy and RM10,000 on his behalf from the King. Chong Wei is in Hyderabad for the Indian Open beginning tomorrow and he is aiming to win his first back-to-back title outside of Malaysia....

Jessica Cox inspires audiences around the world with her spunk and indomitable spirit. JESSICA Cox is a superwoman of sorts. She may not be saving victims from burning buildings, but she is a heroine in the hearts of many. Born without arms, Cox used to watch with envy as other kids swung about on the monkey bars in elementary school while she was limited to the swings. Frustrated, she would envision herself flying over the playground like Superwoman while everyone watched in disbelief. “I would imagine taking people up one at a time to experience my super powers. Years later, I realised that my imagination...

National doubles chief coach Rexy Mainaky wants more action and not mere talk from Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif after the duo’s disappointing outing in Europe. Rexy had rated them highly after the duo vowed to do well in Europe. But the world No. 4 went down tamely to Hwang Ji-man-Han Sang-hoon of South Korea in the quarter-finals of the All-England and suffered a shocking first round defeat to Shintaro Ikeda-Shuichi Sakamoto of Japan in the Swiss Open last week. With the back-to-back defeats and the decision to skip the India Open (March 24-29) and the Asian Badminton Championships in...

Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam's position on the FIFA executive committee could be in jeopardy after 19 AFC countries backed rival Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa. Bin Hammam's tenure on the committee comes to an end in two months' time, with Al Khalifa looking to replace the Qatari as one of the region's four representatives. More worryingly for Bin Hammam, the action will also be construed as a referendum on his six-and-a-half-year presidency of the AFC, with the rebel countries unhappy at the 59-year-old's proposal of a 12-year marketing deal with World Sport Group as well as moving...

World No. 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei avenged his All England defeat to archrival and World No. 2 Lin Dan of China last week by turning the tables on the Chinese player to win the Swiss Open Super Series final at the St Jakobshalle indoor arena in Basel, Switzerland, Sunday. Chong Wei who lost to Lin Dan 19-21, 12-21 in the All England final put up a sizzling show today to triumph 21-16, 21-16 in straight sets and inflict "Super Dan's" first defeat since the Beijing Olympics in August last year. Lin Dan who had looked invincible after having demolished Chong Wei...

THE state of Malaysian football got a kick in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday as the Youth and Sports Ministry wound up points raised during the debate on the Royal Address. The target of MPs ire was the Football Association of Malaysia which they said failed to check the declining standard of the sport. However, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wee Jeck Seng defended FAM, saying that it was planning a programme to revive the fortune of football. Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) chided the FAM for its failure and lamented that the national team could not even beat a country like...