Twentytwo13

Search
Close this search box.

Big first step for Road to Tokyo athletes

Dear Diary,

It was not a great day as I woke up with a massive headache – sadly, not from a hangover.

Did some work, popped some pills and went back to sleep before being awakened by a hungry cat.

It was hard doing work but the spirit was lifted when Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced 265 people, including 57 athletes, involved in the Road to Tokyo 2020 programme can begin training on June 1.

The training sessions are at Bukit Jalil Sports Complex (181 people), Academy Badminton Malaysia, Bukit Kiara (56) and National Sailing Training Centre in Langkawi (28).

The centralised camps will be from June 1 to 30, and Covid-19 screening will be conducted during registration.

Here’s how Day 63 of the Movement Control Order (MCO) unfolded.

7.50am: WORST IN THE WORLD – The US surpasses 90,000 deaths from 1.5 million confirmed cases, according to a running tally from Johns Hopkins University, which registered 10,000 deaths in just one week. Meanwhile, Brazil is now third-worst in the world at 254,000 cases with Russia above it at 291,000.

8.10am: NOT THE SAME – Empty stands and stadiums as sporting leagues resume play.

10.29am: MOODY CAT – My cat has been ‘merajuk-king’ for the past one week as I scolded her for sneaking out to the edge of the window ledge. She even stopped sleeping with us. Today, she snuggled up to me as I was sleeping. Probably because she wanted food!

11.22am: INTERESTING – After enjoying Daulat, will take a chance and watch this.

12.03pm: RACE ON – A cast of top drivers will race in a virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans in June but the postponed real-life version must also happen this year, says World Endurance Championship boss Gerard Neveu.

Meanwhile, two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso, who quit in 2018, is open to a return. Renault is a likely destination.

1pm: COVID-19 RAYA COOKIES

2pm: WE’RE WATCHING YOU – Ismail Sabri says the police and army will carry out patrols in residential areas during the upcoming festivals to ensure compliance of SOPs for visits. He squashes rumours that inter-district travel is not allowed and adds people can visit cemeteries but must take proper precautions.

3.55pm: TAN-TRUMP – President Donald Trump threatens to pull the US out of the World Health Organisation, accusing it of botching the global Covid-19 response and of being a “puppet of China.”

4.32pm: 37 NEW CASES – For the second day running, new cases outnumber those discharged. The 37 new cases bring the total to 6,978. The number of patients cured is 5,646 after 31 more were given the all-clear. There was one death which takes the tally to 114.

5.30pm: FOR HOCKEY FANS

6.30pm: BUGLER’S DREAM – Here’s the Olympic anthem dedicated to our national athletes.