Over 90 guests attended BruONZ Gala Dinner last Saturday night, which drew the BruONZ Summer Games to a close.

The night began with a recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah, before continuing with welcoming remarks from BruONZ President, Shazrinah Shazali.

Guest of honour, Madeline Chmura, the Second Secretary of the Australian High Commission to Brunei Darussalam, also spoke at the event, and acknowledged the positive relations between the two nations and the increasing numbers of Bruneian students based in Australia.

Students from New Zealand and Australia also performed musical and dance acts at the event in the build-up to the prize presentation and announcement of the overall winners of the BruONZ Summer Games.

Brisbane claimed gold in mixed and men’s doubles in Badminton, with Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand winning the women’s doubles, men’s singles and women’s singles categories respectively.

In the Games’ Futsal competition, Perth 1 claimed the gold medal, with Sydney B’s Mohd Syafiq Haji Kassim nominated as the tournament’s MVP with six goals in total. Elsewhere, Melbourne beat off stern competition to be awarded gold medal in the Basketball event, with Elwin Chong of Melbourne claiming the MVP award.

To round off the sports awards, New Zealand was awarded first place in Netball, with Dk Azzah Pg Metussin being nominated as the MVP, and were overall winners of the Games and claimed the BruONZ State Champion Cup Trophy 2012. Text by Jake Ten, images by Dean Kassim of Borneo Bulletin.

DPMM FC will not take this game lightly after coming off in a stalemate 0-0 against Chiangrai last Monday. Tonight DPMM FC will fire all cylinders and treat this match as a competitive one as they are preparing for S.League tournament starting February.

Yesterday a press conference was held to promote the charity match between DPMM FC and Chiangrai. The match will take place tonight at Hassanal National Stadium and it has been a while since we caught DPMM FC playing at the national stadium. Do expect a huge crowd tonight and the fans will be able to see DPMM FC’s new import players in action.

Captain Pg Sallehuddin and full-back Sairol won’t be featured as they are still recovering from their injuries. Shahrazen Said will pair up with import player Osman Bashiru up front with Brazilian Rodrigo Gral in attacking midfield. Rosmin (Bobby) will captain DPMM FC tonight.

Vjeran Simunic was very pleased with Monday’s performance and he said that the players are gaining their fitness. The confidence in the dressing room is very high as well. The Croatian said his players will put more effort tonight as he’s aware that the Thailand club failed to score last Monday. He also hopes for another friendly match with another regional club before the S.League season kicks off.

Chiang Rai United’s team coach, Alessandro Stefano Cugurra Rodrigues, believed that performance of their players are important and they hope to gain a good result out of their performance. He highlighted Osman and Shahrazen as the main threats. Chiang Rai will use this match as a preparation for their final game in Thailand on the 28th January. Did you know that Chiang Rai has 7 import players?

So guys, do show your support for DPMM FC tonight.. and let’s hope it doesn’t rain too as it’s raining right now at noon time.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE BRUNEI (AF Brunei) held an Opening Ceremony for Francophonie Week 2012 at the Empire Hotel and Country Club on the 16th of January 2012.

Present as the Guest of Honour of the ceremony was Mr Bernard Regembal, First Secretary of the French Embassy in Brunei Darussalam.

The ceremony commenced with the opening speech by Ms Aurelie Dutrey, Director of Alliance Francaise de Brunei which was then followed by the viewing of the exhibition to mark as the opening of Francophonie Week 2012.

This year Alliance Francaise de Brunei showcases the works of Yapp Poi Chee, Sayfuddin, Abby Lim, Faizal Hamdan, Syen Sofian, Doris Lee, Annatasha, Pcyh Hyun Su, Redzuan Rusli (Wan) and Sam Siren for their Francophonie Week Art Exhibition both in Empire Hotel and Country Club as well as Alliance Francaise de Brunei Main Office.

All artworks are based on the 10 words of Francophonie which are: Âme soul, autrement differently, caractère character/nature, chez at, confier entrust/confide, histoire history/story, naturel natural, penchant fondness/tendency, songe dream, andtransports transports.

Internationally, this event aims to celebrate the French language and culture, and create more awareness on the different regions of the Francophone organization. It also serves to create dialogue among these various regions that shared the French language and culture.

Alliance Française de Brunei utilizes Francophonie Week with the hope of providing a platform and support for local Brunei artists to exhibit their work to the public and to venture further into the artistic and cultural endeavors between Bruneians and Francophones alike.