Nazreen, Siew Hui Named Sportsboy, Sportsgirl for 2013

BY MERVIN MENON

Mohd Nazreen Abdullah and Yap Siew Hui with their MOE-MSSM-Milo Sports Awards.

PUTRAJAYA: It was a day to remember for aquatics when diver Mohd Nazreen Abdullah and swimmer Yap Siew Hui were named the National Sportsboy and Sportsgirl respectively at the Education Ministry (MOE)-Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM)-Milo Sports Awards 2013.

The duo received their awards from Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at a leading hotel here on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old Nazreen was rewarded for his outstanding performances in local and overseas competitions, including bagging two gold medals in the 10m synchronised diving and 10m platform at the fifth Asian Diving Cup in Singapore. He also took part in the second Asian Youth Games in Nanjing and the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney.

Nazreen was delighted with the award and hopes to continue to excel in the sport.

Siew Hui, also 16, won four gold medals last year – two each in the 50m and 100m butterfly events at the third Islamic World Solidarity Games in Palembang, Indonesia, and the 37th SEA Age Group Swimming Championships in Brunei. She was also a member of the bronze-medal winning team in the 4x100m medley relay event in the Myanmar SEA Games.

“I’m very happy and excited to have received this award ... actually, it was totally unexpected,” said Siew Hui.

“Next week, there is the MSSM competition. As for international events, there are the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games this year. I need to push myself harder in training so that I can qualify for these two major events.”

Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, was full of praise for the winners.

“I would like to congratulate each and every one of the award winners for their stellar performances in 2013,” he said.

“I am sure that the nation is looking forward to seeing them representing us on a grander stage one day. I hope that the efforts from Milo and MSSM will inspire our youths to go further in their sports careers as well as in their lives.”

Roll of Honour

NATIONAL AWARD

Sportsboy: Mohd Nazreen Abdullah (diving)

Sportsgirl: Yap Siew Hui (swimming)

MOST PROMISING AWARD

Boy: Mohd Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif (squash)

Girl: Amisha Sofia Azli (rhythmic gymnastics)

SPECIAL AWARD

Boy: Nur Muhammad Izham Mazwi (shooting)

Girl: Phoon Eyin (wushu)

SPECIAL EDUCATION AWARD

Boy: Mohd Solehuddin Azizan (Paragames track and field)

Girl: Nurul Nadia Latif (Paragames track and field)

SPORTS LEADERSHIP AWARD

Tan Sri Abdul Ghafar Mahmud

DEDICATED TEACHER AWARD

The late Na’aman Mohd Shah (track and field)

Chee Shin Lian (table tennis)

Pandalela Continues To Make Waves

Pandelela Rinong

IT HAS been an exciting journey for Pandelela Rinong. Having represented the country at last year’s Beijing Olympics to making a splash at the Fina Open Diving GP and the World Championship in Italy, the Sarawakian lass has been tipped to bag a podium finish in the 2012 London Olympics.

Pandelela joined forces with seasoned diver Leong Mun Yee in the 10m synchronised diving platform in Rome and won bronze – the nation’s first-ever medal at the world meet.

A Bukit Jalil Sports School student, it was only natural for Pandelela to be awarded the Sportsgirl of the Year during the MSSM-Milo awards held recently. Having represented Malaysia since 2003, Pandelela’s achievements include silver and bronze medals at the Australia Youth Olympics in January and was awarded the Pimegan Bidayuh 2009 by the National Dayak Bidayuh Association.

Despite the string of achievements at regional and international levels, Pandelela, 16, has not taken her preparation to the year-end Laos Sea Games lightly. She believes “every competition is a learning experience” and there is “no competition less important than the next”, assuring the national contingent a gold medal.

Joining Pandelela to the Sea Games is swimmer Foo Jian Beng who was named the Best Sportsboy while another diver, Nur Dhabitah Sabri, was handed the Tunas Harapan award.

Even dedicated teachers were given recognition as Matthew Chin Hiong Choi and Rozitah Hassan were the recipients of the Dutiful Teacher Awards for their contributions in athletics and netball respectively.

MSSM-Milo Roll of Honour
Sportsboy Award: Foo Jian Beng (swimming)
Sportsgirl Award: Pandelela Rinong (diving)
Tunas Harapan Awards: Yeoh Li Tian (chess), Nur Dhabitah Sabri (diving)
Special Awards: Anas Danial Noradzman (equestrian), Tai Cheau Xuen (wushu)
Special Education Awards: Syafiq Zulfayri Harni (athletics), Zainah Ashari (athletics)
Dutiful Teacher Awards: Matthew Chin Hoing Choi (athletics), Rozitah Hassan (netball)
Leadership Award: Chua Hong Tian.

Ahmad Amsyar, Sau Wah Are The Best

DIVER Ahmad Amsyar Azman and gymnast Chan Sau Wah bagged the 2007 Education Ministry-MSSM-Milo Best Sportsboy and Best Sportsgirl awards respectively in Putrajaya yesterday.

Ahmad Amsyar became only the second male diver after Bryan Nickson Lomas (2004) to win the Best Sportsboy honour since the inception of the awards in 1969.

The 16-year-old from Kangar, Perlis won gold in the 1m springboard and silver in the 3m springboard at the Asian Age Group Championships in Jakarta last year for his biggest achievement to date.

"I am very proud and honoured to have won this award which would not have been possible without the support of my parents Azman Hassan and Rozita Ibrahim and my coach Lan Wei (of China)," said the Bukit Jalil Sports School student.

Ahmad Amsyar, who won a trophy, medal and RM5,000, leaves for Kunming, China next week as preparation for the World Junior Diving Championships in Aachen, Germany on Sept 16-21.

Sau Wah, 17, who won gold in the uneven bars at the Korat Sea Games last December, hopes to use the award as motivation for the Asean Schools Gymnastics Championships on Oct 12-19 in Kuala Lumpur.

"I'm surprised to have won this award as it is my first of this kind. But I hope to use this to inspire to win my pet events - the uneven bars and balance beam at the Asean Schools Championships," said Selangor-born Sau Wah, who also took home a trophy, medal and RM5,000.

Beijing Olympic-bound swimmer Daniel Bego was honoured with the Gold award for exceptional athletic and academic performances, which came with a trophy, medal and RM3,000.

AWARDS - Best Sportsboy: Ahmad Amsyar Azman (diving); Best Sportsgirl: Chan Sau Wah (gymnastics)

Promising Talent (boy): Adam Aidil Iskandar Rosli (football); Promising Talent (girl): Erika Kong (swimming); Special award (non- Olympic sports - boy): Muhammad Fikri Abdul Razak (silat); Special award (non-Olympic sport-girl): Pang Tung Yee (wushu); Special award (disabled-boy): Mohamed Nasrullah Ramdhan (athletics); Special Award (disabled-girl): Nur Zubaina Zubir (athletics); Teacher's award (men): Mokhtar Baharudin Abdullah (hockey); Teacher's award (women): Nurul Hidayah Seah Abdullah (hockey); Leadership award: Ahmad Marican Othman; Gold award: Daniel Bego (swimming).

Diver Nickson The Early Favourite For MSSM Sports Award

PETALING JAYA: Diver Bryan Nickson Lomas is set to be the runaway winner of the Best Sportsboy award but it will be an open race in the girls' category of the 2004 national schools (MSSM)-Milo awards, which will be presented in Seremban today.

Besides dominating the MSSM competition last year, the 15-year-old Sarawakian also became the first Malaysian world junior champion in diving.

He also did Malaysia proud, coming within a whisker of qualifying for the 18-man semi-finals of the Athens Olympics 10m platform competition.

Two other nominees for the boys' award are doubles shuttler Tan Boon Heong of Selangor and shot putter Adi Alimuddin Hussin of Terengganu

The 18-year-old Boon Heong partnered Hoon Thien How to emerge as the world junior doubles champion in Vancouver last year.

The 17-year-old Adi, who has been the MSSM champion since 2002, was a gold medallist at the Asean Schools Championships in Singapore.

There are also three nominees for the girls' award – squash player Low Wee Wern, golfer Chua Tze Jean and rhythmic gymnast Wan Siti Haniza Wan Izhar.

Penangite Wee Wern did well last year to finish as the runner-up in the Scottish Open junior competition.

Selangor's Tze Jean was the Asean schools champion. She was also the winner in the SportExcel National Junior Circuit Grand Finals and the Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC) ladies amateur championship.

Kuala Lumpur's Siti Haniza swept all six gold medals at stake in the MSSM meet last year.

Besides the main awards for boys and girls, the winners of other awards – most promising boy and girl, special education, special award and best teacher – will also be named today.