PUTRAJAYA, May 17 — Two of the country’s premier sporting figures, Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Datuk Nicol Ann David, have for the first time, not been shortlisted for the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards.
Ministry of Youth and Sports secretary-general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali said candidates were shortlisted for awards based on their performances in 2015.
“The selection of candidates for Sportsman and Sportswoman is challenging, as each of the candidates have proven their success over the past year, and their selection is based on the quality displayed by the athletes,” he said after chairing the Selection Committee meeting of the National Sports Awards 2015 at Menara KBS here, today.
According to him, the committee received 18 nominations for the sportsman category and 17 for sportswoman, of which only the six best candidates were shortlisted for each category.
The candidates shortlisted for Sportsman of the Year are Ooi Tze Liang (diving), Mohd Al-Jufferi Jamari (silat), Muhammad Rafiq Ismail (bowling), Thor Chuan Leong (snooker/billiards), Loh Jack Chang (wushu) and Mohd Harrif Saleh (cycling).
While candidates for Sportswoman are Pandelela Rinong Pamg (diving), Nur Izzati Yaakob (basketball), Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh (archery), Siti Rahmah Mohamed Nasir (silat), Nur Syazrin Muhamad Latif (sailing) and Chan Lu Yi (wushu).
The winners of the Sportsman and Sportswoman of 2015 would each receive a cash prize of RM20,000, a trophy and a certificate, and for the first time, Malaysia Airlines would be sponsoring roundtrip business class tickets to overseas destinations.
Besides the Sportsman and Sportswoman awards, eight other awards comprise the best men’s and women’s national teams, the Paralympic Sportsman and Sportswoman, best male and female national coach, the Sports Icon Award and Sports Leadership Award.
The 50th edition of the prestigious annual national sports award is scheduled to take place on May 25, at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
The selection committee for the awards consist of representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Sports Council, the Olympic Council of Malaysia, Sportswriters Association of Malaysia, as well as media personnel. — Bernama
