Sarawak duo honoured at Sports Awards
KUCHING: Sarawak squash ace Harith Danial Jefri and wushu star Lee Hui Xian continued to do Sarawak proud when they bagged awards at annual Ministry of Education ( MOE) - MSSM- MILO Sports Awards on Thursday.
Harith who is a Form One student of SMK St Columba Miri won the Male Most Promising Athlete Award while Bukit Jalil Sports School student Lee Hui Xian from Kuching took the Female Special Award.
Top performing students, teachers and coaches in the Mal aysi an S chool Spor t s Council ( MSSM) competitions in the past year were feted at the 2018 edition of the annual event that was officiated by Datuk Dr Amin Senin, director- general of Education Malaysia.
Recognising excellence in 14 categories including the Gold Sportsperson Award and Dedicated Teacher Award, the Awards honours the achievements and contributions of Malaysia’s young athletes as well as individuals who motivate them.
It also acknowledges the power that sporting values play in driving high performance.
During the ceremony, Amin emphasised the importance of placing value- based learning at the core of sports education.
“Putting values at the heart of sports education is in line with the National Education Philosophy that seeks to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotional ly and physical ly balanced and harmonious.
“It nurtures positive human values such as teamwork, respect, effort, ambition and humility.
“This is what inspired us to recognise it as the theme of this year’s Awards presentation,” he said.
MSSM helps to discover the talents of more than 10,000 student athletes in 24 competitive sports each year, many of whom would go on to make Malaysia proud at regional and international competitions.
Many national athletes began their sports careers through MSSM competitions, including Datuk Nicol David ( squash), Welson Sim ( swimming) and Farah Ann Abdul Hadi (artistic gymnastics) as well as Malaysia’s first female Olympic medallist Pandelela Rinong (diving).
These world- class athletes are past recipients of the MOEMSSMMILO Sports Awards themselves.
For over 40 years, MILO has played a pivotal role as a partner to MOE and MSSM in bringing the MOE-MSSM-MILO Sports Awards to life.
Amin added that programmes like these, including MILO’s efforts in championing grassroots sports development are integral to sustaining the national sports agenda and enhancing the quality of Malaysia’s sports education and achievements.
Meanwhile, Kumaran Nowuram, executive director of MILO and Milks Business Unit, Nestle Products Sdn Bhd said, “We are committed to delivering on our purpose of providing Malaysians the inspiration to grow with sports, and to that end, we have consolidated all our sports programmes including the partnership with MOE on MSSM and the 1Student 1Sport ( 1Murid 1Sukan) init iat ive under MILO ® Aktif Negaraku – a call to action for Malaysians to stay active and lead a healthy lifestyle.”