World champions dominate awards

PETALING JAYA: World champions dominate the list of candidates to wrest the Best Athlete Award at the 2018 Malaysian Sports Writers Association (SAM)-100Plus Awards ceremony.

The candidates for the category were track cycling champion Mohd Azizulhasni Awang; the combination of diving queen Pandelela Rinong Pamg and Cheong Jun Hoong; Muhd Rafiq Ismain (tenpin bowling); Amy Kwan Dict Weng (Gymrama) and Mohamad Hazim Amzad (Silat).

Meanwhile, the candidates for SAM’s Best Paralympic Athlete comprised Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli, Abdul Latif Romly and Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi from athletics and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin from powerlifting.

The ceremony, which is scheduled on April 10, is also consented to by the Yang diPertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin AlMustafa Billah Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah Almarhum Sultan Iskandar who would grace the occasion.

Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman would also be present at the event which would be held in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of SAM, which was set up on Feb 21, 1969.

‘’In conjunction with the 50th anniversary celebration, SAM will confer a Lifetime Achievement Award to the royal patron of SAM, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah over his contributions to the national sports arena especially football,’’ SAM president Jasni Shafie told a media conference on the event yesterday.

According to Jasni, other than recognising athletes who had recorded excellent achievements throughout 2018, the event would also give special recognition to sport media activists in the country.

For the Sport Journalism Awards, divided into six categories, sport media activists had the opportunity to win a cash price of RM50,000.

Meanwhile, award committee chairman, Ismadi Abdul Manaif said the organiser had received 200 participations for all the categories contested.