Honouring achievements in sports
HELP University’s (HELP) sports achievers continue to win accolades at international, national and university levels, the most recent being this year’s Commonwealth Games and the 5th Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships.
HELP also emerged victorious in University Basketball League 2018 in the women’s and men’s categories, with Gashvinder Singh and Fang Bi Yi declared most valuable players.
At HELP’s Achievers’ Awards ceremony, the university’s co-founder, vice-chancellor and president Prof Datuk Dr Paul Chan said that excelling in sports was one way of developing wellrounded, goal-oriented students who have leadership skills and discipline.
According to HELP Education Group’s chief executive officer Datin Chan-Low Kam Yoke, nurturing sports achievers is the university’s contribution towards nation-building.
She believes that sports achievers must be equipped with the appropriate educational qualifications so that they may continue to find employment after their active sports careers. Thus, the CEO Sports Scholarship Award was introduced.
One of the earliest recipients of the award was Soo Beng Kiang, a top Malaysian shuttler and worldranked badminton player who studied at HELP in 1998.
Athletes who have completed their studies at HELP while actively competing are international badminton player Lydia Cheah, national hockey player Joel van Huizen, national tennis player Kevin Loke, national taekwondo representatives Liew Shwu-Jenn and Liew Shwu-Lynn, national table tennis player Chu Soo Jiin, and national bowling representative Sheena Ayesha Dina Rizal.
The CEO Sports Scholarship Award entitles national athletes to a 50% bursary while state athletes qualify for a 30% bursary.
This has propelled HELP to the top of the ladder as a sports university and contributed to it becoming an 11-time winner in the Malaysian Association of Private Colleges and Universities Championships, an achievement that HELP’s Department of Student Activities (DSA) director Anthony Silvarajoo is proud of.
“From the beginning, DSA has been encouraging sports by hosting events such as the annual HELP Sports Carnival where 19 types of sports are made available for students to compete in, including athletics, football, netball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis and bowling.
“We also have the Sports Award Day during which athletes who represent HELP at national and state levels are honoured,” he says.
National badminton player Soniia Cheah, who is completing her A-Levels on a full scholarship, chose to study at HELP because of its tolerance towards her strenuous international-level training schedule.
Sara Yap, mixed-pair event silver medallist at the 5th Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships and gold medallist at last year’s SEA Games, has ambitions of completing her psychology degree soon and attends classes when her training schedule permits.
“I am happy to have received a cash incentive for my achievements. It is nice to have been recognised as it is tough juggling between my training schedule and classes,” she says.
Prof Datuk Dr Zakaria Ahmad, vice-president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia and HELP’s DSA, was a national gymnast.
He is the president of the Malaysian Gymnastic Federation, and feels that sports is a vital component of any good university as it builds teamwork and character in students.
Kannan Subramanian, fitness coach, former national runner and member of the DSA, provides support to HELP athletes by arranging transport schedules for their training sessions and fitness programmes.
“This year, HELP made history at the Institutions of Higher Learning Games where it placed ninth out of 84 private and public institutions, with seven gold, two silver and six bronze medals.
“That was the pinnacle of many years of practice and hard work we put into improving our rankings over the years,” he says.
Kannan hopes that HELP continues to be recognised as a sports university and attract Malaysia’s best talents.
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