SIBU: Recipients of this year’s Hii King Leng Top Sports Stars award (HKL-TSS) will be attending the presentation ceremony held at the KTS Conference Room at Chinese Chamber of Commerce here at 11am on Sept 20.
Hii displaying the gold-plated commemorative medal to be presented on Sept 20.
Each will receive a gold-plated commemorative medal and prize money of RM600 for two years.
The 17 athletes are Queenie Ting Kung Ni and Grace Wong Xiu Mei from SMK Tinggi Sarikei, Cindy Sui Yea Zhen from SMK Methodist, Sibu, Shirley Lau Kho Ee from Sibu SMK Bandar Sibu, Ngu Jiung Jing and Nee Gui Ping from SMK Chung Hua Sibu, Quek Lee Yong and Norris Foo from SMK Tabuan Jaya Sport School, Lucas Chieng Tiew Lik from SMK Sacred Heart, Winston Sai, Lau Jik Sing, Wong Jing Huei, Wong Kuang Won, Eric Tiong, Yii Tiu Hu, Wong Xiao Jing and Jenny La from SMK Tong Hua, Meradong
Award initiator Dr Gregory Hii disclosed that letters to the recipients were already distributed to their respective schools.
“Hopefully, all the recipients will make an effort to attend the award presentation ceremony, which will be followed by buffet lunch at 12 noon,” he said.
All recipients, except for Norris and Quek, are from the central region.
Those unable to turn up for the ceremony could send a representative.
Sports leader Ting Siew Nguong from Sibu, who was picked as the winner of the HKL Sports Volunteer Extraordinaire, is also expected to receive his award on the same day.
He will receive the medal and the cash prize of RM1,500.
Both funds were aimed at giving recognition to outstanding personalities and athletes who have contributed substantially to the development of sports in Sarawak.
Hii was happy to note the increasing number of successful recipients for the third edition of the HKL-TSS award.
When HKL-TSS was launched in 2012, only seven out of 10 entries were picked as winners.
“This time round, we received more than 20 entries and, unfortunately, seven of them failed to meet the criteria on their academic performance which required a candidate to pass all subjects with at least 50 per cent of subjects scoring grade B or above,” he said.
Effective next year, the committee has decided to lower the minimal requirements for academic achievement whereby an athlete is required to achieve five credit passes for SPM examinations.
However, those who are assessed internally (such as those in Form I and Form 2) need to achieve credit passes in all the subjects.
For Ting, Hii said the award certainly came at the time when aggressive efforts were being made to improve the standard of the sports in the state.
“Sarawak will host the Sukma 2016 and, hopefully, through the efforts from our sports leaders, they will be able to guide
Sarawak athletes to march forward and help Sarawak grab the overall title.”
Ting has been the Sarawak State Schools Athletic Technical Committee chairman since 1997 and has led the state contingent to victory in the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Track and Field Championships for a record 15 times.
Since his appointment, Sarawak had unbelievable won the MSSM Track and Field Championship overall titles from 1997 to 1999, from 2002 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2014.
He is also honorary secretary of Sibu Amateur Athletics Association and Sibu Basketball Association.
Ting is also the first Sarawak athletic coach to bring four athletes to represent Malaysia at the Asian Schools Cross Country Championship in Ulan Bator, Mongolia in 2012.
The team emerged third in the girl’s category.
In 1998, Ting was awarded the Kebesaran Negri Bintang Sarawak (BBS) by the state government.