Aslina Chua celebrates winning the women’s singles gold medal in 18th Sukma in Kuching last year.
KUCHING: Another Sarawakian has done the state and country proud by excelling in both sports and academic studies in the Michigan State University (MSU) in the United States.
Reigning Sukma women singles champion Aslina Chua An Ping, who is in the US on a tennis scholarship, was named the winner of the US national Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship for the 2016-17 season by Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on May 25.
Prior to this, she had also won the Midwest Region Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award on May 15 together with MSU junior coach Tyler Faulkner who won the Assistant Coach of the Year Award.
Aslina and other nominees were judged based on sportsmanship, athleticism, academic and extra curricular performance, integrity and persistence through hard times.
“As much as it is an honour to win the award, I credit my team who is my family and my coaches, who have shown me nothing but understanding and encouragement.
“They helped me be the best version of myself,” said Aslina who trained under head coach Kim Bruno and Tyler.
Aslina is a volunteer with organisations such as Ross Initiative for Sports in Equality (RISE), the Todd Martin Youth Leadership Programme.
After being honoured on the Dean’s List four times, she was also a 2017 Academic Excellence Gala honoree. Her singles record for 2017-17 season was 17-15, with a notable victory against US national women No. 24 player Martina Frantova.
As a junior, Aslina took the number one spot in the line-up and helped MSU team reach 17 wins, which is just below the school record of 18 wins.
“This is not only a great honour for Sarawak but also for Malaysia as whole. Aslina bagging the award is a testimony for any sportsperson in particular tennis that SLTA has helped our tennis players to obtain tennis scholarships to studies overseas and in the process help them to develop into a better person both academically and in character-building as well into a better tennis player,” said Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) president Dato Patrick Liew.
“She is a good role model for the younger players and I believe her success will motivate them to do well in tennis and follow her footsteps. I hope the parents will encourage their children to take up tennis as a sport at an early age,” he added.
According to him, SLTA has helped more than 30 tennis players to secure scholarships in the US and other universities through the years and they were able to secure better jobs after their graduation.
“Alvin Teng Wee Jie will be leaving for the US in August to further his studies, Rohaizat Borhan has just entered the UiTM in Perak last week while Linda Liong and Belinda are also in the process of getting their scholarships to study in the US,” Liew revealed of the latest development.
Apart from Aslina Chua, other tennis players who have won awards in the US included Michelle Liew who won the Tennessee Nashville University Sportsmanship Award five years ago and Ariez Elyaas Deen Hesham who earned two weekly Mid-South Conference (MSC) Award of the Season as a member of the UC tennis team Patriots at University of Cumberlands last year.