Pengguna:Arman ahmad
Dari Wikipedia Bahasa Melayu, ensiklopedia bebas.
[Sunting] Malaysian Sports Heroes
Here is a look at the achievements of our four chosen sports heroes.
Datuk Dr M. Jegathesan Dr Jegathesan, 60, is also the chef-de-mission of the Malaysian contingent to Athens 2004. A great contributor to the track-and-field category, he is the first to enter the semi-final of an Olympic event at the Tokyo Games 1964. His 200m national record set at the Tokyo Games still stands today. This former national sprinter is also the only Malaysian to win the men’s 200m event in the Asian Games. In fact, he won twice – in the 1962 Jakarta Games and the 1966 Bangkok Games. In the Bangkok Games, he earned the title “The fastest man in Asia” by winning three gold medals – in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m events. In 1967, he graduated as a medical doctor and began a 30-year career in the Health Ministry, later becoming the deputy director-general of the Ministry. He is now an adjunct professor at Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia. This will not be the first time that Dr Jegathesan is carrying the Olympic Torch. He had the honour of carrying the flame around Merdeka Stadium in 1964 when the Torch was making its way to the Tokyo Games. He remembers that there was a thunderstorm at the time. “Exactly 40 years later, I received this invitation, which was difficult to refuse,” he says. Datuk Soh Chin Aun Who can forget the Towkay of Malaysian football? Soh is one of the footballers involved in the golden era of Malaysian football, along with the late Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, the late R. Arumugam, M. Chandran, James Wong, Hassan Sani and others. Soh and Santokh paired to become what was the most solid defence in the much-feared Malaysian team back then. Soh, a native of Alor Gajah, Malacca, earned the nickname The Towkay for his outstanding positional play.
Soh, 54, participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, and was captain of the qualifying team to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. In 1971, when he played in the Olympic qualifier in Seoul, South Korea, he was the youngest member of the national team at the age of 21. Says Soh of his role as torch-bearer: “I will take this opportunity to be a representative of all the football fans out there, as well as the game of football itself.” Nicol Ann David Nicknamed the Pocket Dynamite, Nicol is the top squash player in the country. She was recently named Malaysian Sportswoman of the Year 2003. She first earned the title in 1999, when she was still in her teens. At the tender age of 15, Nicol was already junior world squash champion. She won her first international title at 13. When she was 16, Nicol had won numerous titles, the most famous being the Under-19 World Junior Championship, making her the first Malaysian female player to do so. In 1998, she was the youngest player to win the Asian Championship. The Penangite won the gold medal in the 1997, 1999 and 2001 SEA Games, and the 1998 Asian Games. She was champion in the 1999 and 2001 World Junior Championships; and the 2000 and 2002 Asian Squash Championships. Says the 20-year-old: “This is the closest I can get to represent Malaysia in the Olympics since squash is not included in the Olympic Games.” Wong Choong Hann Wong started competing at the international level when he was 19. He was champion of the Dutch Open in 1997 and 2002, China Open in 2002, Chinese-Taipei Open in 2003 and Copenhagen Masters last year. He won the gold in the singles and team events in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and the team event in the KL 2001 SEA Games. Last year, the 27-year-old was also runner-up in the World Championship. Wong will be representing the country in the singles event in Athens 2004. Says Wong: “I am very happy and excited that I can represent the country in two important events in Athens 2004 – being a torch-bearer and competing in the badminton singles.”