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Sports

Wednesday April 5, 2006

Sports Awards: Chong Wei steals the thunder

By LIM TEIK HUAT


BEST OF 2005: Malaysia's top badminton player Lee Chong Wei was surprisingly voted the Sportsman of the Year 2005. As expected, world squash champion Nicol David was an easy winner for the Sportswoman of the Year award. They each received RM10,000.
KUALA LUMPUR: Shuttler Lee Chong Wei added another feather to his cap when he was surprisingly named the winner of the 2005 National Sportsman Award.

However, there were no surprises for the 2005 National Sportswoman Award, which went to squash star Nicol David.

Chong Wei’s consistency and focus in his game earned him the nod over other strong contenders, like Asian number one ranked bowler Alex Liew, world wushu championship gold medallist Pui Fook Chien, diver Yeoh Ken Nee, two-time Mr Universe Sazali Abdul Samad and artistic gymnast Ng Shu Wai, a finalist at the World Championships last year.

Roslin Hashim was the last badminton player to be picked for the award when he achieved the feat in 2001. Other shuttlers who have won the award were Misbun Sidek (1984), Foo Kok Keong (1989), Rashid Sidek (1990, 91, 92, 96) and Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock (1997).

Now, Chong Wei has stepped up to take the accolade. Chong Wei bagged his first five-star singles title in the Danish Open and also retained his Malaysian Open title last year.

The 24-year-old Chong Wei also made his World Championships debut a memorable one by bagging the bronze medal and he was a semi-finalist in the All-England championships.

Chong Wei also led the national badminton team to wrest the coveted team title from Indonesia in the Manila SEA Games last December.

He also reached the semi-finals of the German and Hong Kong Opens. His performances on the international front helped him move up from No 5 to No 2 in the current world ranking.

Chong Wei, who has bagged the Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships titles this year, said the award was a pleasant surprise for him and a boost for him ahead of the Thomas Cup Finals at the end of this month.

“This is a big honour for me. I will be playing as the first singles in the Thomas Cup Finals this time and it will spur me to work harder for success in the other major meets as well,” said Chong Wei.

He has also set his sights on winning the World Championships in Madrid (September) and the Doha Asian Games (December).

For the 22-year-old Nicol, this is the third time she has bagged the award, having won it in 1999 and 2003.

The Penangite had an outstanding run last year when she clinched five titles on the women’s professional circuit – the Kuwait Open, Dutch Open, Malaysian Open, British Open and Carol Weymuller Open in New York. Nicol also took the women’s singles gold medal in the World Games in Duisberg, Germany.

And in December, she capped it by becoming the first Asian woman to be crowned the world champion in Hong Kong.

The achievement lifted her to the top of the world rankings for the first time and her peers subsequently picked her as the winner of the 2005 Player of the Year award in squash.

Chong Wei and Nicol each received RM10,000.

Disabled archer Mohd Salam Sidik, who won three gold medals in the World Wheelchair Archery Championships in Brazil last year, took the Paralympic Men award while top woman power-lifter Siow Lee Chan won in the women’s category. The duo took home RM10,000 each.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamallulail and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Fauziah Al-Marhum Tengku Abdul Rashid gave away the awards last night.

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