Skip to main content

Pandelela is first Universiti Malaya Olympian fund recipient

PETALING JAYA: Teenagers from humble background who aspire to make it in life should look no further than national diver Pandelela Rinong Pamg for inspiration.

The 19-year-old Bidayuh girl, whose father worked as a contract labourer to raise the family, was announced as the inaugural recipient of the Universiti Malaya Olympian Fund, which entitles her to full scholarship, at their annual sports recognition ceremony yesterday.

Pandelela made the country proud when she became the first female Olympic medallist in the 10m platform competition in London in July.

She enrolled for a Sports Science course at UM recently.

Pandelela will enjoy fee exemption from tuition and accommodation as well as earn subsistence and training allowances worth RM30,000 a year.

The funding is from September this year until her graduation in February 2015.
Pandelela divides her time between lectures at the Sports Science faculty and daily training at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.

The UM Olympian Fund was initiated to provide encouragement to athletes who excel in sports and have good potential for further academic studies at the university.

The scholarship will be made available to all athletes who win a medal in Olympic competition and intend to pursue further studies at UM.

“I’m so happy and proud to be named the initial recipient of the Olympian fund.
“I’ve always dreamt of becoming a scholarship recipient. I may not be a scholar but it gives me equal joy to receive it as an athlete,” said Pandelela.

Also launched last night was the Pandelela Olympian UM Fund, which is aimed at taking care of the welfare of undergraduates who are Olympians and help the country produce highly-educated athletes.
Deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Bulgiba Awang Mahmud said it was their hope that the two new initiatives would help the country produce athletes who excel in both sports and studies.

“We want to attract more national athletes to further their education at UM,” he said.
Awards were also presented to UM sports staff and students in the development of sports and recreational activities.



THE STAR

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...