Eddy, Jega in Hall of Fame

KUALA LUMPUR: Former badminton ace Datuk Eddy Choong and former Asian sprint king Datuk Dr M. Jegathesan are among 52 sports icons from 12 Asian countries who will be inducted into the first Asian Sports Awards (ASA) Hall of Fame on Nov 2.

Eddy has won 75 international badminton championships including seven All-England titles. He won the men’s singles titles four times (1953-1954, 1956-57) and the men’s doubles three times (1951-53) at the All-England.

Jegathesan competed in three Olympics – Rome (1960), Tokyo (1964) and Mexico (1968). And he bagged three gold medals at the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m.

Cricketer Imran Khan of Pakistan, shuttler Rudy Hartono of Indonesia and swimmer Professor Hironoshin Furuhashi of Japan are among the sports icons to be inducted.

Others in the list include India’s Milkha Singh, the three-time Asian Games 400m gold medallist, footballer Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan, diver Fu Mingxia of China and former world number one professional squash player Jahangir Khan of Pakistan.

Malaysian icons: Datuk Eddy Choong and Datuk Dr M. Jegathesan (below, right) will be inducted into the ASA Hall of Fame on Nov 2.

Hall of Fame inductees are picked by a panel of judges comprising leading sports administrators and sports writers across Asia.

The ASA is a recognition programme conceived by Stropt and Sports (Hong Kong) in collaboration with the Asian Sports Press Union (ASPU)

George Dass, ASPU vice-president and chairman of the judging panel said that ASA’s Hall of Fame was formed to recognise Asian greats for their exceptional achievements worldwide.

“In most cases the inductees hold world or Olympic records. This year’s list only had “living greats”, next year’s list may include those who have since passed away but whose contributions live on,” said George.

Besides the induction of the 52 sports icons from Asia, there will be main awards in six main categories - Asian Sportsman of the Year, Asian Sportswomen of the Year; Asian Team of the Year (men); Asian Team of the Year (women); Lifetime Achievement Award and Humanitarian Award.

The Stropt and Sports announced yesterday that the nominations for the six main award categories had been extended on appeals by ASPU affiliates in several countries.

Over 100 nominations have been received from 25 sporting organisations from 15 countries. The closing date has been extended to Aug 15 and the Gala night and presentation ceremony has been scheduled for Nov 2.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi said that they would submit the names of bodybuilder Sazali Abdul Samad and two-time world women’s squash champion Nicol David for the Asian Sportsman and Sportswoman awards.

“They both won the National Sportsman and Sportswoman awards this year and deserve to be nominated for the Asian awards. We will also submit the name of former OCM president Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“He has contributed a lot for sports especially in football as the FA of Malaysia (FAM) president and also the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC),” said Kok Chi, who is also one of the judges for the Asian Sports Awards.