Ro Bin is the most successful Malaysian wushu athlete to date. He was the country’s first gold medal in the sport at the 2002 Busan Asiad. He also emerged as the world champion twice – in 1999 and 2005.
In the SEA Games between 1999 and 2005, Ro Bin won a total of three gold medals before retiring from competition in 2006 to become a coach.
Keng Liat is the most outstanding Malaysian swimmer and he is only one to have won an Asian Games gold medal in the sport — in Bangkok in 1998.
Keng Liat was also a good student, graduating from the University of Berkeley in California under a full athletic scholarship.
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame are former national badminton coach Datuk James Selvaraj, former president of the Malay-sian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) and Asian Cycling Congress (ACC) Tan Sri Darshan Singh Gill and former national cricket captain Datuk Professor Emeritus Dr A.E. Delilkan.
James was a national player from 1975 to 1982 and he was a member of the Thomas Cup team who were the runners-up to Indonesia in 1976.
Darshan initiated the idea and helped raise funds from the public to build the first velodrome in Malaysia, named Velodrome Rakyat in Ipoh. And the track cycling competitions of the 1989 SEA Games were held there.
The five sports personalities will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame at the OCM annual dinner on Saturday.
The male and female Olympian of the Year awards and the selection will be made based on the achievements in the Laos SEA Games last month.
Swimmer Daniel Bego, who won five gold medals, is the hot favourite to take the men’s award.
The award in the female category is expected to go to the badminton team, who ended a 34-year gold medal drought for Malaysia in the event in Vientiane.
THE STAR
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