Yip Pin Xiu earns top accolade as Singapore Disability Sports Awards returns after 11 years
SINGAPORE — In 2008, para swimmer Yip Pin Xiu won the Sportsgirl of the Year award at the Singapore Disability Sports Awards. On Tuesday night (6 August) at Carlton Hotel, she claimed the Sportswoman of the Year accolade in the same event.
In between her two wins, however, the sports awards event was not organised. The only ceremony that happened during this 11-year gap was a set of Outstanding and Meritorious Achievement awards in 2014, as part of the Singapore Disability Sports Council’s (SDSC) 40th anniversary.
This has changed with Tuesday’s award ceremony, which was attended by guest-of-honour Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. The SDSC has promised that the awards will become an annual affair from this year on.
“After 11 years, I didn’t think that the awards would happen anytime soon,” Yip, 27, told Yahoo News Singapore after receiving her award for winning her first Asian Para Games gold last year.
“I hope that this awards will continue. Firstly, to recognise the athletes’ achievements. Secondly, it is a great occasion for the community to start to come together and give the athletes more support, whether it's in terms of volunteering or corporate sponsorships.”
Presenting sponsor coming on board
A big reason for the revival of the awards is healthcare business group Haw Par Corporation, which came on board as the presenting sponsor for the event, as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative for this year.
During the award ceremony, Han Ah Kuan, the corporation’s executive director, also handed a $120,000 cheque to SDSC president Kevin Wong.
The donation will support boccia athletes in their trainings and competitions, as well as continue Haw Par’s sports bursary programme, which started in 2018 to help persons with disabilities from low-income backgrounds to pursue sports.
“As a sponsor of SDSC since 2015, we have witnessed the resilience and spirit of the athletes and the dedication of the community of coaches, caregivers and volunteers behind them. They are an inspiration to our society,” said Haw Par’s chief executive officer Wee Ee Lim.
Winners and new categories
The Sportsman of the Year award went to Muhammad Diroy Noordin, who won a silver and a bronze in the men’s javelin (multi-class) and shot put (multi-class) events respectively at the 2018 World Para Athletics Grand Prix.
Double Asian Para Games gold medallist Toh Wei Soong, 21, clinched the Sportsboy of the Year honour, while sprinter Maisarah Mohamed Hassan earned the Sportsgirl of the Year nod after winning two silvers at the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association World Games in 2018.
The boccia team of Toh Sze Ning, Nurulasyiqah Mohammad Taha and Faye Lim were honoured with the Team of the Year award for winning silvers at last year’s Asian Para Games as well as the Guangzhou Boccia Regional Open in March.
Tuesday’s awards night also saw five new categories: two coaching awards (for high performance and developmental coaches), two community impact awards (for events and initiatives as well as volunteering), and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Emotional moment during posthumous award
The Lifetime Achievement Award saw the most emotional moment of the night. It was awarded posthumously to Frankie Thanapal Sinniah, one of the first two athletes with disabilities to win an international sports event for Singapore in 1975. He also served as SDSC president from 2004 to 2012, but died later that year of heart attack.
Accepting the award was his son Taufik Abdullah, who choked back tears as he recalled how tirelessly his father promoted disability sports and helped SDSC grow its capabilities.
SDSC president Wong said, "I feel immensely moved by today's occasion for several reasons. The support is an important form of acknowledgement that our athletes with disabilities and officials deserve equal respect for their hard work and achievements."
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