Tan Sri Morshidi gets Exemplary Sports Leadership Award
KUCHING: Sarawak State Secretary, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani was awarded the 2016 Exemplary Sports Leadership Award from National Sports Council (NSC) during the recent Malaysia Sports Award presentation ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
The award was the first of its kind to be awarded to a Sarawak leader and it was based on Tan Sri Morshidi’s leadership and insightful role in organising and staging of the 18th Malaysia Games (Sukma) in the stage in July last year.
“This is truly inspiring and we are so proud of his achievements,” said Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah on the recognition given to Tan Sri Morshidi by the NSC and the Malaysian sports fraternity.
“He has shown us that we are capable of organising and staging the best Sukma. Together we have shown to the rest of the country that Sarawak can become the best host for any world-class sporting events held locally,” said Karim.
According to him, Morshidi’s achievement is set to become the benchmark for other sports leaders to follow and it will be tall order for others who want to organise or outdo what Sarawak has achieved in the recent 18th Sukma.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) honorary secretary, Haji Abdul Hadi Datuk Kadir said that Morshidi has always been involved in organising and staging of reputable badminton championships in Sarawak because of his exemplary leadership quality in the promotion and development of sports.
“He has the ability to bring about the best in all the local sports leaders and managers which is also the trademark of our very own government which have good leaders with the highest level professionalism, vision and astute in delivery the best results,” added Hadi.
He said:“For badminton we look forward to his continuing guidance and leadership in bringing about better changes to the game standard…we at SBA will continue to heed his advice and recognising his contribution to badminton in the state”.
According to Hadi, Morshidi who was himself an avid badminton player, was instrumental in bringing national and international badminton tournaments to Sarawak like the recent Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open 2017 at Stadium Perpaduan Negeri Sarawak, the Victor Far East Malaysia Masters 2017 in Sibu, the 2014 Maybank Kuching International Challenge and the 2015 Yonex Sunrise Malaysia Masters in Kuching.
The president of Sarawak Taekwondo Association (STA), Salleh Mohd Sani also commended Morshidi for being the exemplary Sarawak’s leader to excel where sports leadership is concerned and for commanding the respect of others after making the past Sukma Sarawak one of the best to be held in Malaysia.
“He deserved it because of the job well done in the recent Sukma. He is very precise and is meticulous in what he does,” said Salleh.
According to him, Tan Sri Morshidi is the type of leader who goes on the ground and have first-hand look on the real situation.
“Of course the award will also motivate all sports leaders including myself to follow suit and inspire all of us to emulate his footsteps,” he added.
The president of Sarawak Judo Association (SJA), Francis Chan described Morshidi’s achievement as something in which the local sports fraternity should be proud of as it showed that the development of sports in Sarawak is in good hands.
“Tan Sri Morshidi had shown us that we do have good sports leaders who can drive up the standard of the games and the local sports fraternity must rally together to support the development efforts made by our leaders,” he enthused.
According to him, the award will also motivate the local sports fraternity to do better in the coming 19th Sukma which will be held in Ipoh, Perak where Sarawak may have another shot at becoming the overall champions.
For Robert Lu, who was the team manager of Sukma Sarawak
ten-pin bowling squad, he said Morshidi as a very hard working leader and he wanted nothing
but the best from all the local athletes.
“His leadership and management style is excellent … he is also a good listener and a very approachable person who is always helpful to us,” said Robert on the contribution made by Morshidi who had contributed a lot behind the scene and it attributed to the 11 out of the 12 gold medals won in Sukma Sarawak.
