SEPANG: The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) has announced a cash incentive of RM40,000 each for national lawn bowls pair Nur Ain Nabilah Tarmizi-Aleena Ahmad Nawawi, who emerged as champions in the 2023 World Lawn Bowls Championships in Gold Coast, Australia on Saturday (Sept 10).
Minister Hannah Yeoh said the cash incentive was given through the National Sports Incentive Scheme (Shakam) in appreciation of their success in bringing glory to the country.
“The KBS is very happy with the success of the pair. At the National Sports Council (NSC) level, I wish to announce that the SHAKAM to be given to Nur Ain and Aleena is RM80,000, meaning each will receive RM40,000,” she said.
Hannah said this at a media conference after welcoming the national lawn bowls team’s return at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 2 here yesterday.
The Malaysian pair emerged victorious after defeating Malta’s Rebecca Rixon-Connie Leigh Rixo 15-11 in the final of the women’s pairs event, thus ending the country’s 15-year wait to strike gold at the world meet.
Hannah also announced a cash incentive of RM10,000 each for the pair of Idham Amin Ramlan-Izzat Dzulkeple, who clinched bronze in the men’s pairs event at the same tournament.
“I hope that the incentives from the KBS will encourage our athletes to continue to excel and I believe they can do even better because they are still young,” she said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Lawn Bowls Federation (MLBF) president Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz described the success achieved by the squad proved that the revamp process is paying dividends.
“We have revamped the system where we introduced a ranking system and also introduced the National Championships so that we only send athletes on merit to the world meet. Alhamdulillah, it has worked wonders,” he said. – BERNAMA
