Fourth UNITEN Rowing Invitational Gets International Flavour

12/08/2008

- Rowing Invitational in fourth year running since 2005 - Overwhelming varsity participation includes seven foreign universities Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) together with the Malaysian Rowing Association (MRA) have once again successfully organised the UNITEN Rowing Invitational for the fourth year. First initiated in the year 2005, this year’s invitational was once again held at the Putrajaya Water Sports Complex. As in the previous years, the Invitational had the aim of tapping into the talent pools of the rowing sport through promoting water sports / outdoor activities to tertiary students and the youth at large. Through the years, the invitational has served well also to promote the Putrajaya Water Sports Complex and the Putrajaya Lake as landmarks within the administrative centre of Malaysia. In his speech to officially close the event, TNB President / Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh said, “TNB makes a considered and deliberate choice to support the sports of rowing in this country. In line with its clarion call ‘Powering Champions’ as one of the Company’s corporate responsibility in the field of sports, this event is envisioned to be a catalyst to develop future champions.” He added that TNB’s involvement in sports, through the years was in line with the government’s aspiration to produce top athletes and for Malaysia to be a major sporting nation. Promising rowers, with the necessary talents could be further developed through the nation’s athlete’s program to compete in the international arena in the future, thus elevating the sports itself to a higher level altogether. This year’s event saw a significant growth in participation numbers with 17 university teams signing up for the event. Out of the 17 universities, seven teams were from foreign universities. They were: Shiga University from Japan, Hong Kong Baptist University, City University of Hong Kong, Ateneo University from the Philippines, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, Singapore Management University and the National University of Singapore. The local teams were representatives of University Malaya (UM), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), University Tun Hussein Onn (UTHO), Multimedia University (MMU), University Kuala Lumpur (UNIKL), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). UTM successfully defended the Overall Champions title which they have won for the last four consecutive years. As the overall champion of this year’s Invitational, UTM received a Challenge Trophy and RM3,000 cash. When the invitational was first organised, only six universities participated in the event. The competing categories in this year’s invitational include the Men Single Sculls, Women Single Sculls, Men Double Sculls, Women Double Sculls, , Staff Men Coxed Fours, Staff Women Coxed Fours, Junior Men Coxed Fours, Junior Women Coxed Fours and others. The Junior categories involved participation of the students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Putrajaya 1, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan 2, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Putri and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Alam Shah.