YB Dato' Liow getting ready to launch the Merdeka Sports Open

The women basketball finals

KUALA LUMPUR, 13 September 2007 - The spirit of friendship was the call for the day as the Deputy Minister of Sports, Yang Berhormat Dato’ Liow launched the inaugural UCSI Merdeka Open at the UCSI Kuala Lumpur campus with participation from 18 private and public institutions of higher learning. 

During his speech, Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Liow said that sports is not just about winning, it is about building friendships and fostering goodwill. He applauded UCSI’s efforts to bring together both public and private institutions of higher learning via this sports event and said that he hopes that UCSI will continue to hold this event annually. 

Associate Professor Chin Peng Kit, Deputy Vice Chancellor at UCSI said, “We have initiated this event to bring together both private and public institutions of higher learning to foster greater understanding, promote unity in the diversity that exists among our student community and also encourage education out of the classroom.”

Guests were treated to a visually-exciting 5-minute video montage commemorating Malaysia’s 50th year of independence after which two students came on stage and recited a poem titled, ‘Genta Merdeka’. A student from the School of Music then played two songs on the harmonica and a group of African students sang an acapella number in their native language. 

The highlight of this launch was when Dato’ Liow passed on a basketball to UCSI’s own “Slam Dunk King”, Masi Wachukwu Godswill, who then proceeded to “slam dunk” the ball into the net as indicator that the UCSI Merdeka Open was officially launched.

The UCSI Merdeka Sports Open organising chairman, Alexander Kang Choo Tik, said that a lot of work was put into organizing the games. He expressed his gratitude to his organising committee for giving their all in making this a successful launch. He said, “We faced many challenges especially in getting sponsors for the event and to convince the public universities to join us in the games as they already have their own inter-university games. But finally, everything came together”. 

A total of 414 participants are registered for this sports open which will run for 18 days starting from 13th to 30th September 2007. On 30th of September 2007, the closing ceremony will be held to mark the end of the games.

"Without prejudice to the rights of UCSI the information herein is correct at the time of printing and UCSI reserves the right to make amendments without prior notice."