KUALA LUMPUR: Sprinter Harith Ammar Sobri and multi-talented Irene Chong were named as the 2015 Universiti Malaya (UM) Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year at the UM Sports Awards ceremony here last night.
Harith enjoyed a strong season last year and had broken the Malaysian Universities Sports Council (Masum) championships 100m and 200m records en route to winning both events for a third year in a row.
Irene is adept at both swimming as well as the triathlon.
She won nine golds and one bronze in swimming at the Masum championships and had finished fourth in the triathlon at the Singapore Sea Games.
The swimming team, boosted by Irene's performance, were named Team of the Year by virtue of their 11 gold haul at the Masum championships.
Mohd Ehsan Manan took Coach of the Year for his part in guiding the rugby team to fourth place at the same championships while Nor Anis Nabila Abdul Razak (softball) bagged Manager of the Year.
A new special award dubbed 'Road to Rio' went to diver's Pandelela Rinong and Wendy Ng who will both be competing at the Rio Olympics later this year.
Bryan Nickson Lomas (diving) and Yap Suo Kuen (netball), who have both represented Malaysia at the highest level in their respective sports, were honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award
Meanwhile, the staff awards saw floorball duo Dr Rizal Mohd Razman and Dr Jadeera Cheong Phaik Geok named Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year. The duo had also competed at the Singapore Sea Games.
The men's darts squad took the Team of the Year award for winning the Malaysian Universities Staff Games (Sukum) title last year while Azmi Ismail (tug-of-war) and Suhaimi Ibrahim (darts) bagged best coach and manager.