This year, four Members of the Bar were selected to receive the Malaysian Bar’s Sports Personality of the Year Award: Manmohan Singh Kang a/l Sukhbir Singh, Mohd Rasheed Hassan, Sanjay @ Jegathesan a/l S Mohanasundram, and Yeoh Cho Kheong.
The presentation ceremony took place at the Malaysian Bar Annual Dinner & Dance 2015, held at the Majestic Ballroom, The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, 5 Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, on 14 Mar 2015.
More information about each recipient follows below.
Manmohan Singh Kang a/l Sukhbir Singh
Manmohan Kang was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1993. He served as the Bar’s volleyball captain and convener from 2011 to 2014, leading the Malaysian Bar to victory in each of those years in what was once the Malaysian Bar’s weaker sport domain.
Manmohan Kang revamped the entire volleyball team and the way the team trained. He brought to the fold a young and tenacious group of ex–school, state and university players who are now training regularly with an internationally accredited coach.
Manmohan Kang picked up volleyball when he was 14, in his hometown in Pahang. At the age of 17, when he relocated to Kuala Lumpur, he represented the Federal Territory at the Sukan Malaysia (“SUKMA”) Games. He was also privileged to have played in an international tournament soon after that. However, he missed out on selections for the Jakarta Southeast Asian (“SEA”) Games in 1987 as he was leaving for the UK for studies.
Manmohan Kang still plays volleyball and is actively looking for a team or club to join in Australia, where he now lives most of the year.
Mohd Rasheed Hassan
Mohd Rasheed Hassan was called to the Bar in 1993. In his school and university days, he played rugby, soccer, snooker and badminton.
Since his chambering days, he has actively represented the Johore Bar in various sports including soccer, futsal, tennis, pool, darts, and golf. Presently, besides being active in golf, Mohd Rasheed plays tennis, pool, darts and occasionally, futsal, for the Johore Bar’s senior team.
Mohd Rasheed served as Chairman of the Johore Bar Sports Committee from 2002 to 2004, and in the 2010/2011 term. Since his early years of law practice, he was the unofficial golf convener for the Johore Bar, and has held the captaincy of the Johore Bar Golf Team for almost all the golf tournaments organised by the Bar Council Sports Committee. He has also organised many Malaysian Bar golf tournaments in Johore, such as the Interstate Golf Tournament and the Malaysian Bar Closed Golf Tournament.
Mohd Rasheed plays to a handicap of 10 and has represented the Malaysian Bar in many instalments of the Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games, Quadrangular Games, and at the ASEAN circuit of the ASEAN Law Association Golf Tournament. In 2006, he was the Gross Champion of the Malaysian Bar Closed Golf Tournament.
At State Bar level, Mohd Rasheed helps to organise the annual games between the Johore Bench/Bar, the Law Society of Singapore, and the Johore Police Contingent, particularly for golf and tennis. He was, for the past few years, the captain for the Johore Bar’s tennis team.
Those aside, Mohd Rasheed was Deputy Captain at the Royal Johor & Country Club (now known as Johor Golf & Country Club), and is a shareholder and Director of Tropik Sentosa Sdn Bhd, the parent company of The Legends Golf & Country Club in Kulai, Johore, the venue for several Malaysian Bar Golf Tournaments.
Sanjay @ Jegathesan a/l S Mohanasundram
Sanjay Mohanasundram has played cricket for the Malaysian Bar since 1994, making it 21 consecutive years of Bar cricket. During that period, he has won the bat four times for best bowler.
Sanjay’s entry into the Malaysian Bar cricket side, together with several others of a new generation, heralded a period of success for the Malaysian Bar. These new cricketers — which include Muralee Nair, Conrad Young, Renzie Delikan, the Tallala brothers, V Nadaraja, Paul Kwong, and Rueben Mathiavaranam — have brought about many great cricket matches, and more importantly, lasting friendships on and off the cricket field.
Sanjay has captained the Malaysian Bar cricket side since 2004, and in 2008, he led the side in a nail–biting match against Singapore in the Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games hosted in Malacca. Needing 17 of the last over to win the game, the Malaysian players managed to score 16 to tie the match.
In the Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games 2014, Sanjay led the Malaysian Bar side to a convincing victory over the Singaporean team. The Singaporean team was bowled out for 80 runs, possibly their lowest–ever score. In this game, a few young players such as Jason Lee and Dave Param made a significant impact. Sanjay has since quit as captain of the Bar cricket side and handed over the captaincy to Jason Lee.
Word of thanks from Sanjay:
I take this opportunity to thank Dato’ K Anantham, Dato’ Bill Davidson, and Vinayak Pradhan, all of whom played for the Bar cricket side and who spent many Saturday afternoons (and evenings) keeping an eye on us younger ones, on and off the cricket field. I also thank the rest of my teammates and the supporters of the Bar cricket side, in particular Kamraj Nayagam who provides a running commentary every year of the most important cricket match to many of us. Finally, I thank my wife and family for letting me off on weekends to play this wonderful game.
Yeoh Cho Kheong
Contrary to common knowledge, Yeoh Cho Kheong’s involvement in the Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games did not start off in tennis but in football. He represented the Malaysian Bar premier soccer team from 1997 until 2000. However, due to injuries, he gave up football in 2003.
Yeoh then pursued his first love — tennis. Although he tried to make it into the Malaysian Bar team, he was unsuccessful as there were many more deserving players who were better than him. Nonetheless, this did not deter him from trying. His passion for tennis persisted, and instead of pushing his way into the team, he thought of contributing to the sport at another level. Thus, in 2005, he offered to take over from Robin Lim as the convener of the Malaysian Bar tennis team. He was told by previous conveners that the Malaysian Bar tennis team had not won against the Singaporean team in the Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games for the past 11 years. Although a Liverpool fan at heart, he took a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s playbook and set himself the ultimate challenge of knocking the Singaporean team right off its perch when he took up the position as the tennis convener.
His baptism of fire came in the 2006 Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games in Langkawi. The tennis team went down 3–4 to the Singaporeans. Yeoh took this defeat in his stride but also acknowledged that the tennis team would not be able to win if it were not fortified. Yeoh started the ball rolling by calling up lawyers who used to play competitively. In the 2007 Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games in Singapore, the team lost 3–4 but only after a cliffhanger in the deciding game. This was a marked improvement. Sadly, in the same year one of the team’s core players, Vong Poh Fah, passed away due to illness. To mark this loss and in memory of that great man, the Vong Poh Fah Challenge Trophy was introduced and became the prize of the yearly contest.
The breakthrough in tennis came at the 2008 Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games in Malacca. With the added impetus of keeping “Vong Poh Fah” in Malaysia, the Malaysian Bar team made history by finally breaking the Singaporean team’s stranglehold over tennis. The Bar then repeated this victory in Singapore the following year. Unfortunately, the Malaysian team could not do a hat–trick and “Vong Poh Fah” resided in Singapore for the next two years.
In 2012, “Vong Poh Fah” returned to Malaysian soil, but the Malaysian tennis team failed to retain the trophy in 2013. In the end, it was decided between the conveners that the Vong Poh Fah Challenge Trophy had seen better days and it was time to retire it, whereby the winner of the 2014 Malaysia/Singapore Bench and Bar Games would get to keep the trophy. With this incentive and the guidance of a professional coach (who was secured after suffering two defeats in a row), the Malaysian Bar tennis team secured “Vong Poh Fah” permanent residency in his homeland.
Yeoh ends his nine–year tenure of being tennis convener with these words:
To all players past and present, supporters, sponsors and coaches, I wish to thank all of you for your support, time and commitment, without which we would not have been able to achieve what we have done together. The camaraderie within the team is something that I will always cherish. From being just teammates, our relationship has evolved into an everlasting friendship and in this, I look forward to our occasional get–togethers at our usual hangout. Also, I wish to thank my wife, Karen (Karen Kaur Bal), for her patience in allowing me the time to prepare the team for the Bench and Bar Games between the months of January and April every year. I think she understands, as she was formerly the convener for the Malaysian Bar netball team.
To my successor, Rizal (Mohd Rizal Salleh), I believe I am leaving the team in good hands and I wish you all the best.
To the Bar Council Sports Committee, thank you for the acknowledgment of my effort. At least, I am now on par with my wife, Karen, who was also a recipient of this honour once upon a time.
Adapted from information provided by the Members