By Faiz Hamzah and Hendra Rijal
SERDANG, 30 Oct – Focusing on academics while being active as national athlete representing the country in various tournaments require great sacrifice in the face of various challenges, before a degree can be attained.
Seven national athletes graduated and received their degrees at the 42nd Convocation Ceremony of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) today.
They are Mohd Aliff Al-Hafiz Abdul Karim and Ahmad Syukor Ab Raman (both are rugby players), Mohamad Hazrul Faiz Ahmad Soberi (hockey), Mohd Alif Adha Hassan (archery), Mohammad Daniel Mokthar (athletics), Mohd Faeez Saad (tennis) and Nurul Adha Abu Bakar (netball).
Mohammad Hazrul Faiz, 25, who graduated with a Bachelor of Communication from the Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, helped Malaysia win gold in hockey during the 2017 SEA Games. He said that although he had to extend his studies more than a year because of his sports commitment, it did not deter him from completing his studies.
Nurul Adha 25, a Bachelor of Computer Science student majoring in Computer Systems, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology who represented Malaysia in the world netball championship at Singapore in 2011 said that she too had to extend her studies for a year to focus on the 2017 SEA Games.
“The duration of my studies, four years, had to be extended for another year because of the time used to practise and participate in the 2017 SEA Games. Praise be to Allah, I successfully completed my studies,” he said.
Mohd Alif Adha, 25, Bachelor of Science, Human Resource Development, Faculty of Educational Studies represented UPM at the Sports for Higher Educational Institutions (SUKIPT) and Sports Carnival of the Malaysian University Sports Council (MASUM) at external levels such as the Jakarta Open, Universiade Korea and ASEAN University Games (AUG) in Singapore. - UPM
