First Cricket Center Of Excellence To Produce Innovative Athletes

Malaysian Cricket Association & Asia Pacific University sign MoA today to establish Cricket Center of Excellence

Kuala Lumpur, March 2, 2018– Being excellent is not just about winning. Even if you fall behind, run faster, never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds. That’s excellence in character and that’s what cricket has taught me. Mahinda Vallipuram, President of Malaysian Cricket Association.

Malaysian Cricket Association and Asia Pacific University have chosen a great time to come together towards establishing a Centre of Excellence. This partnership is borne of the desire of both organisations to grow and nurture the spirit of excellence in Malaysian youth. With the combination of MCA’s cricketing expertise and APU’s innovative approach to higher education for all, the future of national athletes with degrees is just an intake away for this iconic university.

Malaysian Cricket Association’s current pool of national athletes are in various stages of pursuing higher education and this initiative will pave the way for young talent to view their commitment in high performance sports at the same time as pursuing higher education as a viable option. Pursuing higher education does not mean that you must sacrifice your dream of being a national athlete, or vice versa.

This dream has come true for many youngsters in Malaysia. With this collaboration, Malaysian Cricket Association may select up to five national athletes a year under a scholarship scheme to be able to pursue their higher education up to degree level at Asia Pacific University, and still continue to play their beloved game of cricket at local and international levels. It will take excellence to achieve this for any sportsman or sportswoman, as both pursuits require focus, commitment and determination.

Malaysian Cricket Association is eager to move forward with Asia Pacific University in this collaboration.

In fact, APU has over the past 10 years, already supported more than 50 students in their education while they pursued their passion for cricket. Many of these players have gone on to represent the Malaysian and National Junior teams in the sport and have also achieved a qualification which provides them with career opportunities beyond cricket. At the same time, these young cricketers have also enriched the sport within the University by being a part of our truly multi-national cricket team which boasts of players from counties such as Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and of course Malaysia.

APU therefore sees this collaboration as a renewal of our commitment towards encouraging young Malaysians to pursue their interests and passion in a sport which has come a long way in Malaysia, thanks to the efforts of organisations such as the Malaysian Cricket Association.

This collaboration will open up opportunities for APU’s cricket-playing students to train with international coaches on a regular basis, form formidable teams and participate in Malaysian tournaments. In 2018 alone, Malaysian Cricket Association will manage 20 domestic tournaments and 12 international tournaments. Alongside cricket tournaments, Malaysian Cricket Association will also introduce interested students to many other sports management careers including coaching, umpiring, scoring, commentary, broadcasting, among others. As the 2nd most watched TV sport in the world, these additional skills will enhance APU students’ employability tremendously, and garner interest from the international student community. APU currently houses 11,000 students from over 110 countries. This collaboration will further nurture competent & professional international graduates who are capable of excelling in both academic & sports.

We will endeavor to make this collaboration a winning one, for MCA’s national athletes and APU’s student communities.