Malaysian teacher wins prize at World Robotics Championship

Muslim and his son, Danish receiving the prize for the Water Rocket category at the World Robotics Championship in New Delhi, India on Sept 25, 2019.

PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian teacher made the nation proud after his innovate water rocket won a prize at the World Robotics Championship.

Muslim Tamsir, a 38-year-old teacher from SK Tun Hussein Onn in Kuala Lumpur, won the Water Rocket Challenge at the Technoxian World Robotics Championship 2019 held in New Delhi, India recently.

Muslim said he first joined the competition at an international level for his son, Danish Irfan Muslim, 12, who had won the national water rocket championship in Malaysia last year.

"I joined because I wanted to boost my son's confidence so he can take part in international competitions as he won the national levels last year.

"I am very happy with my performance. I felt so proud to fly the Malaysian flag on the world stage.

"I really wanted to expand my knowledge in other countries and I wanted my son to see how things are outside of Malaysia," Muslim told The Star.

He added that he has been making water rockets since 2010 and had even won the innovative teacher award in 2015.

Muslim said he is thankful to the motivation and support from his wife, adding that he would have never gotten this far without her encouragement.

"I would also like to thank my friends, family and fellow teachers who helped pitch in for the flight ticket to come here," he added.

Muslim said the water rocket, which won the prize, took him just a few hours to build.

The science teacher said he had done several projects and models of such water rockets since 2010 but this was his first international competition.